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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 17, 2023 8:37:59 GMT
I converted my Resonator Guitar to sound good w/ Really Light Gauge Acoustic Strings by shaving the cone & bridge down to be extra thin. There are no rules and setting a guitar up so that we are happy with it, is essential. As far as I can remember, the lightest I have gone on a resophonic guitar are 10/46, which I recently did for a friend on an MM Lightning. My personal opinion, even for fast jazz soloing and chords, was that it is a bit too light, especially on the bottom end, the E A and D strings. However, we did record a track using the Lightning and while it does sound thin and the string hit the frets occasionally, it sounds great. This is probably due to my friend's excellent playing, more than to the light strings. Shaving down the resonator so it is thinner is a known practice and again can work really well. Usually putting the cone face down in a large bucket of wet sand is a good bed to stop the cone from being damaged while sanding the inside down with wet & dry fine grades. The danger is that you go too thin and the cone loses its strength. The main thing is that you are happy with your modifications. Shine On Michael
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Post by mitchfit on Feb 17, 2023 22:31:29 GMT
i put a set of D'Addario 11-49 XL nickle electric with wound 3rd on an 1133 just to check how they would sound. had to be tuned very tight to even make cone function semi-properly.
sounded somewhat like a harpsichord.(?)
wouldn't recommend for anything but chasing a novelty sound.
mitchfit
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2023 13:10:17 GMT
I converted my Resonator Guitar to sound good w/ Really Light Gauge Acoustic Strings by shaving the cone & bridge down to be extra thin. There are no rules and setting a guitar up so that we are happy with it, is essential. As far as I can remember, the lightest I have gone on a resophonic guitar are 10/46, which I recently did for a friend on an MM Lightning. My personal opinion, even for fast jazz soloing and chords, was that it is a bit too light, especially on the bottom end, the E A and D strings. However, we did record a track using the Lightning and while it does sound thin and the string hit the frets occasionally, it sounds great. This is probably due to my friend's excellent playing, more than to the light strings. Shaving down the resonator so it is thinner is a known practice and again can work really well. Usually putting the cone face down in a large bucket of wet sand is a good bed to stop the cone from being damaged while sanding the inside down with wet & dry fine grades. The danger is that you go too thin and the cone loses its strength. The main thing is that you are happy with your modifications. Shine On Michael I also made lighter gauge strings work on my resonator guitars (lighter than 10s) by stringing the strings underneath the tailpiece which increases the break angle behind the bridge (I also got a Zero glide nut).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2023 13:11:15 GMT
i put a set of D'Addario 11-49 XL nickle electric with wound 3rd on an 1133 just to check how they would sound. had to be tuned very tight to even make cone function semi-properly. sounded somewhat like a harpsichord.(?) wouldn't recommend for anything but chasing a novelty sound. mitchfit It's somewhere between a National & a Selmer Maccaferri. A Longer scale length might allow for lighter gauge strings.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2023 22:23:40 GMT
Actually on my newer resonator Guitar, I got a really good sound out of the lighter gauge strings (10s and thinner) by cranking the angle of the head stock down to 90 Degrees (like a Lute) & using Grover Locking Romantics (w/ a short Post) & it puts the strings at a really really steep angle over the nut.
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Post by mitchfit on Mar 9, 2023 23:24:48 GMT
Oscar Stern,
can't bring myself to modify an 1133. spiritually or financially.
mitchfit
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2023 12:20:26 GMT
Oscar Stern, can't bring myself to modify an 1133. spiritually or financially. mitchfit They would have to make a version w/ an Angled Headstock placed at a 90 Degree angle.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2023 21:16:10 GMT
So here's where I got that idea. I've wanted to angle the headstock of a Resonator Guitar at 90 Degrees so you could get away w/ using lighter gauge strings (10s and thinner) as it's putting the strings at a sharper angle over the nut.
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Post by snakehips on Mar 10, 2023 22:27:57 GMT
i think that most of us dont play in standard tuning .. so would never consider 11-50 Really ? I play on my vintage Nationals in standard tuning a lot of the time (as well as Open D, Open G, Open D Minor, Dropped D). I play slide in standard tuning often, and I often play open tunings without a slide. I don't think I'm the only one. Switching to a set of 11-48 strings might be a big enough jump to lighter strings without going too far. Stick with those for a few weeks - you might be surprise that you get to like them, even if at first, you don't. And if you still don't like them, there is always 12-54. Some brands even do 12-53.
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Post by mitchfit on Mar 11, 2023 0:20:39 GMT
Oscar, kinda late in the game to make that extreme of a modification on an 1133 neck. easier to place a custom order with warmoth.com instead? can't really envision how to end up with a structurally sound end product working with OEM neck. not sure about 1133 necks in particular, but i think many national offerings from that period came with very large steel flat bar truss rods that terminated just before the nut to hold up to large diameter steel core string tension forces. seems that the pictured design may wear heavily on tuners due to vastly increased frictional forces required to bend steel cored strings around the small radius and that would make them tend to break just behind the nut after being tuned a few times? this may be less of an issue with nylon cored strings. was more thinking along these lines for a mod that was possible. not really 90 degree but as close as steel strings may hold up to: images.bonanzastatic.com/afu/images/c0ca/f0b2/1740_9827685033/__57.jpgstill just not an option to my thinking mitchfit
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2023 17:05:24 GMT
I found out that Banjo Heads like lighter gauge strings so the head will vibrate more freely so I actually reversed the function of the resonator cone to where it only works w/ lighter gauge strings so it acts more like a Banjo head.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2023 17:06:57 GMT
Oscar, kinda late in the game to make that extreme of a modification on an 1133 neck. easier to place a custom order with warmoth.com instead? can't really envision how to end up with a structurally sound end product working with OEM neck. not sure about 1133 necks in particular, but i think many national offerings from that period came with very large steel flat bar truss rods that terminated just before the nut to hold up to large diameter steel core string tension forces. seems that the pictured design may wear heavily on tuners due to vastly increased frictional forces required to bend steel cored strings around the small radius and that would make them tend to break just behind the nut after being tuned a few times? this may be less of an issue with nylon cored strings. was more thinking along these lines for a mod that was possible. not really 90 degree but as close as steel strings may hold up to: images.bonanzastatic.com/afu/images/c0ca/f0b2/1740_9827685033/__57.jpgstill just not an option to my thinking mitchfit Actually I added String Rollers so the strings would last longer by turning the wheels.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2023 17:16:01 GMT
The Gauge of string also depends on the scale length of the Guitar. If you have a longer scale length you can use lighter gauge strings for easier playability w/o sacrificing the loss of volume because it pulls them a little tighter than your typical short scale. This Resonator Guitar for example I use 10s because it has a 26 inch scale, that's 1/2 an in. longer than the typical 25.5 in scale.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2023 17:16:41 GMT
Here's this helpful chart, if you have a Shorter Scale Length you need Heavier Gauge strings, where as on the other hand a Longer Scale Length means you can switch to Lighter Gauge Strings.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2023 17:19:02 GMT
I find a Radiused Fretboard will help but for slide playing we'd need a Dished Guitar Slide.
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