AlvaRezo - Homemade resonator guitar
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- I'd always wanted a resonator guitar to play slide on, but couldn't afford one. So a couple years ago I bought an old Alvarez classical guitar with a broken top and cracked headstock to convert into a resonator. The guitar cost me $20. I took lots of pictures thinking I might create a web page of the process, or something, but I never did. So, here's a slide show with narration. A video of me playing the guitar is tacked on at the end. The total cost of the end product was less than $100.
Ingredients:
One old busted-up Alvarez guitar
One 9 inch resonator cone
One biscuit bridge
One tail piece
One indoor grilling pan (cover plate)
One cabinet handle
Some plywood
Lotsa' glue
Unrealistic sense of what you can accomplish with your own two hands.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd be glad to go into more details on certain aspects of the project.
For more information on this instrument and other projects, go to deepcreekstrings.blogspot.com
Lots of funky old-time mojo...! Fun project!! 🤩
Great project and the end product sounds great. You must be OK having a Springer 🙂
I love it- i made one of these about 10 years ago from an old yard sale guitar and aluminum skillet lids, and a biskit bridge and tailpiece I fabricated at work.. the thing i love most about these guitars is that they really sound like a Dobro, and they cut very well- you can hear one over a whole room of guitars. The great thing here is, you've given new life to an otherwise worthless instrument- Excellent work, my friend-
Dude, you did great. And I love that "AlvaRezo" name.
you have nothing to apologize for! Very creative and fun project. sounds good and your slide playing aint half bad!
It's very gratifying to get a compliment from someone whose videos I've been enjoying for so long. Please keep posting your wonderful videos.
Thanks - Jeff
I know this video was posted over a decade ago but man even when you said if I can only learn to play slide I thought that was crazy talk. You already had it lol. Guitar sounded great by the way.
Thanks for sharing this, enjoyed the song!
ha this is great. I got the idea to do this the other day but didn't think it was as straightforward as this until i saw your video. great job.
So much honoured and pleased my photos has been helpful for your great project ! I really enjoyed coverplate and handrest ;-)
Like a mellow dobro, Bro. Nice work!
Nice job! And I even learned a little slide guitar!
Glad you like. Can't wait to see what you come up with.
that has to be the best sounding resonator I've ever heard
Thank you. Well done.
Ha I have been contemplating using a socket for a slide, you sir have just made me believer :D
vleb,
I'm borderline honored that you saw this and posted a comment. You were instrumental in the making of the AlvaRezo. I used your step-by-step Building the Vleb-O-Nator pictures to help me make see this project through. It's no exaggeration when I say without your photos, I might not have had the guts to start the project at all. By the way, I got to your photos through your youtube videos, which I think are great.
Jeff
Ok...I was a little whatever at the start of this video but I'm so glad I watched it all...now I know it will work...cool video
This is awesome! I'm thinking about making one myself with all pieces I find at goodwill
Thanks for your comment Keni. I've watched and enjoyed your videos.
Here's the thing - a classical guitar has the saddle already positioned in the center of the lower bout (most steel string guitars are above center) making it much easier to install a sound well in the guitar. The top is "braced" with three layers of plywood - it's not going anywhere. The heel joint is another story - but I wanted higher action for slide anyway. But, as I say in the video, this was a < $100 experiment.
sitting on top of the handyman's world at the end. nice.
thats just cool - cant say much else. i kinda want one even though i just got a reso
good job. Another thing you can consider is this: initially being a classical guitar and you putting steel strings on it will mean that in a few years the neck will be so bowed that you can play it like a squareneck reso. Best of both worlds.
Great stuff Jeff... One of the best reso conversions I've seen and a great sound too.
This is great! I saw another video where the guy covered up the original sound hole. That forced all the air to vibrate through the new cone.
it is NOT awful, its awesome. you are very talented. =D
wow sounds surprisingly amazing. very nice build and playing
what a bad ass idea man!!! great stuff!!!! its not aweful either, i've toyed with this idea myself
I think were limited by our imaginations...you appearantly have an ingenious side to yours...good job. Almost makes me want to bust up my ibenez to build my own. Oh yeah, your not as bad as you may have thought.
Well done men , is great what you can do to your guitar, dont stop.
Nice sound. Nice socket lol, didn't even think about using one of those
Great proyect... very suggestive... i think you've got better results than myself after aplying what i've seen on your video, but it's still a good thing to try it...
thanks
Impressive all the way around..
Very interesting documentery. Thanks.
Great video ! Thank you for sharing this...
That is the coolest guitar I have EVER seen!
Yes! I like it. Thanks for the info.
@gogogodancer
A resonator cone is something you'd want to buy pre-made. The shape, metal thickness and metal composition all affect the volume and tone you get, a hammered down biscuit tin lid would give you nothing
Great work!!!
Excellent work, thanks for showing it throughout construction!
It's bloody great !
wow it sounds great
Nice job. Interesting you decided to use a classical guitar that is usually braced and strung with gut strings. Thanks for sharing this video. It was fun to watch.
good job it sounds great
Very nice sound and well played! Gonna bite the bullet and do something very similar. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi -that makes fun to look at -greetings from germany -winfried
Amazing
That sounds great! You could make a living making these jewels! Id buy one, (hint hint) 😁😀
I like that you are using a deep ratchet socket for your slide in that last ditty! I see you use colored tape to keep your sized labelled just like I do! LOL!!!!
thats awesome! what i would have done, i would cut two extra round sound holes above the main sound hole
You are a genious indeed. i wish i had your skills =)
that's pretty much right. I bought the biscuit bridge too.
wow thank you im woprking on project to build a guitar out of 100% recicled material this really helped thanx
I love this thing. I've got an old guitar and a Buick hubcap.. Yea buddy, I am beginning to picture my next project.. Yee Haw!
