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Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!!
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Subject: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 18 Oct 04 - 07:52 AM I just saw an acoustic guitar for sale second hand - it is a stainless steel body, big round - presumably a resonator disc,under the strings, two f shaped holes. The neck was ordinary wood as for an ordinary guitar. I should have looked to see what the make was - but I was totally dazzled by the shinyness of it. I never saw anything like it - except on TV - just once, someone had something like it and called it a Barnsley fighting guitar - joke - not much information there. Should I want this? It is priced at £299 - and it is sooooo shiny. Any information about these? I tried google but could not get anything specific, either oodles of stainless steel stuff for acoustic guitars, and toasters - or nothing. Anne |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Sooz Date: 18 Oct 04 - 07:58 AM Sounds like a Vintage resonator to me. They started making copies of the original National Resonators about 5 or 6 years ago. (Price has come down a lot since then.) |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Murray MacLeod Date: 18 Oct 04 - 08:28 AM It's a resophonic guitar, but it isn't stainless steel, it's polished aluminium. |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: s&r Date: 18 Oct 04 - 08:38 AM I have an Ashbury resonator guitar that has a steel body (or at any rate a very magnetic one). There are many of them in the shops made by a variety of companies. Stewart MacDonald sells nickel plated brass bodies. Stu |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Murray MacLeod Date: 18 Oct 04 - 08:50 AM metal resophonic guitars can be nickel-plated steel, nickel-plated brass, or polished aluminium, but they are not made of stainless steel. |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: s&r Date: 18 Oct 04 - 09:07 AM Mine is almost certainly plated steel: however, this caims to be stainless steel. Stu (should read 'claims') |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Murray MacLeod Date: 18 Oct 04 - 11:51 AM Yes, it does, doesn't it ? I would have thought the technical problems inherent in welding thin gauge stainless steel would have precluded the making of such an instrument. I also see it has a "Beautiful gun-metal grey finish for that traditional look and style". Strange choice, I would have liked it nice and shiny, personally ... |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Murray MacLeod Date: 18 Oct 04 - 11:58 AM Yes, Regal definitely did make a stainless steel Dobro. Mea culpa. This is quite an interesting link as well |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: mooman Date: 18 Oct 04 - 11:59 AM I have a Regal Duolian RC-1 and it certainly isn't made of stainless steel. Steel yes, but stainless steel no! Mine isn't that grey gunmetal coulour but is a rather nice sage green finish which goes with my eyes (;>). It's about a 3/4 classical size (as least it fits in a case that size). A great little guitar BTW and I use it for most of my writing. The only trouble with the all steel or nickle plated ones is that theres an awful lot to polish...otherwise they look great! I have enough on keeping the resonator disk and steel hardware shiny. Peace moo |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: mooman Date: 18 Oct 04 - 12:02 PM That's right Murray...I think the RC2 is stainless steel and also the Regal Tricone model. Peace moo |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 18 Oct 04 - 12:41 PM No no - this exists - I held it, fell under the spell of its glamour. Was stunned by the desire to own it. I didn't even want to know its name. This is shiny shiny shiny - like mirror bright see your face in it unashamedly unambiguously shiny. It is not any colour. It is the sort of instrument I would not have imagined could exist. But do I want it? What sort of noise do metal bodied guitars make? Has anyone read Terry Pratchet's Disc World book Soul Music? Is this going to have a number one chalked on it or would it be more at home in a bedroom with a leopard in it? It did seem to have volume - but if removed from the grip of the cable ties and tuned will it be likely to sing, or just shout? Anne |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: PoppaGator Date: 18 Oct 04 - 01:41 PM Steel-bodied resonator guitars were popular among blues players in the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s/30s -- probably in order to be heard when playing solo in loud juke-joint environments. Electric guitars were still a fairly new phenomenon back then, and not all the venues where these guys would be playing would have been wired for electricity anyway, so the steel-bodied guitars would provide the greatest possible volume. The sound, when played with or without a slide, is pretty unique and unmistakable, characteristically "bluesy." A