resonator?!

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Bass Freak

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whats so different about these metal beasts of guitars, other than the fact they are metal.....is there something there im not getting? i havent played one, or heard one, i think, so i really dont know.......fill me in!!! they look cool






freak
 
I can't get real detailed, I'm sure someone can:D but, they have a built in reverb type of thing. They have something inside that vibrates and holds the note you are playing for a bit. It's sort of cool to play them. I have no real use for one but if I found a nice one cheap enough I might go for it.

F.S.

OK some one around here knows exactly hoe they work. It's your turn now:D
 
Basically its a speaker cone inside the gtr(not all of them are metal).The cone is attached to the bridge...makes a louder, brighter sound with more sustain than a noraml accoustic gtr.

They are usually used for slide gtr. Listen to Dire Straights, the brothers in arms album. He used a resonator for that...or Johnny winter Nothing But Blues.
 
...just tried one out yesterday, and they cannot be beat for the authentic delta slide blues thing...I...must...acquire...:cool:
 
I played a Johnson the other day. Nice guitar. Of all things, I also tried out a Dean steel bodied resonator and much to my surprise it was a real nice guitar (at around $700 list). I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on this one.
 
I have the Regal version, which as far as I can tell is the same as the others. It's just plain nasty on bottleneck blues. I think I found mine for a little over $400. I traded a wood-bodied Regal fot it, because the sound was a little too bluegrass for my taste.
 
...anybody know the tuning Johnny Winter used on Broke Down Engine?...
 
I have sort of a backward set-up, but it is unique. I play a standard Dobro from the early 70's that has a regular guitar playing neck. It's actually the guitar I probably reach for most (over my Taylor, Strat, etc.) when just wanting to play the blues or folk. I also have a vintage National "duolian" metal bodied square neck, built in the 30's. Really sweet to play w/ a "Stevens" steel bar. Addicting. I tune it (from 6th-1st) GBDGBD. It's nice having that sound come right up into your face when playing. I say my set up is backward because most reso-dogs have a wood body for their squareneck (played w/ stevens steel) and a lot of blues artists use metal body for their regular fretting or bottleneck work.

I got both these axes in the late 80's and am glad I did. Both would be prohibitively expensive for me to score today!

I think any guitar player would delight in having a resonator guitar in the corner of the collection. These new foreign knock-offs that are inexpensive seem on the whole to be pretty good deals. Gibson (who bought Dobro from OMI) is a rip-off. Their using the same plywood Dobro has always been made of, so the materials cannot be that expensive. I think Gibson, like, doubled the price of Dobros from when OMI was making them.
 
Yeah, Gibson is WAY to proud of their shit anymore.
 
tune machine said:
I have sort of a backward set-up, but it is unique. I play a standard Dobro from the early 70's that has a regular guitar playing neck. It's actually the guitar I probably reach for most (over my Taylor, Strat, etc.) when just wanting to play the blues or folk. I also have a vintage National "duolian" metal bodied square neck, built in the 30's. Really sweet to play w/ a "Stevens" steel bar. Addicting. I tune it (from 6th-1st) GBDGBD. It's nice having that sound come right up into your face when playing. I say my set up is backward because most reso-dogs have a wood body for their squareneck (played w/ stevens steel) and a lot of blues artists use metal body for their regular fretting or bottleneck work.

I got both these axes in the late 80's and am glad I did. Both would be prohibitively expensive for me to score today!

I think any guitar player would delight in having a resonator guitar in the corner of the collection. These new foreign knock-offs that are inexpensive seem on the whole to be pretty good deals. Gibson (who bought Dobro from OMI) is a rip-off. Their using the same plywood Dobro has always been made of, so the materials cannot be that expensive. I think Gibson, like, doubled the price of Dobros from when OMI was making them.
Click to expand...

Yeah, your setup is kind of backwards, usually folks for a tri-cone for the roundneck and a spider bridge for the squareneck. Good to see someone else is using a Stevens too. Same tuning also, and I'll use a capo at the 3rd fret for the flat keys. I have a Weissenborn also but tune that to open E, or sometimes for recording down to D or even C using regular medium guitar strings. On the lap steel I use an E tuning also but raise the A string to C#.

Dobros were expensive even in the OMI days. On an insurance settlement for a stolen '29 Dobro I got a new one for about $600 in '86. Even knowing Ron Lazar (the guy who ran to company) didn't help much. What Gibson charges these days is a sin.

One I'm interested right now is a Jay Turser JT-Res hybrid:

http://www.wilburncustomshop.com/Resonators.html
 
I heard a story on NPR many months ago that talked about resonator guitars. Basically, back in the days before guitar amplifiers, the guitarists (playing their acoustic guitars) had to really fight to be heard above the horns, percussion, etc.

If I remember correctly, a couple old jazz musicians were interviewed and talked about how the resonator guitar really changed the face of live music for guitarists. Before the resonator, only people at the front of the club could hear the guitar player, after the resonator, the whole club could hear the guitar.

I thought it was pretty interesting. Makes me appreciate my amp!
 
Scottgman said:
I heard a story on NPR many months ago that talked about resonator guitars. Basically, back in the days before guitar amplifiers, the guitarists (playing their acoustic guitars) had to really fight to be heard above the horns, percussion, etc.

If I remember correctly, a couple old jazz musicians were interviewed and talked about how the resonator guitar really changed the face of live music for guitarists. Before the resonator, only people at the front of the club could hear the guitar player, after the resonator, the whole club could hear the guitar.

I thought it was pretty interesting. Makes me appreciate my amp!
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the story, it's not that they are louder (my Weissenborn will dust my Dobro anytime) but that they cut through better.
 
Cool thread!

I've been looking at resonators for a little while with the intention of buying one soon. Got a couple of questions, though:

What are the advantages of the two neck styles (square vs round)?

What are the most common (useful) tunings?

I assume that the square neck design would allow the slide to contact all of the strings at once, but are there times when this might be a problem? The round neck might let you contact two or maybe three strings at once?
 
...no reso-guys with the answer to what tuning does Johnny Winter use on "Broke Down Engine"?...
 
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