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Post by razorbill on Feb 28, 2024 17:04:00 GMT
Hello! This is probably a hard ask, but I thought to put it out there to see what people might have. I have been primarily playing lap steel these days and am considering trading my Fine Resophonic Dobro round neck for a squareneck resonator (tricone or dobro). I’m not looking to sell at this point. This is a fantastic guitar that you can hear being played by better hands than mine here: There is one shop Michael recommended to go to get a raised nut/modified saddle made, but cost is considerable and would involve two 12 hour days of travel on two trains and a bus. Given that I figured I should try to explore alternative options in the meantime in case the perfect trade was out there. If nothing is out there I will likely get the work done in a few months and hold on to the Dobro The dobro has been setup by Steve at Beltona guitars and works really well for fingerstyle/slide playing. With the current setup it can be played in standard, open D, and open G with no issues. I’m happy to send additional photos/videos and answer any questions I am based in Newcastle upon Tyne
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 28, 2024 17:53:02 GMT
It's a beautiful thing.
Can't you temporarily just put a nut raiser on it and start playing. Or....ask Mike Lewis if he would make you a high nut and then get a local luthier to fit it. Easy job for a good luthier. In fact that might be all it needs.
Brother Oswald, one of the founders of lap style Dobro playing used a round neck Model 27 with a raised nut for 50 years. He played it in open A tuning.
I have a 1932 Dobro Cyclops round neck with a high nut that is set up for lap style playing. It's a great guitar. Want that one?
Shine On Michael
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Post by razorbill on Feb 28, 2024 18:50:47 GMT
It's a beautiful thing. Can't you temporarily just put a nut raiser on it and start playing. Or....ask Mike Lewis if he would make you a high nut and then get a local luthier to fit it. Easy job for a good luthier. In fact that might be all it needs. Brother Oswald, one of the founders of lap style Dobro playing used a round neck Model 27 with a raised nut for 50 years. He played it in open A tuning. I have a 1932 Dobro Cyclops round neck with a high nut that is set up for lap style playing. It's a great guitar. Want that one? Shine On Michael I’m worried a nut raiser will dent the fretboard. I tried putting a “perfect nut” on it and it sat flush against the ebony. If I tuned up all the weight of the strings would push down on that section of fretboard and I decided it wasn’t worth the risk of permanently marring it Contacting Mike for a high nut and getting someone more local to fit it is a great idea, I will give that a try as a next step. I would have gone with your suggestion, but all in it would cost ~£400 + the prohibitive travel time without a car so I figured I should explore alternatives first
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 28, 2024 19:03:39 GMT
Call Mike and talk to him about making a nut. He will know what to do.
Shine On Michael
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Post by chrisburnuk on Feb 28, 2024 21:02:34 GMT
Hello! This is probably a hard ask, but I thought to put it out there to see what people might have. I have been primarily playing lap steel these days and am considering trading my Fine Resophonic Dobro round neck for a squareneck resonator (tricone or dobro). I’m not looking to sell at this point. This is a fantastic guitar that you can hear being played by better hands than mine here: There is one shop Michael recommended to go to get a raised nut/modified saddle made, but cost is considerable and would involve two 12 hour days of travel on two trains and a bus. Given that I figured I should try to explore alternative options in the meantime in case the perfect trade was out there. If nothing is out there I will likely get the work done in a few months and hold on to the Dobro The dobro has been setup by Steve at Beltona guitars and works really well for fingerstyle/slide playing. With the current setup it can be played in standard, open D, and open G with no issues. I’m happy to send additional photos/videos and answer any questions I am based in Newcastle upon Tyne Check out GuitarKes on social media, it believe she’s called Kate Phillips based in Robin Hoods Bay, whilst I’ve never used her personally it seems she has an excellent reputation.
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Post by zimmharpo23 on Feb 28, 2024 21:08:00 GMT
Hello! This is probably a hard ask, but I thought to put it out there to see what people might have. I have been primarily playing lap steel these days and am considering trading my Fine Resophonic Dobro round neck for a squareneck resonator (tricone or dobro). I’m not looking to sell at this point. This is a fantastic guitar that you can hear being played by better hands than mine here: There is one shop Michael recommended to go to get a raised nut/modified saddle made, but cost is considerable and would involve two 12 hour days of travel on two trains and a bus. Given that I figured I should try to explore alternative options in the meantime in case the perfect trade was out there. If nothing is out there I will likely get the work done in a few months and hold on to the Dobro The dobro has been setup by Steve at Beltona guitars and works really well for fingerstyle/slide playing. With the current setup it can be played in standard, open D, and open G with no issues. I’m happy to send additional photos/videos and answer any questions I am based in Newcastle upon Tyne Check out GuitarKes on social media, it believe she’s called Kate Phillips based in Robin Hoods Bay, whilst I’ve never used her personally it seems she has an excellent reputation. GuitarKes have recently done great work on my vintage Dobro roundneck. I wholeheartedly recommend Kate and Steve.