different style of "country" slide guitar is often played on the dobro, a very similar intrument except that the dobro body is usually wooden with a metal resonator, yielding a slightly different sound. One of the above links describes an all-metal resonator guitar as a "dobro" -- I'm not sure that there is any well-defined distinction between a steel-bodied resonator guitar and a dobro except perhaps how it's used, what style of music is played on it, the position in which the player holds it, etc. Can anyone else elaborate? |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Murray MacLeod Date: 18 Oct 04 - 02:35 PM DOBRO® is a trade name, (deriving from DOpyera BROthers). The Dopyeras started the National-Dobro company in the thirties, and the name DOBRO® was eventually acquired by Gibson. There have always been both metal-bodied and wooden bodied Dobros maanufactured, but nowadays when musicians refer to a "Dobro" they usually mean the square necked wooden bodied version played with a slide. |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: s&r Date: 18 Oct 04 - 07:22 PM Good link here Stu |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: ddw Date: 19 Oct 04 - 03:29 AM Hi Ann, From your description, it sounds like you found either a Regal or a Johnson knockoff of a National Type N, which is a nickel-plated brass instrument. The Type Ns have a completely mirror finish on them. The other Nationals that look like it are the Type O (which is engraved with Hawaiian scenes that were changed slightly each year) and the Type EN, which has a mirror finish only on thin bands around the edges and is otherwise an etched finish. The Regals and Johnsons (and a few others that might be copying the Nationals now) are usually pretty loud compared with conventional guitars, but can't stay in the same room with a National. Old Nationals were very loud, but had very quick decay on the sound, which made them sound almost like a banjo if they were played a certain way. The new Nationals, resurrected in 1991 after having been out of production since about 1940 when electric guitars made them redundant, have much better sustain and can be very sweet under the right touch. The major problem with the knockoffs is that the cones tend to warp and cause distortion and difficulties keeping them in tune. The "biscuit" also tends to be less than accurately made, which also affects intonation. Playing any resonator guitar takes a very different technique from playing a conventional acoustic, so if you already play you should be prepared to feel like a neophyte for a while. As somebody mentioned above, a lot of the old bluesmen played Nationals, but most were the Duolian models — steel bodies painted in different colors. A few used Type Os, and even fewer — only Tampa Red comes to mind — used Tricones, which tend to have a sweeter tone and not as much bark. The bluesmen liked them because they were relatively cheap, they could stand up beside a piano and be heard and they were great for fighting a player's way out of a barroom brawl. If you want to learn a bit more about them, try Elderly Instruments' website (elderly.com) and go in to their selection of resonator guitars, or do a Google search for National Resonator Guitars. You might also Google the name Bob Brozman; he's the acknowledged expert in the story of Nationals. cheers, david |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Big Al Whittle Date: 19 Oct 04 - 03:44 AM And what of the purveyor of this instrument, does he have anything to say about its provenance. If you can afford it get it, work up to the leopard in the bedroom. have a little growl in your quiet moments. |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 19 Oct 04 - 03:16 PM The guitar is in a second hand shop which sells all sorts of stuff - mostly junk electronics vacuum cleaners, golf and keep fit things. there is a japanese guitar with a hole in the body for sale at £170 - The same make and model is sold in the US for 99 dollars as a beginners instrument, so I was most wary of this, but had to go and look at it again today. It is a Vintage brand, nothing else is visible - no number, place of manufacture, nothing, just shiny metal. The neck shows no sign of wear, and by moving the cable ties I was able to sound each string and it does seem to have a pleasing voice. Any one know more about the Vintage brand? Anne |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: s&r Date: 19 Oct 04 - 04:38 PM one supplier here Stu |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 19 Oct 04 - 05:31 PM Thats the right ones - the one I covet is a plain vanilla, no pickup or any colouring - but the family resemblance is obvious. Anne |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 19 Oct 04 - 09:20 PM INSPIRATION
Cripes little girly you have my steam-pipes a humming.
It should not be hard to manufactor a titanium guitar - with its inherant tinsel strength - wwwoooowwweeeeeoooooo!!!!- And the heat tempered coloring - aauch!
