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Post by slide496 on Jan 17, 2014 16:37:43 GMT
1.)I think you also want to take into account that MM offers post-sale support by the resonator's designer in conjunction with his designated luthier and the forum where there is a netwrok and can probably refer competent luthiers in your country. The product has left the shop inspected and set up properly.
2.)Fender and the like selling through retail sales do not have people who specialize in resophonic adjustments on staff. They are set up for common usage and action for these kind of instruments, which might not be good for you.
3.)There are several smaller outfits in the US that sell the chinese models, but the standard of excellence in construction and set up can vary. You can be put in the position of beta testing the guitar. Finding someone to work on them and sending them out at their weight for an adjustment might not the most convenient thing one has to do.
I think there are three categories, therefore and I am only including biscuit bridge in my comments.
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Post by wolvoboy on Jan 17, 2014 19:30:57 GMT
I had a Fender r50 and a tanglewood blues, worst guitars i have ever had i gave them away to bad to sell to anyone,also had a wood bodied ozark tricone looked good thats about all .sold that too,got the regal Tricone is not to bad though,i had mine upgraded with a new neck and National bits.plays and sounds loverly now
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Post by macloud on Jan 17, 2014 19:47:15 GMT
Please do not misunderstand, I was in no way criticising either Busker or Michael's guitars but rather offering a defence of the lower priced instruments, referred to as 'rubbish resonators'
I am only talking about metal bodied instruments and have seen and played several over the last few years. None of them could in all seriousness be described as 'rubbish'.
Some are a lot better than others, price points vary, as do setups and all the associated 'issues' that go with these styles of instruments.
The 'Vintage' Ozarks, B&M, even Harley Benton all have some good points and with a little fettling can all be made to play and sound reasonably well.
And they will suffice until the player graduates to a better instrument.
On another tack I purchased a little parlour guitar on behalf of a friend from the Thomann company and what arrived was so surprising I immediately bought another for myself.
Solid spruce top, rosewood back and sides, slot headstock with decent tuners, very well made and most importantly well set up with new D'addario strings. It has a lovely sound. It was £175.00.
I took it to show to my friend Gordon Wells at Knight Guitars, his actual comment is not printable on a family forum but he said in effect that he could not purchase the wood for that price.
A slight exaggeration but the point was made. There are a lot of budget instruments out there for the beginner and enthusiast and thank heavens for that.
We are living in a golden period for inexpensive guitars. In the mid 70s I had a guitar shop and £150.00 or so, purchased a rather indifferent Asian made Strat or LP copy or a fairly poor acoustic.
Now thirty five years later, better instruments are available at far less money in real terms.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 23:25:01 GMT
Small details often are crucial, something which other 'budget' resonators usually don't have all right (e.g. being unable to tune it, rattles, buzzes, marmalised sound etc). There is a minimum sound and playing standard that guitars should achieve regardless of cost, and many just don't. But some do. TT
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Post by wolvoboy on Jan 18, 2014 7:08:40 GMT
most makers of the budget guitars dont really care about how the guitar sounds.as long as it looks the part and they can sell it they are not bothered, a little more effort into how its made they could make half decent guitars, M M poved that with his MM Blues and lightning , thats my opinion anyway wolvoboy
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Post by Blues Pertti on Jan 18, 2014 9:46:35 GMT
Hi, Just few months ago I was in concert where professional guitarist played with Harley Benton (Style 0). He got absolutely great sound out of it. So … everything is very proportional B.R. Pertti
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 18, 2014 10:05:15 GMT
The only Harley Benton I`ve had to work on was a horror. A well-less Dobro, that could not have been less well! Theres a thread about it a while back. As with all cheap guitars, you can get a good sound out if you amp it up well, or its the one in 20 that was put together OK. I have a Bulgarian or Rumanian 6string (about £20 new) with a £10 Strat copy pick-up, sound great through a small valve amp. PT
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Post by steverino on Feb 10, 2014 6:00:31 GMT
I had great fun years ago buying cheap new resonators in the US on ebay, both biscuit and spider, and upgrading them into decent performers. For a while there were some spider jobs that had decent necks and terrible resonator assemblies that sold new for USD$69 plus shipping. The spiders were crude castings, weighing twice what they should and often touching the cover plate! With new spider, leveled cone well, carefully thinned cone and a decent setup these things sprung to life and I enjoyed giving several of them to friends. The Rogue Triolian biscuit single cone sold by Musician's Friend was $200 new ($250 now) and often available on ebay as a freight damaged item for as little as $100. The damage was usually a collapsed cone that came right back. These make very nice instruments and greatly outperform their modest cost. Having said that, I think that Michael Messer's instruments represent great value and are several notches up from the aforementioned project pieces.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 19:20:07 GMT
Agreed, I like a bit of a tinker. But the main drawback is that the necks are always too narrow. Not much you can do about that. TT
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