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Let’s talk about Resonator Guitars


Larsongs

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I used to have an Electric Dean Resonator.. Beautiful Stainless Steel with Hawaiian Engraved Body.. It look great but I didn’t bond with it. It didn’t seem to have the 30’s Blues sound I was hoping for.. It had terrible Neck dive.. I sold it..

I’ve played a bunch over the years but I’m still looking.. I saw these a while back & just got an email they’re back in stock.. Anybody familiar with these? Anybody own one or have played one?

https://republicguitars.com/products/highway-61-red-copper-rust?pr_prod_strat=use_description&pr_rec_id=ed2061df7&pr_rec_pid=1124433428537&pr_ref_pid=1124861935673&pr_seq=uniform

For Resonator Guitar’s what do have or would like to have? 
 

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I’ve owned several. A couple blonde Dobro 60 (?) from the 80s, a couple model 66 with the sandblasted finish, an early 60s ‘El Monte’ Dobro made mostly from leftover 1930s parts, a scary fancy 1986 Dobro Model 1000 engraved to the hilt, and a 1973 Dobro Model 114 with a strange small dreadnaught body shape. The 114 suited me best because of its baseball bat neck and overall tone. But a couple years ago I bought a 1993 Original Hound Dog, the cheapest thing OMI ever made. No binding, no sound well, maple fretboard with no finish (or almost none). I bought it from a guy living in a camper for $250. It was made when OMI was making a few instruments a week in a converted auto body shop in Huntington Beach. I’m not 100% sure whether it was made just before or just after Henry bought the company… I can’t determine the exact cutoff date. It is by far the best Dobro I’ve ever owned and it is a joy to sit and fingerpick. Dobros without sound wells are held in about the same regard as if Gibson cranked out some acoustics with bolt on necks and laminated tops. Yet here we are, the cheap junk smoked the expensive ones. I hope it never gets stolen or dies a fiery death because I fear I’ll never find one that I like as much. 

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That’s great info.. Especially when you can find the funky cheap great sounding Guitars.. They seem more true to Blues..

When I listen to those early 20’s & 30’s Blues Records I’m pretty sure a lot of the Guitars were what those Guys could afford & most of them were pretty poor. So the Guitars were probably pretty cheap models & not the top of the line.. But, those funky cheap Guitars seemed to put out great Sound for Blues. Picking, Strumming & Slide.. 

 

Edited by Larsongs
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I've owned and played a cheap Fender flat neck for several years. Phenomenal tone for the price. But I always wanted a metal round neck for that raspy blues thing. Plus the fact that you can chord a little.

I bought this Swamp Dog parlor, it said used on Reverb but was spotless, seriously never played from a shop a few hours away. Made it a day trip and brought cash. 

My daughter bought a "fixer upper" house a few days later and I've been helping her for the last 6 weeks or so and haven't got to spend a lot of time with it.

But this thing is a serious hoot. I'm going to really enjoy it if I finish this house and when we get back to doing some gigging.

 

VO40dtc.jpg

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Regal Duolian; I'm far from an authority but I like it.  It was supposedly hot rodded by the original owner and he sent me the modifications he made but I've lost track of it.  It's chromed; the pattern you see comes from overhead trees in an outdoor photo...

JRyZoDcl.jpg

Edited by PrairieSchooner
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Schooner, that’s a purity Geetar!

After watching that YouTube.. Best Resonator’s under $799.00 it makes me curious? I’d like to get that old Blues Sound from the 20’s & 30’s.. I play Slide, Harp & Sing.. 

Does anyone have or tried a Gibson or Epi Hound Dog Resonator? Thoughts? 

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5 minutes ago, Murph said:

Do you guys use finger/thumb picks with your round necks?

I use a flat pick and my ring finger, just like any other guitar.  I do the same with banjo. “All wrong” but it’s what’s natural to me. 
 

Before I bought that model 1000, which had a biscuit cone, I searched YouTube in hopes to find comparisons between biscuit and spider. Many metal bodied OMI Dobros were offered in either. Youtube is frustrating when perusing resos. Seems like the majority of people automatically use it for slide blues. A good reso is so full of personality… it’s a shame to limit it to one style. 