Very nice, good sustain, good tone. I see people use substitutes for the cone, bad place to substitute or go cheap. Its the basis of the sound I think. Your substitute is unique, looks great. Bridge guard/hand rest is unique too, and a good idea. You like the feel of a classical fingerboard better? I guess if you have the instrument, you have to make do. Great conversion.
I have an aluminum dome top thing just like that. It came with a ring under it to catch the grease. Makes Juicy Burgers but only one at a time LOL
That's just amazing! Looks awesome too!!
Extremely interesting, I am very tempted to try this sometime. Great post.
I have a couple of questions if you don't mind? Why not use a resonator bowl? How do you adjust for intonation? I was thinking of using old drum cymbals stacked on a small threaded
rod fixed at 3/4" apart. Would this work or am I just waiting my time? Thanks
Thank you. So, there was a method behind your madness. I say pretty darn good for a $100. Keep experimenting. Sounds like you got a knack for it.
Man that is brilliant. I have to try this out for myself and try to make something good out of a cheap, second-hand shop guitar. It would be real easy to just buy a resonator but how much more interesting to make one.
Oh yeah, your playing is not awful - it's good and that guitar sounds great.
impressive ^^ keep on keepin on
nice project.
Nice project. I have a junk guitar or three laying around in closets that need to be resonator guitars.
sweet dude thats awesome
im gonna do that to my acoustic
i dont even like blues stuff but that was beautiful at the end
Excellent job man! Still holdin' up a year and a half later? Sounds like a little Guitar Rag/Payday medley followed by You Got To Move. Maybe I missed something else.
I've been toying with ideas like this. I've got an extra cone and coverplate just sittin' around askin' for a project. You've inspired me. Much thanks.
Very cool, and the guitar sounds great!
Nicely done
MAN!!!!! thats amazing!!!!!! hahaha alvarezo, i love it! man, i am diggin that handle for a bridge cover. and man, that thing sounds amazing.
Wow, sounds awesome!!!
Great job! Loved it
This is, wow I can't even find the words for this..cool! How is it that the top's integrity was not compromised when the hole was cut?
Good job with the guitar. Sounds great!
Pretty nice conversion!
Truly amazing dude!
nice socket slide
Holly Shoe this guitar sounds like a Million Bucks, Awesome job man. And the thing I really like that you kept original idea how acoustic guitar works and putted in coockie, not a spider bridge, what pumps all goodnes through guitar, not out of it.
Also I was wondering what kind of material is that tom cover, handle and handle screws? as well if you don't mind sharing what plywood and glue you have used exactly ? Seriously, I love the sound, still kinda woody, acoustic, but with a twist and a kick.
Jeff, I think you should remove your apologies because your playing sounds just fine. I just wish you had shown how the inner cone is atached and worked. I have a similar project in mind
Awesome Awesome video... only helpful instructional video i found about this
Very nice. I've asked other people about a specific thing or two since I've got all the components to do the same thing. I've put off the project for actually about 4 years. Did you have the cover inset into the body? Someone else who did the same thing couldn't tell me if they did. Also did you port the soundwell?
I like it. Sounds cool. Good job.
Sorry about being unclear. That would be 26" from the bottom of the nut to the front edge of the bridge. The 12th fret is ALWAYS the halfway point of a scale length. Thus, 13" to the 12th fret.
This is super cool! Good for you.
LOL. Very nice. It's got a good sound.
Thanks! I love your steel videos.
Jeff
oh yes, now i have something to do with my old guitar!
Amazing man! This made me make my own!
nice
God that alvarez had a rosewood back i couldn't have done it
Great job!
Your playing is pretty good I did recognize both tunes the first one was someone to throw your bond and the second was Robert johnson come on in my kitchen
not awful at all...very very cool. the sound well, did you place that down onto the inside of the back of the guitar? or beneath the hole you made? the cone can be any metal thingee? like maybe a biscuit tin lid? hammered down a bit?
Looks Great! Do the strings go thru the handle or over? How did you adjust the action height ?
well ffs....that sound is beautiful
woahh! you're a beast!
good job!
Wow am impressed ! That's exactly what i want to do. I have an old classical guitar here.. dunno what brand it is .. anyways the wood is really old ( which is great for slide guitar )so anyway i went down to the local music shop and told em what i intended to do with it and they said NO DONT DO THAT.. THE NECK WILL BREAK ETC.. so i didnt do it.. Now i am wondering does your guitar have a truss rod in the neck ? Although just now i realise that with the biscuit brace ya probably wont need one.
Thats cool. It doesn't seem to have much bass power, but the trebly notes just SING.
I'm trying to make a guitar some time of solid wood with a hollow body and glass top.
Look up garbage drain resonator. Someone had a good sounding guitar made of acoustic with metal piece in the sound hole and a old pickup on top.
Oh yea, you play just fine...
the plywood rings which make the soundwell? how do you get them inside, as they are larger than the whole in the top of the guitar??
very nice but do worry about putting steel strings on a classical? Just wondering if the tension might be too much
That's awesome! I'm sitting here with a cover that is identical to what you used. I've got most of the pieces from a thrift store. The guitar was given to me. Lightnin says that it's not good to use substitutes. I guess I'm just cheap. :)
EljibaroBrave suggested that you cover up the original sound hole. In hind sight, is this something that you wished you had done? If I don't have to cover up the hole and paint the whole guitar, I don't want to. I like the colour the way it is.