The National Style 2.5 Tricone Squareneck, or ‘Style Two and a Half’ is very close to the Style 2, with just a rose engraving on coverplate’s hand rest making the difference. Introduced in 1927, the Style 2 was the top of the National line, with a brass body with nickel plating. The wooden components, such as the headstock, are Mahogany, except for the Ebony fingerboard. National Resophonic guitars were a radical, major innovation in musical instrument design.
Resophonic Guitars
New Beard resonator guitars in squareneck and roundneck models, including the new Radio Standard line have arrived! The Radio-E comes standard with Beard #14 spider and hand spun Beard Legend Cone™, a black tailpiece and black Radio™ coverplate. All Radio Standards come standard with Gotoh tuners. The Radio-RFB comes standard with a hand spun Beard biscuit cone and a black tailpiece and black sieve coverplate.
Designed in collaboration with Mike Dowling, the National Mike Dowling Signature El Trovador is a single cone guitar patterned after the famous National El Trovador between 1932 and 1933. The National Mike Dowling El Trovador guitar features a large, 4 inch deep body built from mahogany laminate with a wooden soundwell for the resonator.
The Beard Legacy R RoundNeck features a small Mahogany body and neck with Ebony fingerboard, with a single-cone spider-type resonator set. This example dates to 2008 at Hagerstown, Maryland and includes a factory-installed pickup, custom built by Beard with Jerry Douglas and Larry Fishman.
Built in San Luis Obispo California, the National Resolectric Revolver blends the resophonic and solidbody electric guitar concepts, to great success. Very similar in design to the ResoLectric, the National Resolectric Revolver uses a solid Mahogany body that’s routed for the resonator and electric pickups, and a bolt-on Mahogany neck with Rosewood fingerboard. The headplate is a faux pearl covering.
Built in San Luis Obispo California, the National Resolectric solidbody guitar Sunburst blends the resophonic and solidbody electric guitar concepts, to great success. Very similar in design to the Resolectric Revolver, the National Resolectric uses the familiar pairing of a flame Maple top on a Mahogany body that’s routed for the resonator and electric pickups, and a bolt-on flame Maple neck with Rosewood fingerboard. The headplate is a faux pearl covering.
The National M-14T Thunderbox is the latest version of National’s standard M-14 and features a 4″ deep body, delivering more low end and applied volume.
The National M-14T Thunderbox is the latest version of National’s standard M-14. The newly improved M-14T features a 4″ deep body, improving the low end response and creating a louder, punchier instrument. The National M-14T Thunderbox body is composed of laminate top and back, and solid mahogany sides. This instrument also features a mahogany neck, ebony fretboard and mother-of-pearl position markers.
Drawing from the roots of the single-cone resophonic guitar, the National Style O Steel 14 Fret definitely has a vintage appearance with all the quality of modern Nationals. Sporting a unique ‘Weathered Steel’ finish over a steel body with rolled F-holes and a Maple neck with Ebony fingerboard, the Style O Steel 14 Fret delivers all the tone, volume and projection that National is known for.
Designed in collaboration with Mike Dowling, the National Resophonic El Trovador is patterned after the famous National guitars produced from 1932-1933. Similar to its venerable predecessor, the new National ResoPhonic El Trovador guitar features a large, 14.5 inch wide, 4 inch deep body built of mahogany. The body is bound in multi-layer celluloid, with a matching purfling border around the coverplate.
This Michael Messer Blues 14-Fret model is designed by Michael Messer with a special alloy, biscuit-cone for well balanced, authentic Delta-Blues tone and great sustain and volume. Messers have a big, chunky, pre-war style neck which is fitted with a modern fully adjustable truss rod.
You will find a superb assortment of Michael Messer Resophonic Guitars at The Twelfth Fret. Our selection include Michael Messer’s array of models.
The National Style 1.5 Tricone Resophonic guitar is patterned after the original instrument made in 1927 with a functional Art Deco industrial design. It is made of brass, highly polished and plated with either bright nickel plating or a custom Antique Brass treatment! The round, mahogany neck has an ivoroid bound ebony fingerboard. The headstock has the National logo inlayed in mother-of-pearl and vintage-style tuners! To create the National Style 1.5 Tricone, a touch of elegance is added to the Style 1, with hand-engraved double-cut lines encasing a wiggle stroke around the front, side, and back edges of the nickel-plated brass body!
The Hollowneck Report Part 1 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
The Airline Folkstar, improved and re-issued by the Eastwood guitar company, brings back the 1950s Valco Folkstar resophonic aesthetic, but with a pair of pickups and a reasonable price. Airline guitars were built by Valco, one of the largest instrument manufacturers in the world, from 1958 to 1868 when the company folded. The original Airline Folkstar used Valco’s Res-O-Glas body construction – fiberglass resin on wood – with a single resonator cone. It was entirely acoustic, and never had pickups
The National Reso Rocket Steel is one of National’s newly designed single cone guitars, incorporating a redesigned cover plate pattern to complement the distinctive Tricone-style grille work. The Bendaway body has the upper bout cut away for easier access to the higher frets.The Reso Rocket Steel is built with a thin, rubbed steel Bendaway body, paired with a neck made of either Maple or Mahogany and a bound Ebony fingerboard, with Mother of Pearl position markers.
