Any cause for concern?

[bod]

I do hope I'm not being a nuisance, but I've just noticed that the strings on my new Regal squareneck are - what I believe is referred to as - understrung. They look like this:



In short, I'm wondering if this is a cause for concern.

I should probably say that nothing (else) about the instrument is troubling me at all, it seems to me to play and sound fine. I just have this feeling that I've been told that it is not a good idea to string this way around.

Thanks,

Dave

[snakehips]

Hi there !
Not a Dobro enthusiast so I might be wrong here (!) BUT I suspect the guitar has been restrung at the guitar shop you bought it from and the numb-skull has put the strings through the tailpiece the wrong way around. Re-string it the correct way up (as it should be) and see how it plays, how the action is, how it sounds etc.

If it doesn't sound right, take it back.

I doubt it will be a problem though - but I'd still string it correctly anyway.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Bod,

Those look like D'Addario strings, they were definitely NOT factory fitted. I suspect Snakehips is correct. If when you do re-string the guitar, it is not working properly, you should return it to the dealer. Understringing is one of two things - either it is a stupid shop assistant not knowing how to string a Dobro. Or....and much more sinister, it is a way of making a resonator guitar that is set up badly or is built badly, sound good.

Keep us posted,

Shine On
Michael.

[andys]

Bod,
I know from another thread that you got your Regal Squareneck for a good price, and are happy with it too.
If the neck angle to the body is shallow, and the bridge is low, especially on a roundneck, the strings pass over the saddle with little of no angle. Not only does this not push down on the cone enough, but also it causes the strings to pop out of the slots in the bridge, when plucked hard. The quick fix is to understring.
On your guitar with a square neck you could replace the bridge saddles with higher ones, all it would do is raise the strings higher, which on a square neck is not a problem. Then you could have the strings coming from under the tailpiece, and having a steeper angle over the saddles.
Or you could search out one of the shorter tailpieces, which would have a similar effect.
I had a Vintage resonator for a while, that had a shallow neck/body angle. I put in a Quarterman cone, and to get the action low enough to play, I found that the angle over the bridge was not enough to make that new cone ring. Also strings would pop out of the slots. So there were two solutions.
1) An expensive neck re-set on a cheap guitar
2) Understring the tailpiece.

I chose the latter.

[bod]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Here is the update:

I had to go past the guitar shop this morning anyway, so I popped in and said there was a potential issue with the Regal, explained my concern about the stringing, that I'd sought expert advice and outlined the advice I'd had. Happily the chap who owns the shop was keen to help and suggested I take the instrument back in, let him restring it there and then and that way we could both see and hear whether there were any further issues to be dealt with. I did this at lunchtime and was back home this afternoon with the instrument sounding and playing very much as it did before, with me enjoying it very much as before ;D

As it happens, the chap in the shop readily admitted he was no expert on resonators and said he was sorry that I'd had bring it back for sorting out. He also claimed not to have fitted the strings, given what Michael said I was unsure what to make of this (I've been using this shop for a couple of decades and bought a number of instruments there without having any problems and the after-sales service has always been good, so I'd be slow to think him a liar). Even so, the strings are definitely D'Addario's and the instrument even had a tag on a string attached to it pointing this out, and the same tag had a label on on it bearing the brand, model designation and serial number of the instrument, just exactly like the label on the box - but as I do not know where such tags and labels come from or at what stage they are united and affixed it is not clear to me whether this means anything.... sorry, digressing again... main point is everything seems fine once more

Thanks all for the support. Michael, you are a gent: 'Respect!', as the young people of today might say.

[Michael Messer]

Thank you for your message Bod. I am pleased that everything turned out okay for you.

Likewise - 'Respect!'

Shine On
Michael