Suggestions for lower priced Resophonic?

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 16 Apr 2004 9:48 am

Thinking about buying a squareneck, dobro-style resophonic...

What's out there that's on the bargain side of the equation without being a waste of money? Sometimes, cheaper just means you wasted your money; that being said, I'm just looking to get one I can use to get accustomed to reso playing, and take out for living room/backyard jam kind of stuff...

Regal RD52, with a quarterman upgrade seems like a fair deal at $550ish. Any ideas, people?

Alan Kirk · Post by **Alan Kirk** » 16 Apr 2004 9:55 am

Nicholas,

Have you been playing slide guitar, or are you just now getting into it? The reason I ask is that you can check out slide playing by getting a nut extender and putting it on a regular guitar, thus not having to spend money on a cheap Regal to test your interest in slide.

I started out with a cheap Regal, but I should have just bought a better guitar to begin with. I only kept the Regal for a couple of months before upgrading. Could have saved myself a couple hundred bucks just by buying quality in the first place.[This message was edited by Alan Kirk on 16 April 2004 at 10:56 AM.]

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 16 Apr 2004 9:58 am

Playing lap steel a while, pedal steel a couple/three years...

I dig the sound of the resos, and the portability, and the amplessness for certain settings...

I don't plan on making it a primary thing, and I sort of can't swing a $1200 instrument, especially at the moment.

I guess what I'm wondering is: what is one looking for, and how much more do you get at various price levels... trying to find an acceptable price/quality compromise, so to speak.[This message was edited by Nicholas Dedring on 16 April 2004 at 10:59 AM.]

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 16 Apr 2004 10:03 am

Nicholas, I haven't seen or played the guitar, but read good reports about the Regal Black Lightning. Said to have a Quarterman cone and maybe another upgrade or 2 and in your price range. Might be worth checking out.
Good Luck. Reso's are great!

[This message was edited by Jerry Overstreet on 16 April 2004 at 11:07 AM.]

Alan Kirk · Post by **Alan Kirk** » 16 Apr 2004 10:38 am

The main problem with Regals is major issues with inconsistent quality. You take your chances with mail order. Best way to buy one of these cheap resos is to have a half dozen of them side by side and pick the best one.

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Aaron Schiff · Post by **Aaron Schiff** » 16 Apr 2004 12:55 pm

1. Get a Samick made reso: Regal, Flinthill and some others. ($350-$400) My experience with Johnson is that these (Chinese made) guitars are not as well made as the Korean ones.
2. Get Paul Beard's Reso Setup video ($40). Check out www.beardguitars.com (or go the SGF Manufacturers list and click on the link). Then go to their accessories link which will give you Paul's other company, Resophonic Outfitters.
3. Put on a bone nut ($4.00) and maple, or ebony tipped maple, saddle inserts ($6.00)
4. If the feet on the spider are not level, then file them level so there is equal pressure on the cone from all legs. ($0)
5. For $400 to $450 you will have a very playable, toneful instrument and you will know a lot more about how the guitar works.
6. Only if you decide that you REALLY need the cone upgrade should you spend money on that, and now you can do it for yourself for another $50.

The total time invested will be about 1 to 2 hours depending on how much time you spend examining the insides.

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 16 Apr 2004 2:13 pm

The Regal "Black Lightning mentioned above has a bone nut, quarterman cone, and a maple saddle. Thought about getting it from Folk of the Wood, who way they do setups... seemed like the best option for the $. Hard to tell without playing it in person... any advice is appreciated.

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 16 Apr 2004 3:20 pm

I heard that Paul Beard and Gold Tone were collaborating on a lower price, good quality "dobro"

Russ Young · Post by **Russ Young** » 17 Apr 2004 5:44 am

Nicholas: Inconsistent setup is a common problem with the imported resos, so it's a good idea to buy one from somebody who actually gets it out of the box and does some tweaking ... or will not ship you a guitar that has quality issues. (Folk of the Wood has a good reputation on both accounts.)

Elderly has Regal RD-45 squarenecks that have been upgraded with a Quarterman, and a new spider, saddle and nut, then set up to specs established by Tim Scheerhorn. I don't know of anyone who has A/B'ed these Regals with the RD-52s Black Lightnings (Elderly offers both), but the prices are comparable.

As for the new Beard/Gold Tone resos, they're now on Gold Tone's web site, although there isn't much information posted yet. (The Gold Tone "Weissenborns" are up on the web site, too.)

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 17 Apr 2004 6:13 am

Nicholas, I would strongly urge you to check out the info @ www.resonatorguitarist.com. Great information on this subject. Go over there and poke around for a bit and you can read comments about different axes.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 17 Apr 2004 6:54 am

I just got a Regal Black Lightning dobro.
It is an outstanding instrument for the money. Droopy Pawn is a member of the Forum and sells them at a gooooood price!
Erv

Craig Prior · Post by **Craig Prior** » 17 Apr 2004 10:07 am

Nicholas: a bunch of us have gotten the Johnson tricone, which is chrome plated and very snazzy to look at. We've improved the sound by doing the infamous "mushroom mod" - that is, removing the middle support under the neck stick and pushing the neck position support further back toward the neck. We've also replaced the standard-issue cones (which generally wind up getting squashed during shipping) with either National or Quarterman replacement cones. The result is a very good sounding instrument.

