New cone in my old reso

[Freeman Keller]

Thought I'd drop a new National Resophonic Cone in my old Dobro. See, it even has some wood inside (and a dust bunny too)

 

 

New NRP cone and a Paul Newman carbon fiber biscuit. This is the setup phase, I'll play it with the cover off for a week, do some final tweaks and put the stars and moons back on

 

 

Much sweeter sounding than the old cone. I took some before clips, in a week or so I'll post before and after. Gonna play some blues tonight

[happy-man]

I've never seen a resonator opened up.

 

Scott O

[Fred Fartboski]

 

New cone in my old reso

 

 

Nice!

[Freeman Keller]

 

I've never seen a resonator opened up. Scott O

 

 

There isn't much to see. The neck continues thru the body with that "neck stick" thing and anchors to the end block. Those two little round wooden things underneith are calle mushrooms and they support the soundwell to the back. You can see the brazing ("silver solder") around the edge of the soundwell - no glue in this puppy. It is kind of intersting the way the plating stops in the middle of the back.

 

This one is brass, some are also steel - slightly different sound.

 

The whole idea of the resonator is very simple - the strings drive the spun aluminum cone just like the voice coil on a loudspeaker. The black thing is the "biscuit" - normally they are made of maple (plastic in some cheap imports) - but this one is carbon fiber. Cheap cones are stamped out of thin aluminum, the good ones like Quarterman or NRP are spun on a lathe and a is tool pressed against them forms the shape. The spiral ribs add a little strength. It was intereseting than when I tapped the old cone in made kind of a "thud" - this one rings like a cymbol.

 

The insides of a tri cone are kind of similar - three little cones with a tee shaped thing connection the centers and the saddle sits in the tee thing. A spider bridge is quite a bit different - it has a 8 legged aluminum thingie (that looks like a spider) - the center is hooked to the center of the cone and the leg reach out to the edge of the soundhole. Someday I'm going to do a setup on my old spider and I'll take some pictures.

 

Meanwhile, I gotta take this baby done to the Crossroads....

[Samilyn]

Very cool pics and writeup, Freeman. Thanks! I never had a clue as to what was inside those.

 

As for dust bunnies - they do reproduce just like the hoppy, long-eared kind. I know this because my house is full of them.

[guitarist21]

Very cool project, Freeman. Can't wait for the clips.

[meandi]

very interesting!

what's the age of the instrument/how long have you had it?

they have a sound all their own

rory gallager used one for "as the crow flies" on his irish tour '74 cd...made the song!

[ESL94]

Very cool pics and writeup, Freeman. Thanks! I never had a clue as to what was inside those. As for dust bunnies - they do reproduce just like the hoppy, long-eared kind. I know this because my house is full of them.

 

+1

Thanks for the info. & pics...

[Freeman Keller]

very interesting! what's the age of the instrument/how long have you had it? they have a sound all their own rory gallager used one for "as the crow flies" on his irish tour '74 cd...made the song!

 

I'm fortunate to own two of them. This one is a 1980 Dobro from when OMI owned the company - not considered the best years and Dobro was never noted for its biscuits (both the old Nationals and the new NRP's are thought to be much better). I've had this guitar since somewhere around 1990. One day the owner of a local music store called me and said he had an interesting guitar that I might like to see - it was this beat up old resonator, spray painted black, all crushed in on top. A woman had brought it in, said it was her dad's and he had bought it when she was born, in 1932. She wanted to sell it, I gave her $200 mostly out of pity for it and her. Stripped the paint off of it and refinished with a very slight burst, built a jig to straighten the cover plate, put a new cone in it and it is a wonderful old guitar that sings very sweetly. I took it back and played if for her - we both wept a bit, I'm afraid.

 

There is a clip of the woodie on the Annex - when I get the cone broken in I'll post the metal one so you can hear the difference. Totally fun guitars

 

[meandi]

thanks for sharing

i don't know about you, but some of my gits i get to talking about them its almost like talking about my kids

i'm not a materialistic person, but like you, i percieve, most of what i own guitar wise have been bought needing varying degrees of t.l.c. to get em back in shape & i have a definate "affection" for them for that reason

[babablowfish]

Really beautiful looking Dobro. What kind of metal is that and how does it stay so shiny?

[Freeman Keller]

 

Really beautiful looking Dobro. What kind of metal is that and how does it stay so shiny?

 

 

They make them out of both mild steel and brass (all sometimes called "German Silver"). Steel ones have a slightly raspier tone. Either way they are chrome plated just like the bumpers on a car, altho a few are painted with kind of an ugly grey or green or blue industrial looking finish.

 

Many of the old ones were engraved by hand with wonderful flowing floral patterns - the "style" number told how fancy they were. They were pretty expensive guitars in their days - Brozman says a Style 3 might have sold for $125 in 1929, while a D-28 was about $45 (my wooden Dobro would have sold for $27 in 1932).

 

More recent ones, like mine, where sandblasted with some sort of pattern - usually the palm trees - which gives it the "H" designation for "Hawaiian". And to keep it clean, just a damp cloth and maybe some automobile chrome polish.

 

As you know, they are loud, and were the brusker's choice back in the blues days - street corners and noisy bars were their habit. The story of the invention of the resonator guitar and all of the convoluted history is really quite fascinating - two creative inventors, a hard drinking musician, several moneyed backers, competing companies and personalities. Fascinating stuff - sorry, I'm drifting....

[Samilyn]

Wow! By 1925, the price of a Model-T car had fallen to around $300, so $125 for a git would have been a huge expenditure.

[slider]

thanks for the pics.

I do believe that dust bunny looks like Mother Teressa.

[Freeman Keller]

 

thanks for the pics. I do believe that dust bunny looks like Mother Teressa.

 

 

I don't know - it had horns and a tail. Figured it was something I picked up down at the Crossroads

[guitarist21]

 

Figured it was something I picked up down at the Crossroads

 

 

Aha! So that's where you get your skills.