Duolian Resonator

[hubcap]

Hi Michael and fellow members of the forum,

I discovered one of your responses to a member with concerns about open E tuning.  I have similar concerns and I found your advice very helpful regarding steel body guitars. It has prompted me to buy one on eBay, which turned out to be somewhat disappointing. It has some issues which I am gradually ironing out. The seller believed this to be a Republic Duolian but was not sure. I have attached some pics of the guitar with the headstock serial number.

I emailed Frank in Austin Texas a while ago but unfortunately as yet have not had a response from him.

My questions are, can anyone confirm this is a Republic and if it is a limited edition model?  As you can see, the badge on the headstock is missing but the marker dot on the third fret is a star. The other distinguishing feature is that the F holes are rolled. The various parts of the guitar seem to be quite good quality but there are some issues with it which are not so good. I've looked inside and can confirm that there are no angle brackets as there were with some of the original Duolians of the 1930s.

I would be grateful for any opinions on the Republic guitars; good, bad or ugly, and hopefully confirmation as to what I have bought.

Many thanks in advance.

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[bonzo]

Hi hubcap, welcome to the forum. I think your guitar is a Republic, I have a few and think they are decent guitars if set up properly. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a response from them! From what I can see from the pictures you've posted the strings look like they've seen better days.
I'd suggest replacing them with Newtone MM's they are thought as the go to strings by many on the forum.
I also noticed that the nut was either damaged or off centre, it doesn't meet up with the binding and your sixth string seems a long way into the fretboard IMO.
I think you've got a nice guitar and if you got a good deal so much the better.
You will get lots of good advice from forum members, they'll want to know things about break angles and string height and will be happy to talk you through anything you're not sure about. Order up a couple of sets of strings in the meantime. Good luck 👍

Best wishes to you all, John

[Michael Messer]

Hi Hubcap,

Your guitar is a Republic and 2009 was not a great year for their quality control.

Bonzo is correct about the alignment issue. The tailpiece has not been fitted in the centre, it is slightly off. You can see that by the way it has pulled the nut across and by the way the tailpiece is sitting on the coverplate. This can be corrected by widening the hole in the tailpiece with a file. It's an easy fix, but it will open up another problem, which is the loose tail block inside. What you do is file the hole into an oval shape on the treble side so you can push it up to the centre. Then you tighten the screw and it should hold in position. You will need to make and glue in a new tail block. Let's talk about that in another conversation.

The points you have commented about - rolled F holes and lack of certain design features inside, are correct for Republic at this time. The serial numbering system was something they copied from me and started doing around this time, maybe in late 2008.

With some TLC and advice from members of this forum your guitar can be made to sound good and play well.

Shine On
Michael

[hubcap]

Hi Bonzo and Michael,

Thank you for your responses.

I am amazed at how much you are both able to decypher from the photographs . I took the pics when I first got the guitar and have since been investigating the issues I have with it.

When I removed the strings, the nut fell off. It appears not to be glued in situ. I intend to replace it anyway with a bone nut unless advised otherwise. Also I noticed the tailpiece was touching the cover plate and I rectified this by replacing it with a Korean made tailpiece which seemed to be of the correct tensile strength. Michael's comments regarding floating the tailpiece by making an elongated hole, funnily enough I had already done. However when I removed the original tailpiece the block inside fell out. I glued it back into place using an epoxy resin.

I removed the cover plate to inspect the cone etc. The cone itself appears to be OK. The wafer is extremely tight on the biscuit and appears to be very roughly cut. I have left this for the moment and am focusing on other issues.Knowing the brake angle would be very helpful.

When I removed the cone, I found  the stick was cut so roughly that it was fouling the cone and deadening the resonance. This I managed to shave back with a chisel. I had to panel beat the flange in order for the cone to sit flush. I can vouch for the streangth in the body however as this took some doing to get the steel to move! I think the neck has too much relief as I am finding dead notes from the 7th to 10th fret. 

