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Post by gaucho on Dec 1, 2020 0:23:34 GMT
Rik Besser is really good at reshaping and even "tuning" old cones and making them usable again, if anyone is ever interested....
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Post by gaucho on Nov 18, 2020 0:35:09 GMT
Nice! I have that '31 Duolian's twin!
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Post by gaucho on Nov 17, 2020 0:02:40 GMT
I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would put a new fretboard on a vintage guitar and change the fret markers! It's the first thing people look at! NRP does this with Vintage Nationals now, all their new fretboard jobs have 5 dots below the 12th fret instead of 3 the that's proper on most 12 fretters....
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Post by gaucho on Nov 16, 2020 17:54:14 GMT
Yes, believe me I've tried to think of a way to reduce the size of those dots! LOL!
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Post by gaucho on Nov 16, 2020 13:59:40 GMT
I don't want to contradict what anyone else has said here... But I have '31 Duolian that was a basket case when I found it. Broken headstock, black spray paint... a mess. When I got it all together, it had a badly bowed neck as well. But it sounded incredible. I have 3 other Duolians (and a few other Nationals), but this one sounded the best! I really wanted to make it playable and I shopped it around to several of the best Reso guys in the US (including Marc) and they all said it was too far gone and wasn't worth spending the money on due to the condition of the rest of the guitar. My only option was looking to be a new neck (which just wasn't an option IMO). I found a luthier that built beautiful classical guitars and he said he could do something similar to what Mike Lewis mentioned above. I figured I had nothing to loose. He took off the old phenolic board (it basically crumbled), did a slight bit of planing on the neck and routed in a carbon truss rod (non ad)j. He then build a beautiful new, ebony fretboard that he compensated for the bow and fretted with new, vintage style frets. It now plays and sound FANTASTIC! and he only charged be $250!! I insisted that it was too cheap but he wouldn't take more! The only regret I have is that he (he thought the was doing me a favor) replaced the "plastic" fret dots with real mother of pearl that are a hair larger than the originals. It messes with my OCD, but I'll live with it! I would have never taken a chance like this with one of my other Nationals, which are all in very nice original shape. But this guitar seemed worth the risk. It remains my favorite! It's on the far right... Here's a recent Video clip to hear the tone...
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Post by gaucho on Nov 12, 2020 15:25:39 GMT
I have one of the green, Mateus ones from Ian. LOVE it. It has just the right amount of texture to it and gives great "shimmer"!
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Post by gaucho on Nov 12, 2020 15:18:16 GMT
Thanks. He did such an amazing job. I wish I had photographed the guitar when I found it. Had a really ugly pink and turquoise rattle can spray paint job. I stripped it to bare metal and played it that way for awhile. It's such a good guitar I decided it was worthy of Rik's magic. Interestingly, and back to the cone topic, Rik told me it had the cone in it from a later in the 30's, 14 fret National. I didn't realize that there were different cones. Rik also does an great job of reshaping and "tuning" old cones. I sent him two I had in my parts bin. He wanted to buy one for a personal guitar he was working on so I gifted him one. The other one currently resides in a Hwy 61 (sacrilege I know but it sounds spectacular!)until I find a suitable "host" for it!
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Post by gaucho on Nov 12, 2020 15:01:47 GMT
Rik Redid the Duco on My Sears and used his screw when the put it back together (it had non-original screws). Beautiful job all the way around! Only pic I have on hand, but you can zoom in and kinda see... Maybe this is better...
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Post by gaucho on Nov 10, 2020 14:08:41 GMT
Those Fred Kelly thumbpicks are super comfortable! I like to reshape the blade with a nail file to make it shorter. For some reason, I tend to hit the coverplate with it if I don't shorten them.
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Post by gaucho on Oct 22, 2020 14:39:36 GMT
I had one for quite a few years. Great tone... in recordings, it sounded just like my 31 Duolian. The downside for me (and ultimately I sold it because of this) was that the neck was considerably narrower than all my other resonators.
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Post by gaucho on Oct 17, 2020 22:51:07 GMT
In addition to the massaging it looks like it could use a little bit of leveling so it touches evenly all the way around on the bottom when sat down on a flat surface. This will sound like sacrilege, but I’ve had one sitting around for a few years waiting for the right guitar to put it in… I finally figured why not put it in my Republics Hwy 61 until I find the right National to put it in. I did and it sounds spectacular!
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Post by gaucho on Oct 1, 2020 21:11:12 GMT
Oh... with the ugly headstock and Gibson-like fretboard markers... I'd personally pass on one of those at just about any price!
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Post by gaucho on Oct 1, 2020 15:33:18 GMT
Interesting that Bukka's guitar would be mentioned in the context of this discussion. I always felt sad that he had it nickel plated at some point, feeling the original Duco in any condition would be preferable!😀
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Post by gaucho on Oct 1, 2020 15:26:34 GMT
I have several 12 fret and 14 Fret vintage Nationals, Including a 12 and 14 fret Style 0 (just like 5slide's with the slot head). I've absolutely have come to prefer the 14 fret for tone, access to upper frets and especially the neck shape! That said, I still think looks wise, a 1932 - 12 fret is my favorite with it's ribbed coverplate and flat F wholes.
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Post by gaucho on Oct 1, 2020 15:15:49 GMT
That price is way too high, tho I think it is the rare "Mark Knoffler" style 0 with the palm trees on the side. If it were mine (and it would never be at that ridiculous price!) I would Just have the cracks braced somehow on the inside. Soldering it up isn't going to make it any prettier than just "cleating" the cracks on the inside and calling it a day, IMO....
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