Replacement 9.5" cone - UK suppliers?

[oly]

Hi all, and my apologies if I'm asking a dumb newbie question. I have recently picked up my first resonator guitar (a Dean Heirloom Copper), From what I've read it's not the finest of tone generators but it's a step on the ladder and I love it. The spec says it's an iron body, it's heavy, I guess the Copper is a thin plate over the top. It plays very well but the sustain isn't great - nut not cut great, intonation issues (probably a wonky bridge). So I'm going to get it setup properly to get the most out of it. I've read many forum posts and so am considering upgrading the 9.5" cone to a National ... but I can't seem to find a UK supplier. Can anyone suggest where I can buy one and which variant to go for? I'm hoping it will come with a new bridge too.

[snakehips]

Hi there !

Michael Messer could possibly supply you with (or direct you to) a Continental cone.

National Resophonic Hot Rod cones can be bought directly from National Resophonic (my recommendation) or via Thomann’s website (in Germany).

National Resophonic (NRP) are open again, since their lockdown has eased.

You might want to consider ordering more than one cone, if you can find others interested in buying cones, as it would help in sharing the shipping costs, to benefit everyone.

A biscuit/bridge comes with National Resophonic cones but I’m not sure about the Continental cones (I’d expect so though).

In the meantime, have a good look at the biscuit on your guitar.

Is the side of the biscuit OR either side of the bridge sides touching the edge of the large circular hole in the coverplate ???
Usually, if the guitar build has all been lined up perfectly (the tailpiece, the coverplate, the neck all perfectly centred), then the cone and biscuit should sit perfectly centred in the coverplate hole.
I just had a look at a friend’s Gretsch resonator guitar. The tailpiece was not correctly centred in the guitar, pulling all the strings a little towards the bass side, so the the bass-side side of the bridge was rubbing against the coverplate.
Initially, I thought the coverplate wasn’t positioned perfectly centred, but it is.

I replaced the biscuit with a NRP biscuit and found the same issue with the bsicuit bridge rubbing the side of the coverplate hole.
It’s not really feasible to put new screw holes 2-3mm across from the original tailpiece screw-holes. The original screw-holes need filled first then new holes drilled - but I’m no expert at doing that - and the basic narrow metal bar tailpiece may not hide the original off-centre holes.
So, I cut a bit of a scoop out of the bass-side side of the bridge to stop it from rubbing the coverplate.
With decent string slots cut and vee’d appropriately for better intonation, that was enough to improve the guitar quite a bit, with it’s original (I presume) Continental cone.

PS. iron body ?
Check with a magnet (any will do, even a fridge magnet !)
If it sticks, it’s a steel bodied guitar, if not, it’s brass.
NB. Some guitars may use different metals for different parts of the guitar - so check the front, back, sides AND coverplate with the magnet.

[jono1uk]

Thomann sell an beard one but i understand they are not very good  ...just supplying the information..  i would say a continental one or a genuine NRP should be your choice ..  
www.thomann.de/gb/beard_guitars_legend_cone.htm

@snakehips are Thomann still doing the NRP cone?  
can only see the Tricone cones on there .. 

[leeophonic]

I bought my Thoman NRP 9.5 cone a year or so ago, no problems even sent one back and return was a good process. Cheaper than USA direct from NRP

Regards

[pete1951]

If you have taken your cover plate off, send a photo of the cone, when all the other problems are fixed the cone may sound ok. A photo will also tell some people on the forum a lot,
Pete

[oly]

A very belated thank you guys. In the various COVID lockdowns I got disheartened but your advice was spot on. My first mistake was changing the strings by taking all the old ones off first - really difficult to get everything back right, won't do that again. My next mistake was not looking at the alignment of the bridge and spotting it was all over the place. In the end I purchased a National cone straight from Thomann for £80 (ouch!). The first arrived dented as they put an XLR cable in the same box but they sent out a replacement that arrived safely.

Next I took the guitar to my trusty local luthier in Reading (Julian Mullen www.julianmullenguitars.co.uk/). He talked me through my options and I elected for a setup suited to finger picking style setup for DADGAD. He advised that the bridge design means it's quite tricky to get a nice action for all tunings as you run out of relief over the bridge if you are not careful. So mine is setup for DADGAD but it will also tune to standard ok (he left the action a little higher just to allow this).

The results? I'm not sure how much of it was just setup but the weak and feeble bass response is gone and it now booms out beautiful articulate bass tones and sounds amazing. The intonation is bang on and it's much louder. It sounds much better and is now a joy to play. So I got the guitar for a bargain, then spent £130 on a cone and setup and now it's amazing. I'm very happy with that. Many thanks to Julian and a shameless plug for his work - he has done quite a few setups and re-frets for me on acoustics, electrics and now resonator and he gets it just how I want it every time. I could have spent years trying to get it right and failing!

[Michael Messer]

Apr 12, 2021 17:48:08 GMT oly said:

A very belated thank you guys. In the various COVID lockdowns I got disheartened but your advice was spot on. My first mistake was changing the strings by taking all the old ones off first - really difficult to get everything back right, won't do that again. My next mistake was not looking at the alignment of the bridge and spotting it was all over the place. In the end I purchased a National cone straight from Thomann for £80 (ouch!). The first arrived dented as they put an XLR cable in the same box but they sent out a replacement that arrived safely.

Next I took the guitar to my trusty local luthier in Reading (Julian Mullen www.julianmullenguitars.co.uk/). He talked me through my options and I elected for a setup suited to finger picking style setup for DADGAD. He advised that the bridge design means it's quite tricky to get a nice action for all tunings as you run out of relief over the bridge if you are not careful. So mine is setup for DADGAD but it will also tune to standard ok (he left the action a little higher just to allow this).

The results? I'm not sure how much of it was just setup but the weak and feeble bass response is gone and it now booms out beautiful articulate bass tones and sounds amazing. The intonation is bang on and it's much louder. It sounds much better and is now a joy to play. So I got the guitar for a bargain, then spent £130 on a cone and setup and now it's amazing. I'm very happy with that. Many thanks to Julian and a shameless plug for his work - he has done quite a few setups and re-frets for me on acoustics, electrics and now resonator and he gets it just how I want it every time. I could have spent years trying to get it right and failing!

Hi Oly

Very good news that you got your guitar set up and that you are happy with it. I am sure your luthier has done a great job. However, I am a little concerned that you believe your guitar has been set up for DADGAD and that the bridge is tricky to get right for all tunings. If it has been set up to be in tune in DADGAD, then it will also be fine in all other tunings that one would use on a six string round neck guitar. Musicians have been tuning National & Dobro style guitars every which way for 94 years. There are some guidelines about string heights, downward pressure and neck relief, but that's all. I think your luthier is talking about the amount of break angle from the bridge saddle to the tailpiece and if it is good in a D type of tuning, that is absolutely fine for other tunings. I have never heard anyone say what your luthier has told you.

Shine On
Michael