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Post by razorbill on Feb 28, 2024 21:47:05 GMT
GuitarKes is who Michael suggested and they seem perfect! My trouble is that it is quite challenging to get out to Robin Hood’s Bay without a car.
I messaged them to suggest staying overnight for a 2-day set-up but they weren’t comfortable with that timeline. They also are averse to shipping (to be fair so am at this price point!), so my only option would be to travel down twice. Thanks to NE public transport a 3h round trip drive from Newcastle becomes ~10-12h of travel each go
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Post by chrisburnuk on Feb 28, 2024 21:54:18 GMT
GuitarKes is who Michael suggested and they seem perfect! My trouble is that it is quite challenging to get out to Robin Hood’s Bay without a car. I messaged them to suggest staying overnight for a 2-day set-up but they weren’t comfortable with that timeline. They also are averse to shipping (to be fair so am at this price point!), so my only option would be to travel down twice. Thanks to NE public transport a 3h round trip drive from Newcastle becomes ~10-12h of travel each go Kirtley Guitars in North Shields might be worth a try, again I’ve never used but heard/read good things.
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 28, 2024 21:57:48 GMT
Alex Kirtley is someone I would recommend to fit the new duty, but it is Mike that should make it.
Shine On Michael
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Post by razorbill on Mar 11, 2024 22:01:00 GMT
Mike said that, since he builds his guitars without any CNC, he couldn’t construct/send me a nut without having the guitar due to the variation in the width of his necks.
Back to square one…
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 11, 2024 23:23:47 GMT
Don’t let the instrument stop you, especially such a beautiful one as yours. I learned to play lap style and did it for quite a few years on round neck regular action guitars. Back when I started playing and gigging with my National guitar I only had one and played everything on it, so did everyones I knew. I still do when I fly to gigs and the budget won’t, or my stamina at airports won’t cover more than one guitar, I do the whole show on one instrument, a round neck regular string height guitar. So my advice is to start doing it, and you have a beautiful guitar to play.
Shine On Michael
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 13, 2024 8:24:36 GMT
……And in addition to my previous post - playing lap style I have a very light touch with my left hand, much of which I attribute to learning to play on regular round neck guitars. I also use a Hawaiian bullet shaped steel, not a Stevens or Scheerhorn shaped bar steel. This I believe adds to fluidity, sweetness and a light touch. Most, if not all of the early Hawaiian players used bullet shaped steels, as did Brother Oswald and other early Dobro players.
I hope that is helpful
Shine On Michael
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Post by robbie on Mar 13, 2024 15:27:46 GMT
I am guessing.... the lassie doing guitar repair work etc , so expertly .... and.... working from robin hoods bay ... with the surname of Phillips , is somehow related to the great Steve Phillips
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Post by razorbill on Mar 13, 2024 16:08:43 GMT
Thanks for the words of encouragement Michael. I have been trying my best to play with it as-is.
I play with a bullet tone bar at the minute, I have a Jerry Byrd spec Dunlop 3/4" and a 1", much chunkier, one made by Ben Burrow. The heavier one nearly presses the strings down to the frets under its own weight so I use the former.
If I'm playing the bar straight I can get a clean sound without any buzzing from too light of a touch/too heavy of a touch causing the strings to contact the frets.
I am still trying to figure out tilting the bar to contact single strings and slants, which all sound pretty rough with the low action (always either a too light or heavy touch causing buzzing/unevenness). Those techniques are a lot easier to consistently pull off on my electric steels
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 13, 2024 16:53:10 GMT
My pleasure.
If you are still having problems, get a nut raiser, the best you can find, and put something under the edges to protect the guitar. Look on eBay for a vintage one, they are much nicer and better than new ones.
It is all easier on an electric steel guitar - Electric guitars are easier to play, intonation and slants are way easier on electric steels because the scale length is shorter, that's why they became popular.
Send me the dimensions of your bullet steel because most commercially available ones are not very good. From there I might be able to recommend something better. In fact if you are in touch with Ben, ask him to make you an identical one to the bullet steel he just made for me.
Just trying to be helpful
Shine On Michael
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