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Post by Gav on Dec 14, 2005 16:06:20 GMT
Hello,
I have been playing slide for quite a few years and guitar for a while longer. After a few break throughs with teaching myself to play slide over the last few months I decided I really want a resonator. I have recently discovered the artist Eric Sardinas and absolutely love his gritty overdriven resonator sound.
So my question is what do i buy? it needs to have a neck pick-up so I can amplify it and play it a bit dirty. I have a budget of around £500. I have been looking at some of the all metal resonators and the Wooden one's, Vintage seem to do a nice wooden one with a Humbucker at the neck and a cutaway on the body, the VCR800 I believe
. Its so hard finding decent info let alone reviews for resonators on line. I really like the look of the all metal resonators but can't find many with a neck pick up. I just don't know what to buy. The only resonator in any guitar store near me is a Fender which I have seen gets pretty bad reviews, so it doesn't look like I am going to be able to try before I buy which is why I am posting here so I know what I am buying of a web site is going to give me what I am looking for. Something thats nice to play unplugged Slide guitar on and amped up and dirty. Oh and I need it to be a round neck.
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 14, 2005 17:46:06 GMT
Hi Gav,
Welcome to our forum and please feel free to join in and ask questions about any guitar/music related subjects.
The Vintage is a good guitar for the price and will probably do the job for you. I don't know exactly what Eric Sardinas uses, but if I were going for the kind of sound you have described, I would look at something in the Res-Lectric range.....Amistar make a Resounder, National Reso-Phonic make the Reso-Lectric and there are various other brands. I realize the guitars I have mentioned are more expensive, but they are better quality & better sounding instruments than the Vintage.
Perhaps other forum members could chip in here.....any suggestions for Gav?
As an extra thought - any resophonic guitar with a magnetic pickup will give you an overdriven sound through the right amp/set-up, so if you like the look of metal shiny guitars, get one and have a pickup fitted. In fact, the Dave King Bernadetti pickup would do a great job. It just sticks on the front.
Chris Whitley used old Duolians & Triolians with pickups to get an overdriven sound, so did John Cambell. Very sadly, both of these musicians are no longer with us.
I still think I prefer a solid bodied electric guitar for that kind of sound, but that is only my opinion. Resophonic guitars and overdriven amps as a combination could be a feedback nightmare!
Keep in touch,
Shine On, Michael.
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Post by Gav on Dec 14, 2005 21:28:30 GMT
Thanks for the input. You should check out some of Eric Sardinas's stuff, his sound is absoloutley amazing. He use's a Washburn, his signature series the ES20, Unfortunatley They dont make it any longer. I may just go for the Vintage to start with and see what happens from their, I could possibly stretch my budget a little so I will check out the guitars you suggested.
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 14, 2005 22:53:20 GMT
Hi Gav, I have heard Eric Sardinas's music, I just don't know what guitars he uses. Go to www.respectperfection.com/wheretobuyes20.html and they have the Washburn ES20 for $799 .....less than £500. I am sure the Washburn is a good guitar, but they are not known for these instruments. However, at under £500 it's a good deal. Shine On, Michael.
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Post by LouisianaGrey on Dec 15, 2005 16:32:14 GMT
"Resophonic guitars and overdriven amps as a combination could be a feedback nightmare!"
If you want that overdriven sound I think the National Resolectric does it well. The Resolectric's P90 is pretty hot and the solid body lessens the tendency to feed back (NB not I said "lessens", it definitely doesn't eliminate it!). It definitely gave more useable drive in a live situation than my hollow metal bodied Beltona electric, which also has a P90.
It was really only because I was looking for something cleaner-sounding that I sold the National and started to build my own.
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Post by lee holliday on Dec 16, 2005 13:41:31 GMT
Michael mentions Chris Whitley in the past tense, is that what moving to Dresden in Germany means? Or did you mean Rainer? Lee.
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 16, 2005 13:56:24 GMT
Hi Lee,
No I was serious.....Chris Whitley died a few weeks ago from lung cancer. He was 45 years old.
