Metal working tips: when tipping the edge of the top and bottom plates you can get a crisper edge radius to the bend if you make the top clamping plate slightly smaller all the way around. This will give you clearance for the hammer to planish the bend down flatter to the side. Also spend a little more time working the bend line down flush with the side of the bottom clamping plate. A smaller radius to the bend will be hidden easier when you solder the sides on. Keep up the great work, easy to see you have learned a lot since your first attempt.
I watched your whole series, two questions come up: 1- what type fretwire is commonly used on resonator guitars? I can't find this info anywhere. And 2 - to what extent do you feel the 2 degree angle of the fingerboard helps the strings sit better (more pressure) on the cone, and do you feel it sounds different? And actually a third question would be, did you correct the depth of the soundwell for the 2 degree angle or did you just deal with this at the bisquit?
Nationals come with 106 width and .39 crown height. That's a wide and low fret wire in my opinion which is probably ideal for slide playing and obviously a good choice. I like tall frets on my guitars so I've been using a wide tall wire on these resonators. It just comes down to player preference I guess, I'll put anything anybody wants on these. The 2 degree angle is a great question and unfortunately a long answer. The problem I've been battling is how the fret board sits on the body. If you build a flat neck you end up putting the neck on at a bit of an angle to get the action good. This leaves a small wedge shape area between body and fretboard that needs to be dealt with. I had a hard time getting the fretboard perfectly flat where it meets the body with the flat neck. The 2 degree neck angle had a negligible affect on my break over angle. What helped my break over angle the most was shortening my tail piece and having less of a curve/rise on my cover plate. That helps the strings get closer to the body at the tail piece which increased the break over angle significantly. The brass build has a good amount of angle that I'm happy with. I'm using a 1" deep sound well which works out the same whether the neck is flat but installed at a bit of an angle or the neck is 2 degree and installed flat (hopefully that makes sense). You could do a flat neck and deeper sound well so there is no angle but then the biscuit is pretty far down inside the body and has an awkward relationship with the cover plate and hand rest. The hand rest ends up too high above the strings and you could end up with the strings hitting the cover plate if there is too much curve on it. All that to say I am happy with the 2 degree neck angle and 1" deep sound well. All the proportions work out well for me with that setup. I've been measuring how much rise the cover plate needs on each guitar, I've found the strings as close to the hand rest is the most comfortable playing position, you can still palm mute easily and it's just comfortable to me.
@@Ninety2guits thanks a bunch for the explanation, that helps. I'm in the middle of a build and decided on an angled neck based on your videos, mine is in wood though and more like a mandocello but a resonator nonetheless. Brass seems to me the most beautiful sounding and looking material for any resonator - at the moment not doable for me. On topic of the hand rest - I have been playing a (reissue) Trovador for the past 12 years and I took off the hand rest then as it bothered me. I think I don't even remember where it went, but never had any issue with the cone.
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Beautiful work!!
Excellent & Beauty Gold's Resonator Guitar!... Congrats!... Cordial Greetings from Spain!...
Excellent work. 🍻. Love watching the process.
Great recap!! Seeing it all at once really drives home how involved the whole process is. Absolutely fabulous results James. And good playing as well.
Great edit of the process that we have avidly followed over the weeks! Super!
What brand propane torch are you using ? Thanks I've got an old National Hawaiian tricone that needs some repairs on a couple of small solder joints .
Metal working tips: when tipping the edge of the top and bottom plates you can get a crisper edge radius to the bend if you make the top clamping plate slightly smaller all the way around. This will give you clearance for the hammer to planish the bend down flatter to the side. Also spend a little more time working the bend line down flush with the side of the bottom clamping plate. A smaller radius to the bend will be hidden easier when you solder the sides on. Keep up the great work, easy to see you have learned a lot since your first attempt.
At that pace, you can pump one out every day. What craftsmanship. Well done. I just bought the same Pittsburgh white plastic hammer.
I need to move to China to make one a day Lol!
So well done.
outstanding
Damn, I wanted to see you spin your own cone. Just kiddin'. Nice build!
I watched your whole series, two questions come up: 1- what type fretwire is commonly used on resonator guitars? I can't find this info anywhere. And 2 - to what extent do you feel the 2 degree angle of the fingerboard helps the strings sit better (more pressure) on the cone, and do you feel it sounds different? And actually a third question would be, did you correct the depth of the soundwell for the 2 degree angle or did you just deal with this at the bisquit?
Nationals come with 106 width and .39 crown height. That's a wide and low fret wire in my opinion which is probably ideal for slide playing and obviously a good choice. I like tall frets on my guitars so I've been using a wide tall wire on these resonators. It just comes down to player preference I guess, I'll put anything anybody wants on these. The 2 degree angle is a great question and unfortunately a long answer. The problem I've been battling is how the fret board sits on the body. If you build a flat neck you end up putting the neck on at a bit of an angle to get the action good. This leaves a small wedge shape area between body and fretboard that needs to be dealt with. I had a hard time getting the fretboard perfectly flat where it meets the body with the flat neck. The 2 degree neck angle had a negligible affect on my break over angle. What helped my break over angle the most was shortening my tail piece and having less of a curve/rise on my cover plate. That helps the strings get closer to the body at the tail piece which increased the break over angle significantly. The brass build has a good amount of angle that I'm happy with. I'm using a 1" deep sound well which works out the same whether the neck is flat but installed at a bit of an angle or the neck is 2 degree and installed flat (hopefully that makes sense). You could do a flat neck and deeper sound well so there is no angle but then the biscuit is pretty far down inside the body and has an awkward relationship with the cover plate and hand rest. The hand rest ends up too high above the strings and you could end up with the strings hitting the cover plate if there is too much curve on it. All that to say I am happy with the 2 degree neck angle and 1" deep sound well. All the proportions work out well for me with that setup. I've been measuring how much rise the cover plate needs on each guitar, I've found the strings as close to the hand rest is the most comfortable playing position, you can still palm mute easily and it's just comfortable to me.
@@Ninety2guits thanks a bunch for the explanation, that helps. I'm in the middle of a build and decided on an angled neck based on your videos, mine is in wood though and more like a mandocello but a resonator nonetheless. Brass seems to me the most beautiful sounding and looking material for any resonator - at the moment not doable for me. On topic of the hand rest - I have been playing a (reissue) Trovador for the past 12 years and I took off the hand rest then as it bothered me. I think I don't even remember where it went, but never had any issue with the cone.
If you didn’t stop to change your shirt so often, you make two guitars a day instead of just one….😂
That's funny!
I'll take the sound of a wood guitar anyday.
Great input
A resonator is a whole nouther "can" O worms.
Watches a guy build a brass resonator guitar from scratch and says he prefers the sound of an accordion.
Thanks for your 2bits bud!
@TobiasC-mg4zk you are welcome,I'm glad you enjoy another person's right to state thier opinion,,,Bud