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Post by Mr White on Mar 22, 2006 13:58:41 GMT
Howdy all,
Hoping to join the fraternity of the Resonator I had narrowed my search to a couple of guitars under £400 ( Rally/Ozark ), and then noticed the 3515 BTE (a thin bodied version of the Ozark with lipstick pickup), and my plans were thown into dissarray! - surely it can't stand up to the full bodied sound of it's purely acoustic cousins - but no! Guy in the shop played a few bars and I thought it was a new contender.
Do you or any of the esteemed reso-brethren of this forum have any opinion/experience of this acoustic/electric breed? - I'm a relative newbie to reso's and this forum!
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 22, 2006 14:36:56 GMT
Howdy Mr White,
Welcome to our forum. Reso-electric guitars are played by numerous musicians who get on really well with them. Either used with a magnetic pickup (lipstick or P90) and some kind of pickup fitted into the biscuit on the cone (Highlander is by far the best and most expensive, and a very good alternative is Schatten), they are loud and have a pretty good tone. Obviously the more you spend the better guitar you will get. Top of the range reso-electrics are made by National Reso-Phonic, Fine Resophonic, Beltona and one or two others. One instrument I can recommend, which is more expensive than the Ozark, but a lot cheaper than the big names, is a 'Resocaster' made by Pete Woodman on the Isle of Man. Pete hand builds resophonic guitars and keeps his prices as realistic as possible. Certainly worth looking into. Amistar make one, I forget its model name, but that is a nice guitar too.
My personal preference is not to use thinline reso-electric guitars, I prefer (even when plugging in) to use a regular full size National style instrument and fit whatever pickups you want. But that's just my opinion!
"esteemed reso-brethren" .....That's a great phrase!
I know this is a subject we have discussed a few times on this forum, but if any members would like to contribute to Mr White's thread and give their viewpoint/opinions.....let's hear 'em!
Keep in touch,
Shine On,
Michael.
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Post by LouisianaGrey on Mar 22, 2006 18:12:03 GMT
Thank you for the kind words, Michael!
I think they're two different animals really. I don't think the solid-bodied electric resos have the tone of a "real" one. The hollow bodied ones, like the Ozark, get most of the tone but lose out in volume. They sound OK played on their own but you will notice the difference if they are played against a full-bodied one with a decent cone in it.
I usually tell people that there's no point buying an electric reso unless you intend to plug it in in a live situation, probably in the context of a band. Because of the thin body they are usually less prone to feedback than a full-sized reso with a pickup. Even so, in that sort of situation you should think of them as more like a semi than a full-blown electric i.e. you can get a reasonable amount of volume out of them if you're careful about your stage positioning but you wouldn't want to stand in front of a Marshall stack.
On the other hand if you just want to play by yourself at home then you are paying extra for a lot of electronic gubbins that you don't need and which doesn't add anything to the unplugged sound. The magnetic neck pickup has a nice sound of its own but it won't really capture much of the tone of the cone, so if that's what you're after when you plug in then you should buy a full-sized one and fit a piezo-type pickup.
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Post by rickS on Mar 23, 2006 9:53:34 GMT
Hi all - just to muddy the waters; not all electric resos are thinline - I have one of the cutaway wood-bodied Ozarks with lipstick p/up & it's deep enough body ( 3.25") to give decent bass-tone (tho I had to swap the cone for NR to get the best out of it); if you're OK with that distinctive woodbody sound (which I find more versatile than metalbody), might be worth considering?
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Post by mrwhite on Mar 23, 2006 10:49:07 GMT
Howdy all,
Thanks to you all , a rich vein of experience I intend to tap further!
Well research has been going on for a couple of months now and the pendulum of choice swings back again to hover over "Single cone, Metal body", (Rally/Regal/Ozark), but it hasn't stopped yet!
Gigging would seem some way off, but I do record at home quite a lot, is there such a thing as a temporary pickup for reso's similar to the clip in ones you can get for 'normal' acoustics? Or is good mic placement the only way to record them?
Q: (Basic, I know...) How would you summerise the difference between single-cone wood-bodies and thier metalic cousins? - Examples would be useful? Artist/Tracks?
That probably exceeds the question quota!
Thanks Again.
Mr White.
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 23, 2006 14:36:58 GMT
Howdy again Mr White,
The best way to record and perform with a resophonic guitar is to use a microphone. Certainly for recording a microphone is the best way. An SM57 will always serve you well.
There are some temporary clip-on/stick-on mics & pickups which vary in price. Years ago I used to use a tie-clip microphone in the F hole and it wa a pretty good temporary system. Lace make a stick-on pickup, but it will only fit certain guitars. It was designed to fit on OMI metal bodied Dobros. Dave King & Mike Lewis both sell Bennedetti pickups that are pretty good on resophonic guitars (somewhere on this forum there is a thread about them).
The differences between wood & metal single cone National style instruments are many; but basically....wood is a little sweeter, warmer and possibly a touch more forgiving. However....there is wood and there is wood>>> National style guitars should be made of laminates and feel sturdy & strong, more like a speaker cabinet than a guitar. So in the budget range, metal is probably a safer bet.
Remember, when you are listening to recording artists past or present playing resophonic guitars, you are very unlikely to be hearing budget priced guitars. All recordings of Nationals before the late 1980s are of vintage 1920s/30s and 40s National guitars. Most modern recording artists use vintage Nationals, new Nationals, or hand-built National replicas. Whilst I am very supportive of the budget range of instruments; they are fantastic value for money and they open up the reso-world to everybody, they do not have the tone of higher quality instruments. So listening to …for example….me playing various resophonic guitars, will give you an idea of the differences between wood, metal, single-cone, Tricone, Dobro….etc, but top-of-the-range instruments are very different to budget priced ones. I would advise to play a selection and then form an opinion.
Over the years I have recorded with every type of resophonic guitar. I am not saying this as a sales pitch, but because I know what I played on all my albums! You could check out my latest album, Lucky Charms, for lots of wood-bodied resophonic guitar, and, King Guitar, for a selection of both metal & wood. It really depends which fels right in your hands….not what we all say!
Keep in touch and let us know how you get on. If you have any more questions…..just ask and someone will be able to help.
Shine On
Michael.
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Post by Andy S on Mar 24, 2006 13:10:03 GMT
I have just acquired a Vintage VRC800, which is a full depth biscuit reso, with a cutaway and a mini-humbucker in the neck. I did a lot of fettling of it, adding a bone nut and cleaning out the cone well, but it now with new strings sounds great for me. The humbucker gives a beefy slide tone, with some influence frm the cone, but above all it allows me to get both a reso acoustic sound AND an electric sound from one guitar rather than raising the action on my only good electric. I guess that there is a compromise along the way, but I feel that on a budget this guitar gives a good acoustic sound with high fret access, plus the option of rocking out if you want to. I got this guitar at a hefty discount (apparently some Vintage guitars are already on special offer anyway at the moment), so me pulling it apart, and working on it (which I do with all my guitars and instruments anyway, as I enjoy working on them as well as playing them), was no hassle and got me a very good sounding, playable and versatile reso for less than £150. Also it has got me hooked, and I want another, maybe a spider bridge model, to give me more variety and for me, the perfect combination of music and engineering! Its the guitar I find the hardest to put down
In short as well as the Ozark, Vintage instruments are well worth looking at, in my view, especially on a budget. Also the appeal of a budget instrument is that your not so precious about it and will do mods to it that maybe you wouldnt do to a more bespoke or valuable instrument. When my 9 year old daughter wants to make a bit of racket with it on her knee, its cool, too!
Andy S
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