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Topic: Reed 9 string resonator? |
Joe Kaufman
From:
Lewiston, Idaho
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Posted 6 Jul 2020 1:51 pm |
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I saw this strange square neck resonator at a pawn shop not long ago. It was set up to have paired courses of strings in the upper 3 strings. It was only strung up with 6 and trying to play it made the unloaded tuners buzz like crazy. The large headstock makes me think this was originally made this way. Can anyone tell me any more about this unusual instrument?
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 6 Jul 2020 9:14 pm
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I don’t know anything about this 9-string resonator.
I do know a little bit about the late Bob Reed. Bob was an assistant to Rudy Q. Jones in his Oklahoma days. Bob became more and more involved in the building, and at some point Rudy decided to dissolve the business and Reed hung out his own shingle and began building under his name.
The only thing is - I haven’t come across a headstock with that particular logo. It’s not like I’ve seen that many Reed guitars, but the cursive letters are a first for me. So no clue if this from Bob Reed, or someone else named Reed.
Jerry Douglas played one or more Bob Reed guitars in that same era where the R.Q. Jones was his #1 guitar.
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Mark
Last edited by Mark Eaton on 13 Jul 2020 12:47 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Mike Christensen
From:
Cook Minnesota
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Posted 12 Jul 2020 3:55 pm Reed
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| Bob Reed built a guitar for me in the mid 80's. Josh Graves played one at the time. The guitar itself does not look like a Reed and for sure the logo is not the same. Cool guitar. A one off for sure I would think. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 13 Jul 2020 12:34 am
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Well @ only $400 (I didn’t bother to look at the price when I wrote my earlier post), unless they’re just trying to get it out the door and be done with it, it’s highly unlikely it would be a Bob Reed guitar anyway even if for some reason he was fooling around with a different headstock logo at the time.
And a 9 string resonator is a rare bird - so rare, that it’s unlikely that it’s even an Asian import from a company named Reed. If you were an importer, bringing a bunch of 9 string resos into the country sounds pretty risky.
So yeah - odds are it’s a one off.
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Mark
Last edited by Mark Eaton on 13 Jul 2020 12:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 13 Jul 2020 12:42 am
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Okay - the plot thickens. Here is a link to a video I found from 10 years ago of either the guitar in question, or one just like it. The fellow in the video said that it was built by Frank Reed - not familiar with him.
It’s more or less like a regular six string dobro, except the top three strings are doubled as Joe pointed out earlier. It gives it sort of a mandolin effect.
The guitar is being demonstrated by Marty Lepore, who I have heard of in the past from the Northwest, as I recall the Seattle area.
https://youtu.be/fqLYWFzlKjQ
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Mark |
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Joe Kaufman
From:
Lewiston, Idaho
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Posted 13 Jul 2020 8:50 am
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| Mark, you win the internet today for finding that needle in the haystack! |
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Mike Christensen
From:
Cook Minnesota
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Posted 16 Jul 2020 5:10 pm
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| Very interesting. Gotta be the same guitar. Good job Mark. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 16 Jul 2020 6:15 pm
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Thank you gentlemen!
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Mark |
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