advice on first resonator

[Will Slack]

I play A6 and E13 lap steel, but would like to finally get something for occasional acoustic playing. I love the sound of tricones, but for now I want something lighter and cheaper. I plan to play A6 and perhaps high bass A in more of a western and Hawaiian style. Even though these aren't typical tunings on a dobro style squareneck, they're the resonator that seems to be the most readily available. What brands or models do you recommend for $1000 or less (might go higher but gotta be convinced).

I see gretsch boxcars and gibson/epi hound dogs for about $400. Dobro brand squarenecks seem to pop up regularly for $600-$800. Gold Tones? Beards?

Any advice on what guitars are worth spending a little extra on?

Thanks!

[Stephen Schoenadel]

My vote would be for a used Beard Goldtone. Well built with a punchy and balanced sound.

[Jerry Overstreet]

viewtopic.php?t=397837

Here's a really nice and rare vintage Dobro for a little bump up in price.

[James Holland]

When i was looking for my first, the research lead me to a 70s or 80s Dobro. I found a one owner model 27, case, bars, heavy strap for 700 at GC. I flattened the deck under the cone, flattened and leveled the spider, fit the biscuit, and trued the biscuit screw surfaces, felted the tailpiece, fit the nut, etc. Maybe 4 hrs of work on a Saturday morning. It really sings, and snaps to pitch on slants and positions. Looks vintage and great too. Just an idea.

[Howard Parker]

As a "player" and occasional teacher/coach I typically suggest either the Gold Tone family of square necks or the less expensive Recording King "Phil Ledbetter" model.

If new, both guitars are typically set up decently out of the box. Ready to play without further expense. When used, many of these guitars are new enough to still be in very decent condition.

I do recommend OMI vintage guitars only if I can inspect them in advance. Let's face it, some of them are 50+ years old now and it's not like they were originally built to the highest standards. Many of those guitars are way overdue for a new set up, a $300-400 expense.

Unfortunately, I try to avoid the newer, Gibson built instruments.

hp

[Will Slack]

Thanks for the input, everyone. Jerry, that guitar looks beautiful, but I don't think I'm ready to spend that much.

It is hard to find many square neck resonators to play before purchasing. It sounds like a Gold Tone may be the best bet for an online purchase. There is a 1981 (OMI era, yes?) Dobro in a shop near me that I'll probably go try out. Anything in particular I should look out for, other than a nice sound?

here's a link to the Dobro, in case anyone sees anything of note in the pictures. https://reverb.com/item/75532366-dobro- ... nator-1981

[Will Slack]

I played the '81 OMI Dobro today at the shop. Considering the old strings and the tuning I'm not used to (low bass A), I think it sounded pretty good. No odd buzzing, no discernible dead spots. Seems like maybe it didn't project too well, but hard to tell with someone playing electric guitar in the same room.

[Rich Arnold]

As a "player" and occasional teacher/coach I typically suggest either the Gold Tone family of square necks or the less expensive Recording King "Phil Ledbetter" model.

If new, both guitars are typically set up decently out of the box. Ready to play without further expense. When used, many of these guitars are new enough to still be in very decent condition.

I do recommend OMI vintage guitars only if I can inspect them in advance. Let's face it, some of them are 50+ years old now and it's not like they were originally built to the highest standards. Many of those guitars are way overdue for a new set up, a $300-400 expense.

Unfortunately, I try to avoid the newer, Gibson built instruments.

hp

I agree with this completely.
I learned how to play on a OMI back in the 1980s and the reason we used them was because there were very few choices. Some of the Rudy Jones guitars sounded pretty good and there was one other option that I can remember and that was Dick DeNeve hand made dobros from Upstate New York. I actually acquired a Gibson in around 2002ish....I swapped it out the next day. It didn't have the boggie.
If you insist of having that old vintage sound the go ahead with the OMI but, like Howard said you're looking at an expensive set up. My OMI was eventually set up by the late Gene Wooten so I could pull some pretty good tone from it. But out of the box new? Goldtone. IMO.

[John Sims]

I have a Gretsch boxcar square neck and I love it!

[Andy Volk]

Ditto to John's Sims' post. The Gretsch Boxcar squareneck is an incredible value.

I have a high end koa/spruce Benoit which is like a sound fountain but, truth be told, for everyday playing, I reach just as often for the Gretsch that sits in my office. It sounds very good and is built like a tank!

http://tinyurl.com/5zvebmey

[Allen Kaatz]

I have an 8 string and 6 string for sale, both are outstanding instruments - make me an offer!

viewtopic.php?t=398346

[Will Slack]

Thanks again for the advice. The Tom Warner 6 string looks great, but I'm still not sure I'll spend that much. there's a nice looking PBS 8 string in the for sale section, but I think I want to start with 6 string, despite playing 8 string lap.

The cheaper gretsch might be the ticket for a starter/beater instrument.

[Lloyd Graves]

I bought a 1970s, square neck, metal bodied Dobro for $700 a few years ago. I keep it in high bass A and I love it - enough to let me refrain from buying a trickle, anyhow. Someone on the forum was selling the same guitar a year or so ago.


