resonators

[drob]

Any one here play em or own em. I have 4...a national 1.5 , a national baritone, a regal wood body and an O style from the 70s..

anyone use them?

I am clearly nuts about mine.

[facesfan]

I have a newish National Triolian 14 fret...man, did they nail it with that model,it's wonderful! I'm soon to be putting up for sale a 1993 Dobro 14 fret roundneck with a single cone and pickup. It's sweet as well but the Triolian is the one.

[lamenlovinit]

Originally Posted by drob

Any one here play em or own em. I have 4...a national 1.5 , a national baritone, a regal wood body and an O style from the 70s..

anyone use them?

I am clearly nuts about mine.

yup. If you want to talk to National nuts this isn't the ultimate place. This isn't a bad place at all to talk about them, and some of us are passionate, but http://www.guitarseminars.com/gs/viewforum.php?f=1 has real live National freaks!

I have a Radiotone bendaway (wood), a Style 1 Baritone, a polychrome (steel tricone), and a '32 style 1 (with wiggle line) square neck. Just got rid of a reso-rocket. Never played it.

[zombywoof]

Only ever owned two and still have one of 'em - a 1932 National Duolian. A real dirt-under-your-fingernails blues box.

[RomanS]

I just bought a super-cheap SX squareneck spider-bridge resonator; I play lap steel, and a bit of pedal steel; we're recording an album with my band at the moment, and there's one song where I wanted a more acoustic tone; since I'm not a bluegrass player, I didn't want to spend a lot of money, that's why I went for the SX dobro.

...and what a surprise it was - OK, the finish isn't great, and it needed a bit of work on the saddle, new springs, and adjustment of the cone-tension screw - but now it sounds really great; I was blown away by the tone on the recordings, and the band wants me to use it for some other songs, too; our fiddler also plays in a professional country cover band, and said their dobro player's high-price pro model Dobro (she wasn't sure of the make/model) sounds much worse than my cheapo.

[nmiller]

I play a ca. 1941 National Collegian. It started life as a squareneck, but at some point the original neck was recarved into a Spanish style and given a new fretboard. I ended up with the best of both worlds: the sound of an original National with the playability of a modern guitar at a price I could afford.

[lamenlovinit]

Originally Posted by RomanS

I just bought a super-cheap SX squareneck spider-bridge resonator;

I wouldn't hesitate to pick up a bargain lap steel for messing around. A lot of the issues that might plague you with a spanish style just aren't there with a squareneck. Even a "real" one is going to need some tweaking of the saddle to make it sound great. If it turns out you love it, maybe replace the tuners...

[RomanS]

Originally Posted by lamenlovinit

I wouldn't hesitate to pick up a bargain lap steel for messing around. A lot of the issues that might plague you with a spanish style just aren't there with a squareneck. Even a "real" one is going to need some tweaking of the saddle to make it sound great. If it turns out you love it, maybe replace the tuners...

Yeah, though the the tuner work fine so far...

Those were some of my thoughts, too - fret dressing doesn't matter at all on a squareneck, the wood is generally not important on resos, because the tone is almost exclusively determined by the cone (which can be swapped for a better one - though I don't see any reason to doit on my SX), and the finish usually makes up a big part of the price of an instrument, so the open-pored, thin finish on this one also saves a few bucks - so the difference in tone to a much more expensive squareneck with great wood and a perfect, glossy finish is much smaller than expected.

[musicofanatic5]

I do not play acoustic bottleneck gtr, but play "hawaiian" style dobro in a bluegrass band and also as backing to singer-songwriter types. I have a Ondres Holubek from the reso center of the universe, the Czech republic. Its a killer gtr. Spruce and E.I. rosewood (all lam).

[bazooka47]

I like Nationals.

I currently own a Style O reissue from 1993, and an El Trovador, which is a more recent model.

[rollingdam]

My 1995 Dobro DM33D-10.5 inch biscuit cone has the tone

im really GASsing for one of these right now, what should i look at for cheap ones, I kliterally know nothing about em. i dont really want to do bluegrass, I wanna do like john hammond, robert johnson, Keb mo and blues like that.

[Crazyquilt]

I love resonators. I have four right now: 2 modern Nationals (M2 & Triolian 12, both with Hot Plates) one vintage National (late '20's squareneck I don't play near enough) and a locally-made travel-sized biscuit bridge, wood bodied guitar that I used as a travel guitar for years. I use them often for busking, playing in standard & open tunings, slide & fretted. I'm considering a 14 fret to use outdoors from now on, but I'm considering a Composite Acoustics carbon fiber guitar as well.

[FredW]

I bought a reso rocket last year that is crazy. I tried a bunch and kept coming back to it. Amazing guitar

[RomanS]

Originally Posted by Hollywood_5150

im really GASsing for one of these right now, what should i look at for cheap ones, I kliterally know nothing about em. i dont really want to do bluegrass, I wanna do like john hammond, robert johnson, Keb mo and blues like that.

For that dirty blues sound you'd use a biscuit-bridge type, possibly a metal-bodied one.
I don't have any personal experience with those, but I've heard that Regal, Johnson & Recording King are all affordable options with good quality.