resonator guitar questions

[Cheifj13]

i just bought a used resonator and there are a few things that i wanted to know.

 

1) is there any way to brighten the tone

 

2) all the string sound good except for the G string and i can't figure out why. it sound muddy and muted.

 

if anyone can help i would really appreciate it.

[daklander]

Freeman will be around in awhile.

In the meantime, put new strings on it. You may well have old strings and they will be dull sounding. Very often the G string is the first to go south and have no resonance as well.

[Cheifj13]

i'm thinking that it might need a new cone. what do i look for when buying a new cone? they all look pretty much the same to me.

[Freeman Keller]

Mornin' Cheifj13. I need to run off to a meeting so this will be brief but tell me what kind of resonator is it (spider or biscuit, metal or wood), how you are playing (slide, fretting, what tunings), and if you PM me your e-mail addy I'll send you a little Word document on resonator basics.

 

I can tell you what others (and I) do as far as strings and setup, and I just put a new NRP cone in my biscuit (and I've got a Quarterman in my spider) so whatever you do, don't buy a new cone until we have chatted some more.

 

These are wonderful critters - lets get yours sounding its best.

[Cheifj13]

well its just a cheap roque, wood, spider. as for my playing style, its pretty bluesy with alot of bending and muting. i've tried playing slide but i just can't seem to get the feel for it. (freeman, i'll send you my email)

[Freeman Keller]

OK Just click on my name and send me a PM with the e-mail. I'll be in a staff meeting for a couple of hours but I'll get back. The common feeling is that something like a Rogue can benefit from cone and setup.

[Freeman Keller]

 

i just bought a used resonator and there are a few things that i wanted to know. 1) is there any way to brighten the tone 2) all the string sound good except for the G string and i can't figure out why. it sound muddy and muted. if anyone can help i would really appreciate it.

 

 

OK, got a few minutes (and sent Cheifj13 the Doc) but I thought I would try to answer as best I can

 

1) Cheifj's guitar is a spider bridge, which most people feel has a warm "sweet" singing tone (compared to a biscuit which is loud, raucas, nasty). A cone transplant might help, the proper tension on the screw in the middle of the cone might help, brighter strings (80/20 instead of the usual PB's) might help. Finger picks will help a lot.

 

2) On both spiders and biscuits the strings sit in slots and careful cutting of the slots can make a huge difference. Just like a nut, they need to be cut to fit the string, should not be much deeper than half the diameter of the string, and the slot should open out in a vee (there is a debate as to whether the vee goes towards the nut or the tailpiece - mine goes to the nut). String gauges are all over the place for reso players - some who don't play slide (or who actually tune up to open A or E) like lights, most are pretty happy with mediums. For lap playing in "dobro G" there are special sets. Phosphor bronze is the alloy of choice. Some sliders like a heavier 1st string (maybe a 015 and I happen to like an unwound third (I think it is a 022). The third string is a "sweet string" in lots of bottleneck pieces and the unwound string sings a little nicer.

 

3) Resonators can almost always benefit from a good setup (the saddle slots mentioned above). Seating the cone in the well and the legs of the spider on the rim, adjusting the tension screw in the middle are cover in a great dvd by Paul Beard (google). There are all kinds of things that rattle on resos - I have glued a little piece of closed cell foam (ensolite) under the tailpiece so it won't rattle on the coverplate. Screen hole covers should be tight as should the coverplate.

 

4) There is a huge difference between a spun cone and a pressed one (both price and sound LOL). For a spider the best cones seem to be Quarterman, for a biscuit the new NRP's are wonderful (just put one in my Duolian - I'll post some clips sometime). They will run $80 or so and can be sourced at Beard's or NRP - make sure you get the size right!

 

5) John Dopreya did a lot of experimenting with saddles and came to the conclusion that maple (or ebony topped maple) was the best for both spiders and biscuits. You can buy them from Beard, but a new cone from NRP will come with a new biscuit. Some Asian resos had plastic biscuits - these should be replaced with a cone upgrade.

 

6) By their nature resonators have terrible intonation - the bridge is straight across the strings at 2 X the distance to the 12th fret - ie, there is no compensation. For slide you want it that way - for fretted you can either live with the sharpness or you can cheat the cone in the well a little farther from the nut or cut the slots to break at the very back of the saddle. I've also heard of people slightly cocking the bridge to compensate but that will kill your slide sound.

 

7) When I'm working on mine I leave the cover plate off and tune up and play. Then when everything is the way I want it, the plate goes back on.

 

Lets see, what did I forget? Oh, yeah, have fun, these things are really cool.

[Cheifj13]

i've haven't spent much time fiddling with open tunings. any recomendations for songs i should check out. i'm pretty accomplished with respect to figer picking so any country blues type of song would be cool (i.e. "hey, hey" as done by clapton)

 

thanks

[Freeman Keller]

 

i've haven't spent much time fiddling with open tunings. any recomendations for songs i should check out. i'm pretty accomplished with respect to figer picking so any country blues type of song would be cool (i.e. "hey, hey" as done by clapton) thanks

 

 

Well, from that same album EC does Walkin' Blues, Roll'n'Tumble and Runnin' on Faith on an old spider bridge Dobro in open G. Listen to Rory Block and Scott Anisley and Bob Brozman play Robert Johnson songs - Rory's version of If I Had Possession just rips things apart (she is not playing a resonator nor did Robert Johnson, but is playing in open G). I like some Ry Cooder songs like Great Dream From Heaven and John Fahey's Steamboat Gwen Round the Bend - both in G, and both do nice stuff in open D (Cooder's Paris Texas and Fahey's Poor Boy).

 

Many other players not using resonators do use open tunings - for me Leo Kottke was one that changed the way I look at guitars (and Fahey and Cooder). I've got a couple of things in open tunings at the Annex and JD-Drafter's dad plays great lap style blues. OldGuitarPlayer has a nice touch with the slide, check out his playing.

 

Lots of the old Bluesmen played resonators - usually metal bodied - for both the volume and the funk - Bukka White and Son House for example, and Blind Boy Fuller (Keep Truckin' Mama) was one of the few to play in standard tuning without a bottleneck. Resonators have appeared on Dire Straights and Dave Hole and a lot of other contemporary players, but those should get you started. And of course there is the whole world of lap and bluegrass style - I noodle around with this but don't really play it.