new Blues 28

[muddy056]

I just wanted to say what a great experience i have had looking for and finding such a great instrument. Michael has been a delight to work with. The guitar arrived as promised, the packaging was superb with great attention to detail , loved the string ties, so Thank You Michael for such a great experience. I am loving this guitar, the shaded edging really sets off the satin mahogany body and the gloss sunburst neck looks and feels great. The set up is working for me , really like the strings, and the new slides are really a treat to use.  I bought this guitar to use as a slide instrument but for the first two weeks i kept it in D standard tuning and played all my favorite tunes could not put it down. I have finally begun to play slide in open G just love the tone. It fills the gap between my highway 61 woody (republic) and my NRP resorocket WB.  Nice case but i just  can't bear to keep these things in cases so they live on a guitar rack in a humidified room. I have noticed a few interesting details about the guitar it looks to be a little thinner then my other guitars and inside I can see two diagonal braces/tone bars? whatever is going on with the construction of the body it has a great solid feel but really vibrates nicely when you dig in and get a good thump going. So Nice job can't wait to try a lighting.
Anthony

[Michael Messer]

Hello Anthony,

Great to hear from you and thank you for your kind words.

I am pleased to hear that #MMB130422 arrived safely in NJ after its long journey across the pond, and that you are happy with it.

The body depth is the same as my favourite early National Triolians from 1928, which do vary slightly in their body depths. The two converging tram lines on the back are the same as those early Triolians had. The whole idea was to make the back as stiff as possible. The Dopyera brothers were completely aware and in control of the idea that what they were building was in essence a speaker cabinet and not an acoustic guitar. All I wanted to do was to get as close as I could to those 1928 guitars, so I changed as little as I possibly could and they are pretty close.

I remember getting through quite a few prototypes until we finally got it right. I got the first prototype in 2009 on a visit to the factory in Shanghai, and it finally went into production in 2013. That first one was made while I was there and is a beautiful guitar, then they struggled to make subsequent ones as good as that first one, and it took a couple of years of phone calls, emails and prototypes to get back to where we started. We made it!

Thank you Anthony. Enjoy your guitar.

Shine On
Michael

[muddy056]

Michael I love the attention to detail, my little republic s fun to play but has one great sound very strong midrange minimal overtones, the wood body reso- rocket jumps to the other extreme with a much more open sound with a lot going on. The 28 has the best of both worlds. Unfortunately not having played a National and from the YouTube vid’s I suspect that a 30’s National is where I want to be but that market looks a little intimidating to me.
Anthony

[Michael Messer]

Hi Anthony,

Those are interesting points that you make and I am most grateful for your words about the MMB28. The only way I can respond is to say that MM guitars are all based on, and are as close as possible to original National guitars that were designed by John Dopyera and his brothers. John and his brothers were geniuses and the instruments they created were and still are just perfect in every way. The instruments you are discussing are fine instruments, there is no question, but they were not designed by John and and his brothers. I have never tried to reinvent anything, just to stick as close as I can to the work of the Dopyeras.

Yep... original National guitars are becoming more and more expensive as time goes by. It was bound to happen because there will never be any more of them.

Shine On
Michael