I took a round neck and set it up for steel playing with a nut extender and a maple bridge planed flat. I purchased the guitar from FQMS in Louisville as a "scratch-n-dent" half off due to a split in the heel. After having that split epoxied it's good as new.

Total cost was:

Guitar = $350
Shipping = $25
Replacment cones = $80 approx (Quartermans)
Replacement bridge, epoxy job = $50
Nut extender = $6 approx

That adds up to... wait, don't tell me... $511. Not bad for what is now a really nice steel guitar.

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 17 Apr 2004 2:50 pm

Craig Prior · Post by **Craig Prior** » 17 Apr 2004 4:44 pm

Hi, Bob. Where'd you get the kit? Stew Mac?

Mike Black · Post by **Mike Black** » 17 Apr 2004 6:37 pm

I bought a Kay branded Sqnk on eBay for $198. + $18 S&H. from Music Discount. A 5-ply Case was an extra 80 shipped. It seems to be a good road guitar and cheaper than most lap steels. The tone is good but the volume sucks. I'm planning on upgrading the cone and nut/saddle. Maybe even the spider. Does anyone offer Quaterman kits? Seems to me I once saw a kit with all that, shy of the spider, in Stew Mac's catalog.
Junior Blankenship told me a maple bridge is best and to leave the Ebony capped one off. Any other ideas?

Hey Howard how was Easter? And where's my Maduro? Ok, St. Louis then?
[This message was edited by Mike Black on 17 April 2004 at 07:40 PM.]

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 17 Apr 2004 7:00 pm

Crage
YES ! it was a Stew Mac kit - Bob

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 17 Apr 2004 7:23 pm

Nicholas

Alan Kirk · Post by **Alan Kirk** » 18 Apr 2004 5:48 am

The Stewmac kits, these days, don't come with quartermans. You'd have to buy that extra. The Paul Beard kits, however, do come with quartermans. The Beard kit seems to be a better deal than the StewMac kit, given that you don't have to pay extra for the quarterman and the better spider.

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Fred Brown · Post by **Fred Brown** » 18 Apr 2004 3:52 pm

I get the digest from the BlueGrassDobro board. And there has been some discussion htere about the Black Lightning's. I don't know how accurate it is. But it seems that there has been an unusually high incidence of the neck separating from the body. Again, not sure how accurate. Just something to thinkl about and check out.
It's a group on Yahoo
bluegrassdobro@yahoogroups.com

Fred

ps. Please ignore the separate post that I made. That was a mistake. got in a hurry!

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 18 Apr 2004 5:26 pm

I imagine if you hunt around enough, you might be able to find an actual DOBRO for not too much more than what you'd pay for some imports. I just got a Dobro F-60 with quarterman, tut taylor spider, mcintyre pickup and saddles and a new nut for $700. I had to set it up myself, but that was pretty easy. A Dobro just sold on buy and sell last week for like $500.

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 19 Apr 2004 6:30 pm

Yeah Mike, I owe you one. I'm good for it.

Ben Elder · Post by **Ben Elder** » 19 Apr 2004 8:15 pm

Alternate tip--one I saw and played, noninvasively modified to good effect: Take one of those old late '30s Regals that aren't particularly highly regarded--with the f-holes and no soundwell and put in soundposts (probably 4, but you could experiment, I guess) around the perimeter of the cone. My friend's Regal-made Gretsch roundneck was very cool sounding with its raised nut, original stamped lug cone, short spider and soundposts. More tone and volume than you'd expect, although probably not as much as with a real soundwell-equipped Model 27 or 37. But then a serviceable old f-hole Regal should be found in the mid-three figures and modification costs will be nominal, even if you pay a professional.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 19 Apr 2004 9:00 pm

Nick, if you can hold off and buy yourself a good one, go that route. Buy one with resale value, too. If you like playing Dobro, which you probably will, you won't have to go through the process again too soon. If you decide that you don't like it, you really won't lose anything. Get a good used one. In essence, it's almost like you're borrowing or renting a guitar (with a big deposit). No disrespect to anyone's advice, but why go through the hassle for a so-so guitar? I like a guitar that encourages me to play it.

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 20 Apr 2004 9:08 am

The one kind of cool thing that I noticed was the Folk of the Wood lets you trade in at purchase price if you want to step up to something better later...

In general, it seems like going with a used instrument in a private sale gets you so much more for the money... Suppose I might put something up on Buy and Sell and see what comes back...

Mike Black · Post by **Mike Black** » 20 Apr 2004 12:21 pm

So who offers the best deal on the Beard upgrade kit? Folk of the Wood is about 20 miles from me, when I'm home. But I didn't buy my reso from them.
I'm really impresed with the Kay. It's solid Mahogany neck with single bound Rosewood fretboard, 5 ply bound Spruce ply top, single bound Mahogany ply back and sides. It seems like a good base to build from. And at just under $300 w/ hard case it's a great buy.
Ok Howard, Meet Me in St. Louis, I'll be in the Surrey with the Fringe on Top. You bring the Cigars I'll bring the Tito's. Martini's and Maduros with goombahs and good friends, does life get any better?