The Steel Guitar Forum

Ready for a square neck upgrade. My Regal RD52 has been a great guitar for years but I'm ready to step into a higher end guitar. In the $4k range can anyone weigh in on the best guitar for the money. Scheerhorn, Beard, Redline........ Side note: It'll probably end up with a pickup installed for the stage.
Thanks

At that price point, I think it's mostly subjective. Any of the brands you mentioned make fantastic instruments; the question is what kind of sound you want. Someone like Beard has a distinctly "modern" sound, while others may be closer to the original pre-War guitars.

Or you can have Ben Bonham build you something like my Myrtle/rosewood tricone...check out his instagram page of past projects ....why not have the instrument of your dreams now, for the same price as a standard commercial one? Ben is happy to chat about possibilities, tricone, single cone, whatever... bensound@gorge.net
541) 490-5447
Past projects at: https://www.instagram.com/bonhamdesign/

Or you can have Ben Bonham build you something like my Myrtle/rosewood tricone...check out his instagram page of past projects ....why not have the instrument of your dreams now, for the same price as a standard commercial one? Ben is happy to chat about possibilities, tricone, single cone, whatever... bensound@gorge.net
541) 490-5447

That's beautiful, Steve! Do you have any sound or video samples of this instrument?

That Regal should cover the Traditional area well, I'd go for something different. If it was my 4k i know exactly what I'd be getting, a prewar Tricone but im interested to see your choice.

The Beard line is VERY broad. Then you also have all customization options.

Paul is best known for his spider bridge guitars but, he's also built others.

There's a reason why many "named" players play his instruments.

You spend that kind of money, I always recommend calling the builder directly to set expectations.

h

Dan-
sorry, no recordings that would do it justice....somehow an iPhone 20 feet away isn't what would capture the complexity....

FYI, OP, there is a real difference between biscuit bridge, spider bridge, and tricone...tricone is what John Dopyera (where "dobro" came from) first built, because he found it to be the best sounding number of cones...but it was expensive (in 1930) so some years later he invented the biscuit bridge single cone, but he really didn't like that sound, then left the company, and invented the spider bridge dobro as a better sounding single cone....now they all have their devotees....