[Michael Messer]

Hi Hubcap,

The original tailpiece is probably better than the Korean one, it will be a better shape and it is supposed to touch the coverplate along the front rim.

I believe that instrument has always had the issues you are finding, that is the reason it has hardly been played. I can see no signs of player's wear.

Biscuit/saddle... get a new one. PM me your address and I'll put one in the post for you. A little Easter gift! Those tuners look pretty cheap and unreliable too. I can send you a set of tuners if you would like to replace them, but not as a gift.

Some photos of the current break angle would be helpful, and some pics of other parts you want advice about.

Shine On
Michael

[hubcap]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your advice regarding the original tailpiece. I have popped that back on and taken more photographs of the guitar's geometry.

Included is a picture of the biscuit and wafer. I had to pare off the sides because they were touching the cover hole.

I think, without doubt, you are right, the guitar was built in this condition.

I also have some issues regarding tuning this guitar which I would like to discuss with you after you have assessed the pics. In a situation like this it is easy to jump too far forward whilst working the problem.

Thank you very much for the offer to supply a new biscuit and tuners. I will contact you privately as you suggest.

 

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[hubcap]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for the parts you sent me, including the biscuit.

I thought you and others might like to see some checks I made on the accuracy of your biscuits. I set up the one you supplied on my lathe and fitted a blade at a true 90 degrees to my chuck. I centered the biscuit, lightly applied pressure to the outside with the jaws of the chuck and offered up the blade to the machined face of your biscuit.

As you can see from the results, they are superb! The blade in the pic is just touching the machined face of the biscuit and no light comes past that blade. All I can say to anyone, anywhere, wanting to buy your biscuits, is to do so with confidence.

I will continue to update the forum on the progress regarding remedial repairs to my Republic Duolian

Thanks again.

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[bonzo]

Oooo hubcap, that sort of measuring and equipment will get a few forum members drooling! 🎸👍🙂

[hubcap]

Hi Bonzo,

I could have been more analytical by passing a dial indicator across it but I felt that was a bit OTT considering the medium I was dealing with.

I want to make a jig so that I can check the accuracy of biscuit and spider cones.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Hubcap,

Your machinery looks amazing and I thank you for your kind words about MM biscuits.

I just want to clarify one point before anyone gets any ideas. I don't as a rule sell any accessories or spares for resonator guitars. However, I do carry everything I need for MM guitars, should I need to honour a guarantee, or just to replace a damaged component. While hosting this forum, occasionally people come along, like you have, with guitars that require parts which I have sitting in a drawer at my home. Not always, but sometimes I help out as I did last week for you. I get many emails and messages through social media asking me for cones and all sorts, and more than nine times out of ten I tell them I don't supply spares.

Shine On
Michael

[hubcap]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for clarifying that point. I was unaware you were not a supply stockist and as such, I thank you for your help.

[hubcap]

Hi Michael,

You may recall I mentioned I was having a problem adjusting the relief on my Republic Duolian. I thought you and other members may like to observe my findings. To recap, I had too much relief on the neck and was dismayed to find that inspite of my adjusting the truss rod as far as I could, there still appeared to be an area of distortion . However having left the neck to settle for over a week, it appears to have pulled itself straight. I believe this can happen after a time from the information I have read regarding truss rod adjustment.

I stumbled on one of your replies to a forum member regarding comparative neck angles on original National steel guitars and the post-war makes. I found this very helpful because I wanted to establish the neck angle on my Republic. As you can see from the pics, I have laid a spirit level on the body of the guitar and followed the line to the nut. I hope you can see from the pics that the angle tails backwards and the height of the nut lies at roughly 90 degrees to the body( i.e. the bottom of the level is at the height of the nut). As you know, this guitar has some issues and I am having to consider everything which may be mis-aligned or faulty. My feeling is that the neck geometry is correct but I would be grateful if anyone else who owns the same model can confirm that theirs is the same. Please bear in mind, however, I have set the neck dead straight for this measurement and hopefully when I make further adjustments for set up I won't have to adjust for any relief.

 

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