Michael.
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 16, 2005 16:09:15 GMT
Hi Pete,
I owned a Beltona hollow-bodied reso-electric for a while in the mid 1990s. I couldn't get on with it at all. It looked pretty and I think that was what I was attracted to. I was never able to use it with any success....it was neither fish nor foul....is an expression that springs to mind!
I agree that a solid-bodied reso-electric of some kind is the thing to go for. I think I am biased, but I believe that if you want an electric guitar sound, buy an electric guitar. If you want a resophonic guitar....etc. The whole concept of making a resonator guitar sound overdriven through an amp is not one that I can get my head around. I love overdriven electric slide guitar, I play in that style all the time, but I would never attempt to get it with a resophonic guitar.
Shine On, Michael.
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Post by LouisianaGrey on Dec 16, 2005 16:25:12 GMT
Well yes I agree with you, Michael. If I want an overdriven sound I use a lap steel - buckets of drive and sustain, and I never have to worry about feedback!
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 16, 2005 16:58:10 GMT
Phew......I am glad I am not alone in this area!
Of all the electric slide players that have influenced me over the years, I can't think of any reso-elecric overdriven guitars; Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Earl Hooker, Robert Nightwawk, J.B. Hutto, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Lowell George, David Lindley, Ry Cooder, Mac Gaydon, George Harrison, Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, Brian Jones, Jeremy Spencer, George Thorogood, Gurf Morlix...Gurf does sometimes use a National Reso-Lectric, but I don't think he uses it to get an overdriven sound. ......I am sure there's a few more that have slipped my mind!
Shine On, Michael.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2005 9:12:18 GMT
Did Jeremy Spencer do any albums after his days with Mic Fleetwood, and Peter Green?
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Post by Mairena Red on Dec 18, 2005 11:50:19 GMT
Hi Podunkphill, Jeremy Spencer is alive and well and still recording, though these days he plays an SG rather than the old Gibson semis he played in his Fleetwood Mac days. Suggest you check out www.jeremyspencer.com for further details. All the best, Joe (aka Mairena Red)
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Post by Mairena Red on Dec 18, 2005 12:02:48 GMT
Hi Michael
Your list of electric slide players has an uncanny resemblance to my record collection, though I would add Sonny Landreth to it. I have not heard of Gurf Morlix before (Is that his real name? If it is, his parent had a strange sense of humour!) but his entry in the AMG sounds interesting so I will check him out. Thanks for the tip.
All the best,
Joe (aka Mairena Red)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2005 15:40:45 GMT
Hi Michael, I had just finished watching a Peter Green Splinter Group dvd when I logged on & read this - he seems to be missing from your list?!
Cheers, Clive.
Oh, & thinking of overdriven slide, does anyone remember a certain Mr J Beck?
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 18, 2005 19:24:33 GMT
Hi Clive,
This thread is definitely one that gets a passionate response!
I didn't know that Peter Green played much electric slide. In his prime Peter Green was a giant, but I think of him playing more like BB and Freddie King. Jeff Beck is a great player, but was never an influence on my own playing. I have seen him play a few times, once back in the olden days with Rod Stewart, and in the early 1970s as Beck, Bogart & Appice....they were great and very loud! This list was not intended to be the ultimate electric slide guitarists list, it was just a list of some of the players that have influenced my own electric slide playing. However.....now that we've started.....KEEP 'EM COMING! Joe, that's why I didn't mention Sonny Landreth; there's no doubt that he is a great player, but he is not an influence on my playing. That list I wrote was not particularly calculated, it was just a handful of names that came to the top of the pile when I thought about electric slide guitar and players who have influenced me. I could add a whole list of lap steel and pedal steelers who also left their mark on my electric guitar playing.
I would like to see some forum members lists of who they enjoy listening to, and who has influenced their playing.
Gurf Morlix is on lots of great albums. Check out the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers, Lucinda Williams and numerous other recordings. He is a great player and a pretty darn good producer too.
Shine On, Michael.
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