Cheap cover plate and Continental Cones source

[Jan]

Hello!
I'm trying to build my own cheap Tele resonator out of an old no name Tele body and need a cheap cover plate for a biscuit cone.
Do you know where to get some? A used battered one would be also ok. I only can find dobro cover plates but I don't like the look of them. And the new cover plates I found for 50€ are too expensive.
I also can't find any continental cone supplier here in Germany. Are there any good alternatives that are cheaper than NRPs?

It would be great if someone could help me.

Thank you and greetings from Bavaria!

Jan

[bramley]

Canadian seller , contact them and ask for a shipping cost to Bavaria.. Check his other items, he has coverplates and cones separately.

www.ebay.com/itm/CHROME-BISCUIT-RESONATOR-KIT-FOR-GUITAR/203160494180?hash=item2f4d4f2064:g:eesAAOxyyFhTcmqc

[pete1951]

Hobgoblin Music in the UK also have cover plates and cones at reasonable prices. I think they stock 2 types of cones, one from Korea, which looks very like a late National cone ( but does no sound very good) and what looks like a Chinese made Continental ( though it may just look like one,)

Pete

I do have an old Korean cone you could use,( you could have it for free) the acoustic tone would not be great, but if you are using the magnetic pickup it would be ok.
I also have a couple of cover plates, I will send a picture later today.

[pete1951]

One with MM on it one without, you can have the cones as well, one is a good condition Korean made, the other is a Continental that has some minor damage that I don’t think will cause any problems.
Pete

[Jan]

Thank you all for the quick and helpful responses!

bramley: The Canadian seller wants 64$ only for shipping, so it would be a little weird and too pricey to pay more for shipping than for the complete resonator set.

I take the very generous offer from pete and I´m really amazed how helpful the people here in the forum are! Thank you all!

Beside that: Has anyone made experience with the Golden Gate or the Viking Cones offered at Hobgoblin Music in the UK?

Greetings,

Jan

[lexluthier]

Hi! I know nothing of Viking cones so can't comment there. Golden gate cones, not impresssed, too thick, no nuances.

Get a Continental cone, can't go wrong.

Chris

[bramley]

Hi Jan,  thanks for the comment on youtube , I hope you find what you need .

My 2 cents worth is to use a short trapeze tailpiece , they're cheap and more importantly on a Tele will give you a better break angle at the bridge than a reso type tailpiece.

[Jan]

Tanks for the advice. That's what I wanted to do. I didn't found a short one so I will shorten a regular trapeze tailpiece.

[bonzo]

Hi Jan, this is a short tailpiece I have used on my Tele reso. As you can see it falls just short of the biscuit.
It gives enough break angle for the cone, enough that I can also get a tune in unplugged mode.
Got mine on eBay, they're from China but there are local suppliers.  Good luck with your project, we'd all like to see pictures of your progress!

Best wishes to you all, John

[pete1951]

An alternative to a short tailpiece ( I have used the short t/pieces several times) would be to put a small back angle on the neck. This however will mean a Telecaster will not fit happily into a standard Fender case.
Pete
The angle can be quite small, as the neck going back will also mean that the cone or saddle will have to be raised which will increase the tailpiece angle as well.
Normally I would start a build like this with the saddle top about central in the gap under the hand rest, this means it’s no too difficult to raise or lower the action using the saddle if needed . Most action adjustments I would tend to do with the neck angle




One other thing, I am not sure how much it effect the tone, but the length of string between the tailpiece and the bridge can be very small when using standard acoustic reso parts on small bodies. A short tailpiece will increase this length, and may improve acoustic tone. Could very short string length inhibit cone vibrations??
Something NRP should be experimenting with?

[Michael Messer]

A short tailpiece will not do enough to make any difference to the break angle on the guitar in question.

Shine On
Michael

[pete1951]

Are we talking about the same guitar? On a Reso-Tele the edge of the cover plate is very close to the bottom of the guitar, so a short tailpiece sits 20mm back and because the cover plate is curved, 3-4mm lower than a standard one, a standard tailpiece will almost touch the hand rest.
Pete
Don’t have a Reso Tele at the moment but this guitar has the same problem, without a short tailpiece there would be little break angle and no length of string behind the bridge.




National 1133s have a standard tailpiece on a short body, do they have the neck angled back more than a ‘standard’ National? Of perhaps the bridge is set a little higher than normal?

[bonzo]

The tailpiece I posted doesn't have the normal tailpiece 'bump' on it so the strings are as low as they can be before crossing the bridge. (How bluesy is that)
Works well in this situation, got the idea from a Republic parlour I have.

Best wishes to you all, John

[Michael Messer]

National 1133 guitars have a regular normal size tailpiece. I see no reason for the short tailpieces. They were invented by Frank at Republic guitars and his manufacturer in China, to go on small parlour size resonator guitars. While of course I understand the reason for them, I don't agree that they are necessary on any guitar. There is an argument to say that you can adjust the break angle by fitting one, but that adjustment is not enough to warrant manufacturing these tailpieces. I don't think they look right. I prefer what John has done and fitted a trapeze tailpiece.

The original National company knew what they were doing and I see no reason to reinvent "perfection".



Shine On
Michael

[Jan]

Feb 22, 2021 10:19:10 GMT bonzo said:

Hi Jan, this is a short tailpiece I have used on my Tele reso. As you can see it falls just short of the biscuit.
It gives enough break angle for the cone, enough that I can also get a tune in unplugged mode.
Got mine on eBay, they're from China but there are local suppliers.  Good luck with your project, we'd all like to see pictures of your progress!

Best wishes to you all, JohnView AttachmentView Attachment

Your tele reso looks really great. Do you have a "sound chamber" under the pickguard and what kind of pickups do you have for all those controls?

I like the trapeze tailpiece on the tele resonators more than the standard reso tailpieces. Mine will note have the "snake" on it. I have to cut the normal trapeze and make new threads for the screw nuts.
As soon as I'm ready with my project I will post some pictures, but I have to warn you, I don't have much time for it so it will take some time. I hope not too long. But when I look at the pandemic progress, it will be ready before I can take it to the next possible band rehearsal. Ohhh I miss it so much!!!!