Republic tricone squareneck any good?

[Big John Levee]

Heey folks, i'm new here on the forum. My name is Jonathan, 19 years old and I've been a fan of the blues for quite some time and I've recently started listening to hawaiian guitar. I've always wanted a resonator and now i'm selling my gretsch white penguin to hopefully get two nice guitars. I really like the sound of biscuit cones but I even like the tricone sound a little more.
So I want to buy a busker tricone roundneck but I also want a squareneck lapsteel tricone but I don't want to pay the big bucks for the national ones.
Since hot rod steel is a bad place to buy from, does anybody know if the republic square necks are great?

thanks a lot,

John

[gaucho]

I've had 4 tricones, a NRP, a '28 National (the only square neck of the lot) a Republic steel version and a Hot Rod Nickel plated brass version. The Republic had the best tone by far, but the setup was terrible and I could never get it quite right. In the end, I got rid of all of them as I prefer the tone of a single cone or a spider. If you are in the UK, maybe Robin would set up a Busker with a raised nut and saddle for lap play? I've owned 4 different Republics and they can be very good, but the set up is inconsistent. I currently have a Hwy 61 that I love and has a great setup. It was in a luthier's shop that ordered a few in to sell, but he found the set ups on the ones he got to be so bad, he tore them all down (including the one I have) and reworked them. He ended up basically selling them at a loss. YMMV

[Big John Levee]

Thanks for your reply, I'm really looking forward to own a resonator. and thanks about the raised saddle/nut tip. I might consider it ;D

[Dessery]

Busker used to do a square neck tricone too. It was called the Chattanooga or something like that. Maybe see if robin at busker still has I've kicking about or if anyone has one for sale second hand.

I own a Busker delta, the round neck version and its fantastic!!

Good luck
David

[Dessery]

And is if by magic there is one available through the forum at the moment. Check out the tin can alley section of this forum.

All the best
David

[kiwi]

I have had 3 Republics, a brass tricone, wood body single cone and now a wood body tricone. As Gaucho said the set up can be hit or miss but in my opinion the build quality is good to very good.

The brass tri needed a bit of set up being replace the ebony tip saddle with a maple one, strip the paint off the T bridge and then it was a ripper. The wood single didn't need much just set string height for my preference.

The latest, a wood body tri, I have again stripped the paint off the T bridge (this opens up the sound nicely) and am waiting some strings to get the set up right for me but otherwise very happy.

I think the biggest thing having owned Regals, Epiphones and Johnsons back in early 2000s is the build quality is better and the Continental cones are light years ahead of what came in the Asian guitars previously. All of those needed a cone upgrade and interior woodwork yet none of the Republics do.

I also have a Style O from a local importer and I haven't even opened this one up in 12 months as it plays and sounds wonderful (comes from the same factory as the Republics).

In my opinion they are good value for the dollar and well constructed. I would have bought a MM Blues 28 but with the NZ$ to pound it was too costly. The NZ$ to US$ makes buying from the USA better value.

My current three

[Deleted]

You should consider this.
michaelmesser.proboards.com/thread/7950/busker-tennessee-original-case
TT

[Big John Levee]

thanks for the replies guys, I already feel welcome on this beautiful forum.
I will send busker guitars a e-mail soon ;D