1 THE FIRST “AMPLIFIED”
GUITAR
Well before mass production
of the electric guitar, the resonator
instrument hit the scene
as the first feasible effort to “amplify”
a standard guitar. This was achieved by
means of spun aluminum cones—designed
much like standard paper speaker
cones—that were placed in the guitar’s
top, with a bridge and saddle configuration
contacting them directly. When the
strings were plucked, the cones’ vibrations
projected a sound much louder
than that of a traditional acoustic guitar.
The first resonator guitars appeared
around 1927 from National, a partnership
between John Dopyera, Adolph
Rickenbacker, and inventor/musician
George Beauchamp.
2 A SINGLE-CONED
TRIOLIAN?
The first National Reso-Phonic
models were tri-cone
designs, with three smaller
cones that open toward the inside of the
guitar body, all connected to the strings
via a T-shaped bridge. With the rivalry
soon posed by single-coned Dobros (see
below), National produced its own single-
cone resonators, and these are more
common than tri-cones today. A singlecone
resonator can be identified by the
single, round “hubcap-like” cover which
conceals the cone, while a tri-cone has a cone cover shaped like a rounded triangle
with a T-shaped bridge cover. Confusingly,
the first single-cone National
model was called the Triolian, a name it
retained from the tri-cone model from
which it evolved.
3 THERE’S TONE IN THE
CONE, BUT THE BODY
MATTERS TOO
Not surprisingly, single-cone
and tri-cone resos will sound
somewhat different. Tri-cones are generally
more complex, detailed, and articulate,
while single-cones are deeper, richer,
and warmer. Differences in body material
compound tonal variations too, however:
steel or brass-bodied resos tend to
be ringing, “zingy” and slightly strident,
while wood-bodied versions are somewhat
mellower and warmer. The instrument
was first conceived to enable the
guitarist to compete with horns on the
bandstand, but quickly became a star of
the Hawaiian music craze. Metal-bodied
resos have tended to be Hawaiian and
blues instruments, while wood-bodied
Dobros are a bluegrass standard, and
wood-bodied Nationals are more the
choice of blues players.
4 SO WHAT’S A
“DOBRO” THEN?
After a dispute with his partners
at National, John Dopyera
left the company in 1928 to build his own new resonator
designs with his brothers under the
Dobro brand. These used a single cone
that faced outward from the guitar’s
body, like a traditional speaker cone,
and was connected to the strings by a
multi-pronged “spider” bridge. Early
Dobros were also more often wood-bodied
instruments. To compete with the
new Dobros, National soon released its
own single-coned resonator guitar—in
both wood and metal-bodied models—
which featured a cone that instead fired
into the body of the guitar, connected
by a “biscuit” bridge.
5 SQUARENECK,
REDNECK, WHAT…?
Early resonator guitars were
available either as roundneck
or squareneck models, for traditional
and lap-style playing respectively.
The squareneck was the staple of Hawaiian
players, but was picked up by many
lap-style blues and country artists over
the years. A roundneck can, of course, be
used for slide-style playing too—played
upright in the “bottleneck” style with
a finger slide, or like a standard guitar
à la Mark Knopfler’s legendary Brothers
In Arms National. A squareneck, on the
other hand, can’t easily be played like a
traditional guitar. To adapt a roundneck
to lap-style, many players add a “nut
extender” to lift the strings further from
the fretboard.