Tell me about National Resonators...

[ZigZagWanderer]

I've been thinking about picking one of these up, and I wanted to throw a few questions out for anyone who might want to weigh in.

 

I would be using it mainly for fingerpicked, piedmont-style blues (i.e. Blind Boy Fuller), rather than slide. I would also probably tune it down a whole step.

 

**what are the differences between the single cone, tri-cone, etc.? Are they best suited for different styles?

**how thick are the neck profiles (I like fat necks)?

**how wide are they at the nut? The specs on the website indicate that most have a "1.85" width...is that the standard width?

**what about Dobros? How much different sounding are they than the steel bodies.

 

 

And anything else I should know...thanks!

[Queequeg]

"Dobro" can refer to the brand, now owned by Gibson, and is available in both wood bodies and nickel-over-bell brass, or a playing style; as in flat on your lap, with a Shubb steel (slide).

Spend some more time on the National website and a whole lot more (if not all) shall be revealed to you. If you buy their catalog, you get 2 wonderful CDs where you can hear all the various models and materials. Lots of folks tune them down a 1/2 step or more, as you suggest. You really get a growl when you do that, and you can accomodate a heavier string, as well. And read their FAQs.

[Freeman Keller]

Zig, the best answer to your first question is to go to the Natiional site and get the cd of Bob Brozman playing all the different Nat's. It is hard for me to describe the different sounds between a single cone and tri cone (the single has a sharper attack, while the tri has more sustain) and between brass and steel bodies (I assume you are talking about metal bodies). The sound of steel is often described as "clunky" while brass is "more controlled".

 

Necks on resonators are usually either 12 fret clear (on a tricone they are 11) with a wide flat fingerboard (1-3/4 to 1-7/8, 20 inch radius, usually slothead). This, IMO, is better for slide playing. However both Nat and Dobro (and many of the Asia imports) also make 14 fret clear, narrower (my style 33 is 1-11/16 and 16 inch radius, just like my Martin dread). I think this is a much better neck for fretted style playing like BBF did - but I don't care for it as much for bottlenecking.

 

The pictures I have of Fuller shows him playing a single cone metal body, probably a Style 0. I only do a couple of his songs (Keep Truckin'), he plays in standard tuning down two half steps.

 

We normally think of National in terms of metal bodied tricones and biscuit bridges singles, but they do make woodies too. We usually think of Dobro ™ making spider bridged wood bodies (square and roundneck) but they also make a few metal bodies biscuits. My Dobro style 33 is very similar to a style 0 Nat, except for the neck as described above. They tend to be a little less expensive than Nationals, about the same quality level, and much higher quality than the asian imports. Because I play mostly bottleneck on mine and have never completely bonded with the 14 fret neck I have been seriously considering parting with it this spring (and getting or building a tricone).

 

Oh, I want to add that even tho the old Nats are really cool (and have a lot of mojo), they are usually very expensive and can have some real issues. The new ones are extremely high quality and certainly the bench marks for all the other resonators. Get the cd, play as many as you can (probably even more important than acoustics) and prepare to have some fun