Does anyone else think biscuit single-cone resonators sounds amazing played as lap steel?

[James Mayer]

I've now tried quite a few different resonators, all played as a steel. My favorite sound is the single-cone "biscuit" style. My least favorite is the spider bridge. Tri-cone sounds good too and has the edge on sustain, but the biscuits I've played just have so much more ambiance. It's just more of a haunting sound. I've also noticed that, during the show-and-tell sessions (there have been quite a few) with visiting friends that they also respond with "oooooohhhhh" when I play the biscuit resos.

Yet, a biscuit squareneck is extremely rare. I'm using a nut-extension to raise the strings but I can't even find any examples of anyone else doing this besides one demo video of a Gretsch that dared to make a biscuit squareneck.

Are my ears really that different?

[Brad Bechtel]

No, it's not just you. I've owned several square neck biscuit bridge guitars in the past (National and Dobro mainly). They're just a different sound to me. They fit well in some situations (such as solo blues) and not as well in others.

As with Weissenborns and eight string guitars, it depends on your personal preferences. If you like it, it's good for you.

[David M Brown]

Yes, I too use a metal body biscuit cone as my go-to acoustic lap steel. It sounds very good and is easy to deal with without that spider in the dobro models. It's a roundneck with a nut converter. I guess I should update my avatar pic!

It is mostly in A6, but sometimes C6 and E7 or E 13, and I play mostly Hawaiian music, jazz/swing, and Cajun stuff.

[Mark Eaton]

Beard made a biscuit bridge reso as part of their Deco Phonic series (Model 47) for a number of years, and unless it has sold recently there is one for sale here by one of our members.

I’m pretty sure it was cut from the product line because the sales volume wasn’t there. I think it would be a great addition to the stash, but as Brad wrote above, for a lot of players it would be a more specialized reso guitar - it would never replace a spider bridge guitar for me.

I really wanted to buy it - but I’m like a lot of people - too many instruments in my house that don’t out of their cases often enough as it is so I put the brakes on the “GAS pedal.”

Link to a great demo of Mike Witcher on the Model 47:

https://youtu.be/db4LEycxHC8?si=5LriqIzLPV6Sc_Re