I can't find the one I have, but here's a brand new metal hound dog for under $1K: https://reverb.com/item/77949323-dobro- ... tic-nickel

[BJ Burbach]

So I wanted to buy a Dobro lately and thought an 8 string might be nice to try. I see a lot of buyer's remorse out there though, people buying 8 stringers and selling them pretty soon, saying that it just didn't fit in. Tim had a good idea awhile back, which was to take a 12 string and make an 8 out of it, so I did that as a test rig, stretched out on it for a month with G6 and it fortified me to pull the trigger. Sure, it added a little over a hundred$ more, but the bonus is I get to have it to try tunings and it can sit out in the den for happy hour. It even sounds good. This week it has C13. I always loved cheap guitars! Thanks, Tim.
BJ

[Tim Toberer]

So I wanted to buy a Dobro lately and thought an 8 string might be nice to try. I see a lot of buyer's remorse out there though, people buying 8 stringers and selling them pretty soon, saying that it just didn't fit in. Tim had a good idea awhile back, which was to take a 12 string and make an 8 out of it, so I did that as a test rig, stretched out on it for a month with G6 and it fortified me to pull the trigger. Sure, it added a little over a hundred$ more, but the bonus is I get to have it to try tunings and it can sit out in the den for happy hour. It even sounds good. This week it has C13. I always loved cheap guitars! Thanks, Tim.
BJ

So cool! I wasn't sure how 8 would work, but 7 fits very nicely. I absolutely love my Harmony. For a while I was watching shopgoodwill every day and I would see a bunch of these interesting 12 fret 12 strings mostly from the 1970s. They seem to have the same body shape as the original Harmony sovereigns from the 60's. Some company must of taken over the factory or bought all the molds or something. They go for relatively cheap, and my hoarder nature wanted to buy every one of them, cause I know what great lap guitars they make. These would make a great resonator body if the original top were too damaged as well. Most of these have a real spruce top. Laminated back and sides. The necks are a bit weird . The original Harmony guitars aren't really cheap anymore and I would probably try to restore one instead of converting. Thanks for sharing that!

Expensive guitars won't make you a better player, and a good player can get the best out of any instrument. The trick is to get the guitar set up well, which isn't that hard for steel guitar.

[BJ Burbach]

Don't want to muck up the thread any more, if there are questions, we can open it over in building. I am glad I did it though.
I ended up buying the Adams 8 string that Lee was selling.
BJ

[Allen Kaatz]

The only reason I had remorse with my 8 string purchase was the string spacing being narrower than I am accustomed to. For guys who are steel players it's probably not an issue but for dobro players it might be.

[John Sims]

You might also want to check out the Gretsch Bobtail. The price went up but it's an awesome resonator. I love it... https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search ... ch+bobtail

[BJ Burbach]

For those who don't know, James Adams is still building guitars and has a bunch ready. I've been speaking with him lately and his website has just been down.
He can be reached at 281-806-4868.

Love my 8 string! Great string separation, too.
BJ

[Will Slack]

Revisiting an old thread I started...I finally bought a resonator.

I was never needing one bad enough to roll the dice and order it online. I kept an eye out, though, and played a handful of Dobros, none of which blew me away. I understand from everything I've read that they're real hit or miss. Anyway, someone locally posted a National Model D for about the price of a new Goldtone, so I jumped on it. I never did get to try a Goldtone, so they may have fit the bill. I can tell you the National sounds way better than the Dobros I played, and I'm partial to having a National brand guitar with a blond finish.

So, I'm now looking for recommendations on string gauges and sets. It's currently tuned in High bass G, which sounds good. Because I play A6 a lot, I'm inclined to tune up a whole step and keep things simpler for my brain. That said, the low strings don't seem to want to tune up that high. Any favorite brands/sets for strings that work for High Bass A tuning? I would love for the plain strings to be on the thicker side in the hopes of getting some harmonics out of them. Thanks for all the advice thus far.

[Glenn Wilde]

Yeah, don't try to tune a standard set to high A, bad things may happen, if you do a search here you'll come up with a string tension list, use that for a base, then you can fine tune it.

[Paul Seager]

I use a D'Addario EFT 15 set plus some extra single strings for A6 on a National Tricone.

Lo to Hi I currently tune A, E, F#, A, C#, E. The slotted peghead on the National makes strings 3 & 4 prone to breaking if you try to re-tune and I can't remember which strings are from the set and which were bought as singles.

However I am considering a C# instead of the lo A as this would be compatible with my electric 8 string tuning (I'm getting fed up with different tunings!) Hopefully I can use the set's string 5 for my string 6 and so on, probably needing an extra for the F# and top E.

Stringing any steel is always an experiment and Jon Ely's string chart is always a great help!

[Will Slack]

Thanks for the advice. I'll pull up Jon's string gauge chart.

[John Sluszny]

YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH A GRETSCH Boxcar 9210 !!!
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https://gretschguitars.com/gear/build/f ... 2715023521