But what to do for a neck, a neck.
(Of course the strings would be brass wrapped)
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 20 Oct 04 - 09:29 AM The neck - Hmmm I can just visualise it - slender D shaped rings held in place by six fine metal rods, the flats holding the frets. There would be a clear plastic medium which connected the rods and rings and which glowed different colours under tension/compression. On the head, each of the six rods would tension one or two strings. Suspended between them prisms and holographic reflectors would cover the mechanism to adjust the neck's position relative to the body and the fine shaping of it. Was it Asimov who had 'beautiful boys with bright red guitars, in the spaces beween the stars'? Though making a high tensile strength guitar would make smashing them as part of the act a bit difficult - but its been done. Smashing everything else on stage might be an option though. I have heard one of the real ones refered to as a Barnsley fighting guitar - on the TV. It would knock Hell out of battling banjoes. Biddy bong bong bong bong bing bong - CRUNCH. Anne |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: mooman Date: 20 Oct 04 - 10:25 AM Steady Anne...you're getting carried away now! Interesting concept though... Peace moo |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 20 Oct 04 - 10:50 AM Since coming across that guitar I am quite transported. I just wish I could find something to sell in order to aquire it. Anne |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Davy Date: 20 Oct 04 - 11:06 AM Vintage guitars are marketed from Garforth near Leeds (England) They source most of their models from the far east, and while they had problems at first with the cones, they pretty much have that sorted now. I have a Tricone which is great for the money I paid( abot a fifth of the price of a national) and have also owned one of the single cone models. a nice clanky sound and made of 'bell brass' then chrome plated. |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GLoux Date: 21 Oct 04 - 10:50 AM Anne, After looking at the prices on the supplier's web site, I have to say the price they're offering the used one (£299) looks pretty good, but you should be sure to play it to make sure it doesn't buzz, etc. -Greg |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Big Al Whittle Date: 21 Oct 04 - 12:14 PM One of the Liverpool poets, as I remember - that daughters of Albion poem - it goes on wishin and hopin - as in the old merseybeats song |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Grab Date: 21 Oct 04 - 07:53 PM For £299 you can probably also get a new Regal or Ozark equivalent - I'd recommend trying these before you buy a second-hand one, unless you really know what you're looking for. Vintage are a fairly average brand (not bad but nothing special), so unless it sounds great then £300 may be a bit much for second-hand. Maybe pay a visit to the London Resonator Centre for a larger range of instruments? As for how it sounds, listen to "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits. That's your guitar in action. It should be loud and slightly twangy but still have some sustain and ring out well. If it's twangy but strangely lifeless, avoid it and buy a guitar instead that's shiny *and* sounds nice. :-) FWIW, I've stopped going in those sort of shops to check out musical instruments. I've never seen an instrument being sold in a pawn-shop that would have been worth the money even if the instrument had been treated well, and almost always they've been kept in poor condition with a crap setup and bad strings. For a pawn-shop, any instruments are considered high-markup items, so they sell them at hugely inflated prices. For a guitar shop though, a low-end second-hand guitar is generally a low-markup item, so I reckon you'll almost always get a better deal in a proper instrument shop. Graham. |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST Date: 21 Oct 04 - 09:23 PM I too have heard of resonator guitars refered too as "barnsley fighting guitars" by the great Mike Harding |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: Gypsy Date: 22 Oct 04 - 11:36 AM Our partner has a Johnson..........it is fantastic for busking......real people magnet. And, it is LOUD, which we really like |
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Subject: RE: Stainless steel guitar Ooooo!! From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 25 Oct 04 - 01:17 PM I went in to the shop where the guitar is for sale. Tragedy There is a dent in one side of the front next to the resonator, there is damage to the edge of the body where the long piece which eventually holds the strings is fastened, there are long scratches along the back, there are scratches on the front. I pointed these out to the assistants, the girl was concerned, her superior said that it was second hand so expect damamge - but it was priced when it was undented and undamaged. Ah well, should I ever be in the market for one of these I know where to look now - thanks for all the information. Anne |
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