The National Reso-Phonic Reso Rocket Wood Body is a newly designed single resonator cutaway guitar incorporating a redesigned coverplate pattern to complement the distinctive Tricone-style grille work. The upper bout of the wood body has been modified with a deep cutaway for easier access to the higher frets.The very first versions of this innovative guitar were named the ‘Wocket’ and ultimately became the Reso Rocket WB.
The National Style O 14-fret model dates back to the early days of Resophonic guitars, as banjo players migrated to guitar and wanted access to more fret. The 14-fret to the body Style O was introduced in 1935 by the National Stringed Instrument Corporation. It came with either the Traditional Sieve pattern cover plate or the newly introduced Chicken Foot cover plate. in 1935 this guitar had a slotted headstock with a decal.
Here we have a National Resophonic T-14 Cutaway Tricone in a Weathered Steel finish. The official model number is ‘T-14WS’, and it’s a slim, steel bodied, three cone resophonic guitar with a 14-fret neck. And at under eight pounds, it weighs less than many solid body electrics! The T-14 Cutaway Tricone is full-scale guitar, at 25.66 inches. This requires a bit more tension on the strings and the cones, which can result in increased volume.
The Gretsch Bobtail, the G9230, is part of a recently re-introduced affordable acoustic and resonator guitar line, the Roots Collection. It features all mahogany soundwell-type body and neck with a bound Padauk fingerboard, and a dark cherry sunburst finish.
The Michael Messer Lightning is a nickel-plated bell brass body, 1930’s style 12-fret single cone resonator guitar, intended to provide the tone and vibe of a vintage blues guitar, and it does this well. You get the vintage look and tone, but with modern playability and reliability at an affordable price. These are great instruments for fingerstyle and bottleneck blues playing. The Michael Messer Lightning has the characteristic attack, projection, resonance and volume of a ‘steel body’ guitar. As expected, it’s bright, but with a warmth and depth that avoid harshness and add a sweetness to the edge. The modern features include an adjustable truss rod.
Here it is – the Beard JD Blackbeard Jerry Douglas Signature Squareneck Resophonic Guitar! A cosmetically stripped down version of the Beard Jerry Douglas Signature model, the Beard JD Blackbeard features the E model body built with solid mahogany top, back, sides and neck and a very interesting translucent black finish.
National Resophonic guitars have a really great sound, and it’s always a treat to play one. The National Resophonic Style 1 Cutaway adds good access to the upper frets, and with the 12-fret neck makes this a really nice guitar.
The Smith and Young line is named after Eric Smith and Don Young, the owners of National ResoPhonic Guitars. This line of instruments is intended to reproduce historically correct pre-war era instruments, in the style of the highly desirable late 1930s Dobro guitars with Spider bridges.
The National ResoLectric Revolver is a really interesting instrument, and lets you take the resophonic concept into any volume context. It looks great, it’s comfortable to play, and it sounds wonderful. The combination of P-90 and piezo makes it tonally very verstatile.
This is the first production Black Rust National NRP-B hollowneck we’ve received, and is the fifth production NRP hollowneck made. National Hollownecks have a spectacular sound – have a listen to the Hollowneck Report featuring Burke Carroll
In Part 1 of the Hollowneck Report, we took an overview of our project comparing five squareneck National ResoPhonic guitars as bluegrass instruments. In The Hollowneck Report Part 2 we’ll start into the recordings so you can see and hear what they’re really like.
The Hollowneck Report Part 3 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
The Hollowneck Report Part 3 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
The Hollowneck Report Part 5 features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
The Hollowneck Report Part 6, our final installment, features National ResoPhonic guitars played by Burke Carroll in contemporary Bluegrass tuning, with Chris Bennett on rhythm.
In the late 1920s the Style 1 Tricone was the considered ultimate Hawaiian guitar. The three small cones powered by the Aluminum three footed bridge produce a very different quality of tone than the Single Cone Style 0 guitars
A lot of players were scrambling to find ResoLectric Jr. models when National discontinued this guitar a couple of years ago. Well, they are back now by popular demand and feature the new National Hot Plate with Jason Lollar pickup & coverplate-mounted volume & tone controls.
The 14-fret to the body Style O was introduced in 1935 by the National Stringed Instrument Corporation. It came with either the Traditional Sieve pattern coverplate or the newly introduced Chicken Foot coverplate. in 1935 this guitar had a slotted headstock with a decal. In 1936 it went to the solid peghead style with a rosewood overlay, inlaid with a pearloid banner logo and was produced until 1938. From 1939 to 1941 it had what was called a paddle headstock with a black phenolic overlay and a metal shield logo. This instrument originally sold for $62.50 and in 1939 the price was increased to $65.00!!!