Vintage 1930's Resonator Guitars!!

[bottleneckjohn]

Guys!

Made a little clip with four old resonator guitars, all of them tuned to open C.



Just for the fun of it, like a comparison and demo..
Also sneaked in my "faux-bro" without the internal resonator cone..

[ricbleu]

Thanks, BJ, your vids are always so interesting. My favourite there for sound was the last one, the biscuit cone. It seemed to have a lot of depth and a surprising smoothness. But what was most surprising was the 'coneless' guitar. With all the discussions about cone quality and upgrading cones etc, it turns out that a flat sheet can produce reso sounds even if the tones are somewhat absent. It was a good looking little axe as well, although for looks, I'd have to go with the third reso, the one with the rolled raised edges and f holes. Thanks again, John. Peace.

[bottleneckjohn]

Thanks Ricbleu!! Good to know that you dig my clips!
I agree about the tone, the Duolian is simply awesome. I think the smooth tone comes from the fact that it has the green felt under the cone.
Some Duolian do..
Thinking of placing something similar under other biscuit singlecones to test if the sound can be "reproduced"..

However I totally dig all of them!! Using the Duolian and the fiddle-edge Dobro a lot on stage these days, nothing beats the vintage Mojo, lol!!

[guitarslim101]

Very cool. The fiddle edge sounds great, but I really like the faux-bro. I'd love to pick one up some day.

[Mark Schrier]

Hey BJ,

Thanks for the video. I've been thinking about a slide guitar, and this has been very informative.

The faux bro was pretty surprising as far as tone, but the Duolian definitely won my heart. I have been looking at a '33 for sale, but it has a different fret marker configuration. It has two at the fifteen, one at the seventeen, and two at the nineteen.

I was looking closely at yours and couldn't quite figure it out. Do you have the nineteenth fret pulled out of yours?

Thanks,

Mark

[Jakeblues]

Very nice comparison. ("Side by each" as my French Canadian family and friends would say.) I had never heard a "Faux Bro". Interesting that it has as much reso tonal characteristics as it does. Tone wise, it's a tie for favorites for me between "The Leader" and the Duolian. Thanks for putting that together. Very informative.

[bigdaddyguitar]

Very nice John .

[ricbleu]

Please excuse my ignorance, John (et al), but what is the tuning for open C, low to high ? And what weight of strings would be most suitable? and finally, what are the advantages of using that tuning, presuming that it is something different from open E tuned down past open D to open C? In which case it would be just a very slack version of open E. Thanks, guys. Peace

[bottleneckjohn]

You're right!! It's simply: Open E tuned down past open D to open C..!!

I use this tuning because I like a lot of low end, it gives a fat bass, very nice when you play solo or duo without a bassguitar involved..
And it gives less tension on the vintage instruments.

Also, for me it feels better to play, easier to fret without wearing your hands out in a 3 hour gig, haha!

I use 0.15 - 0.58 in this tuning also for open F which I mostly use these days, like open G tuned a step down.. (On my Resolian I have a 0.62 bass string)

But I'm just as comfortable playing and singing in open A, G, D and E!!

[gaucho]

I've had the good fortune to spend time with all types and materials in resonators and by far my favorite is 30's Duolians. Love that raw sound. John, have you ever tried open G tuned down 4 steps (Key of D?) to ADADF#A? My Duolian and Style 0 sound fantastic that low. And it's a nice bonus that it is less tension on a vintage neck! I love to tune them that low and then sit in the bathroom (no, not on the throne!) and play them into a tiled corner. If you've never tried it, give it a go! Oh, and great playing as always!

[leftyguitarman]

Awesome videos, as usual!

[bottleneckjohn]

Thanks, guys!!

And I'll try that low D tuning as well, will be interesting!
What string gauge do you use??

[gaucho]

16-59 Martin Bluegrass set generally. Sounds great. What did you ever think of the MM strings?

[bottleneckjohn]

16-59 would be good when dropping that low. I've tried it and it was too low for my strings, turned spaghetti!!
But there's open E there in between too! And that's cool, usually I tune to E in the "usual" way..

Never tried the MM strings, haven't gotten any yet, will do some day!

[gaucho]

Yeah I use that one on my guitars that don't want to go as low as the key of D. I assume you are talking about BEBEG#B, is that called open E of open G in the key of E? I'm so confused! My Tricone loses too much volume dropped all the way to the key of D, but sounds good in E.