Tricones: Square neck vs round neck for lap playing

[Tim Whitlock]

I've got a bad case of the tri-cone bug and am ready to take the plunge on an affordable one. I'm mostly interested in Hawaiian and hot jazz. I am looking at the Regal and Recording King square neck tricones but my research shows many forum members highly recommend Republic over those brands.

Problem is, I don't see any square neck tricones on the Republic website or anywhere else for that matter. Questions:

1. Does Republic make a square neck tricone?
2. Should I get a Republic round neck and put a replacement nut on it?
2. Is a square neck better for playability or volume?

[Larry Meyers]

Republic Guitars does offer a Tricone squareneck. You can contact Frank at Republic Guitars concerning current inventory. Also, Jimmy Heffernan stocks Republic tricone squarenecks on his site (jimmyheffernan.com) And agmusic.com in Philadelphia usually has a large selection. The contact person there is Frank. Agmusic also has a Reverb Stores

[Tim Whitlock]

I really like the Republic "Woody" tricone but the website only lists a round neck. Is it enough to install a tall replacement nut or is there something about the square neck that lap players just have to have?
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[Mike Neer]

I started off with a National Resophonic Polychrome Tricone roundneck with a nut extender. It was passable but nothing like having a squareneck National tricone. I also had a squareneck Style O, which was a biscuit cone.

I think starting out on a roundneck is ok but at some point you’re gonna want a squareneck with nice high action. The nut extensions just don’t really cut it.

[Tim Whitlock]

I started off with a National Resophonic Polychrome Tricone roundneck with a nut extender. It was passable but nothing like having a squareneck National tricone. I also had a squareneck Style O, which was a biscuit cone.

I think starting out on a roundneck is ok but at some point you’re gonna want a squareneck with nice high action. The nut extensions just don’t really cut it.

Thanks Mike! That is exactly what I wanted to know and what I suspected. Fortunately I located a nearby square neck Recording King tricone. I'll be picking it up later today.

[John Pelz]

I’ll be very curious to hear how you like the Recording King tricone when you get a chance, Tim!

[Tim Whitlock]

Hey John. Having virtually zero experience with resonator guitars my opinion is not worth much. I can tell you that it sounds fine to me but I couldn't tell you if the tone is bad, good or great. I don't really have a frame of reference, such as a National, having played no other tricones myself. It does not buzz which is comforting as I've read some of them do. The build quality seems to be good and the tuners are fine. The only thing I can see wrong is the saddle seems shifted a bit towards the treble side. The first string is right on the edge of the fretboard and the sixth string is about 1/8" in from the edge of the fretboard. Since it's a square neck set up for lap playing, this doesn't affect playability but I'm disappointed I can't do that cool "rasp" sound effect you get from running the bar along the frets on the side of the neck. But I can live with it.

[John Pelz]

Hmmmm, interesting observations, Tim; thanks! I guess I'm not super-surprised to hear some build/set-up issues (given the price-point), but that still is a shame. Sounds like a decent enough entry into the tricone world, though. What tuning do you have it in? Have fun with it!

[Tim Whitlock]

Yes it seems like a good enough entry level instrument. I found it used at about half the street price, plus it came with a case, so it's even better. I got it for an upcoming strictly acoustic show, so I strung it up in my familiar C6. A little high I know but there's no time to learn any of the usual resonator tunings. Maybe later I would like to get into some old Hawaiian tricone stuff.