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1 hour ago, Murph said:

Do you guys use finger/thumb picks with your round necks?

I'm going both ways with the Swamp Dog. Fingers are cool, but the picks are WAY louder.

I like Finger Picking but I seem to break my Nails a lot.. I use a Flat Pick most of the time.. Lately, I’ve been trying to use a Thumb Pick & Finger Pick but I’m not comfortable using it yet.. But, I do think it’s a good way to get that Sound playing Reso Slide Blues.. Though, I’m still at the, “I pretty much suck stage!” I don’t even have a Reso.. LOL!

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

I got the rezo bug around the mid 1980s.......learned slide on electric guitars previously and one thing leads to another and......a 1939 Dobro (no photo sorry - before photography was invented!), which smelled amazing but had an awful bow in the neck and as I made tentative steps to....gasp......fingerpicking AND slide, it became obvious that to move forward a better neck was needed. I persisted and was soon playing blues slide and fingerpicking as a mini set in the electric blues bands I played in. It went over very well, but I had trouble hearing me in the clappy monitors, so bought an acoustic electric with the works for live playing, tuned it to Open G, played my mini slide set a few times, could hear myself beautifully and it was easy to play all around but..........rezo magic gone.........

There was a guitar shop with used guitars as well as new and looking up, I said: “What Dat?” The soon to be mine full metal body 1976 Dobro! Which got played all over the place, sounded sensational but......was so heavy to lug.

gW9gmtq.jpg

 

Since I have assumed ownership of the golden needles, Nationals!!!

1935 National Trojan wood body.

CoyTyTV.jpg

 

2012 ??? National M14 wood body. Bought new.

RomKMcJ.jpg

 

2012 ??? National Tricone steel. Bought new. The heaviest of the heavy!

E7miT8x.jpg

Plus pickup-age, gadgetry to suit and importantly, my collection of the wonderful Diamond Bottlenecks slides!

Glass ones are various Diamond Bottlenecks!

b1oCJ2v.jpg

 

 

BluesKing777.

Edited by BluesKing777
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1 hour ago, Murph said:

BK777 is a great slide player.

I need to get one of those Diamond slides, BK.

I want a Blue one. 

 

Thanks Murph.....

Err, you can get blue bottlenecks from them but not like mine.....they obviously make them out of wine bottle necks and mine was from a couple of blue Italian Murano Glass wine bottles they came across, none left.....lucky I bought a spare as soon as I played my first one!

Next best was one a friend fell on love with and I said to have it.....fool me....it was a clear glass soda bottle Redhouse model from DB......had lots of grit in it and great for extracting extra slide tone.....

 

BluesKing777.

 

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5 hours ago, Larsongs said:

This is the Gretsch Gin Rickey.. It’s not a Resonator but it has that interesting early Blues sound.. This thing is $279.00!

Has anyone seen, heard or played one? Thoughts..

I played a BUNCH of Gretsch "boxcar" resonators because you can buy them new for $400. And people on the internet love them.

I think Gretsch has become the king of "cheap". The guitars/resos are not even plywood, they're like a laminated cardboard. But they will play and there is a market for that among buskers and people without a lot of money. And I respect that.

I couldn't pull the trigger on any of the boxcars that I played, but any one of them could have pulled off a gig.

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I’ve wondered what Guitars the early Blues Guys played? I don’t mean Clapton era… More like the Robert Johnson era.. With few exceptions, I doubt most of them ever made a lot of money & would play whatever they could get their hands on.. 

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20 hours ago, Larsongs said:

I’ve wondered what Guitars the early Blues Guys played? I don’t mean Clapton era… More like the Robert Johnson era.. With few exceptions, I doubt most of them ever made a lot of money & would play whatever they could get their hands on.. 

Yep.

And crusty, rusty old Black Diamond strings.

It's part of the charm of those old recordings.

We have an a.m. radio station here that plays old country and bluegrass, and it sounds "correct" in a buzzy weak a.m. signal. 

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