Beard Cone

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 26 Jun 2005 5:42 am

Seeking input re: sound quaility, tonal differences of the Beard 10 1/2", 10 9/16" cone as compared to the Quarterman and the stock OMI.
[This message was edited by Jerry Overstreet on 26 June 2005 at 06:50 AM.]

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 26 Jun 2005 11:32 am

Great question!
I would like to know also.

Roy

Jackie Anderson · Post by **Jackie Anderson** » 28 Jun 2005 10:47 am

Me three!

c c johnson · Post by **c c johnson** » 28 Jun 2005 11:57 am

Ron · Post by **Ron** » 29 Jun 2005 9:46 pm

Most cones to me sound alike. The seating to the ledge and the cone to the spider and the tightness of the screw and the pressure down of the strings is the most cridical.

Yann Obergfell · Post by **Yann Obergfell** » 5 Jul 2005 11:36 am

I disagree. On my OMI Dobro, I can tell you that the Quarterman cone sounds nothing like the original. My dobro is now louder and clearer.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 5 Jul 2005 12:52 pm

Yann - could it be because when the cone was installed it was set up correctly?

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 5 Jul 2005 4:04 pm

Set-up means a lot, but there's no question that the Q-cone is sweeter and louder than the OMI, all other factors being equal.

Perhaps my question should've read: how does the Beard cone compare to the Quarterman.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 5 Jul 2005 5:58 pm

Perhaps my question should've read: how does the Beard cone compare to the Quarterman.

Well...Which Quarterman? You can see here that there are several Quarterman's on the market.

Suffice to say that John Quarterman and Paul Beard have a vision for cones, both spider and biscuit bridge. I can't speak for Quarterman.

In Paul Beard's case it was a desire to deliver a "modern" cone that was customized to his instruments. The first cone that he developed displaced the Quarterman QC-1 in Jan of 04 in Beard guitars, including the Goldtones when they started shipping later in 04. After ten months of player acceptance, using our own guitars as a proving ground, the cone "BC-1" was made available in Nov of 04 to other builders, vendors and players.

Like the Quarterman family of product there will be additional Beard designs available for spider and biscuit bridge guitars soon.

Tonal differences in cones (oh yes, there are) are due to physical characteristics, alloy and (often overlooked) the personal technique of the individual doing the spinning.

Not your grandfathers' cones

Hope this helps a little.

HowardP

For sake of full disclosure...I draw a salary from Beard Guitars.[This message was edited by Howard Parker on 05 July 2005 at 06:59 PM.][This message was edited by Howard Parker on 05 July 2005 at 07:00 PM.]

Yann Obergfell · Post by **Yann Obergfell** » 7 Jul 2005 8:23 am

Jim,

You might be right. The thing is the original cone was so warped that a a good setup was not possible.
There is no dobro tech in my area -- and I think none in the whole country, so I did the mod myself. It's not perfect (the routing was done with a chisel) but it's defenitely better than before.

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 7 Jul 2005 3:30 pm

So, there is still no answer to the question??

Has anyone run an experiment using the same guitar, with ONLY the cones being changed?

Thanx,
Jim

John Reali · Post by **John Reali** » 8 Jul 2005 4:29 pm

I had a BC-1 installed into a Wechter/Scheerhorn hybrid and it made a big difference. When the original cone was compared side by side to the BC-1 in a simple sound test, outside the instrument, the BC-1 had a much more musical tone and greater harmonic content to my ears. The original cone was not a Quarterman, it was a European made version.

JP