Thursday, July 23, 2015

Resonator Baritone No. 5

I made this baritone guitar out of a brand new No Label resonator bass and it is the fifth resonator baritone I have made. Usually these inexpensive Chinese resonator basses are very solidly made but have fit and finish issues. This one was no exception. I have gone through it and cleaned up the cone seat and made other minor adjustments to make it sound and play its best. I use one regular .013 guitar string and strings out of a set of D’Addario EXL170-12 Regular Light Gauge bass strings for the rest of the guitar. The guitar is strung .013, .018, .025w, .035, .045, and .080 and it works remarkably well. I have it tuned A – A at the moment but have tested it with the following open tunings:

G-C-G-D-E-G – Plays like open G but is really open C

G-D-G-E-D-G – Plays like open D but is really open G

A-E-A-C#-E-A – Plays like open E but is really open A


The top, back, and sides are natural color. The resonator is a spider cone and the saddle is bone. The pickup is a regular under saddle type and not particularly made for resonator guitars but it works well. The down side of that type of pickup is that you cannot adjust the spider without taking the cover off. It sounds great as it is but it would probably “honk” more with a National or Quarterman cone. I have the action set a bit high at the moment for easy open tuning slide play. If you are new to slide I would recommend you keep it there but I would be glad to lower it before shipping if you would like.  I am selling it without a case on eBay for $595. For an additional $10 I will include a nut extender that allows the guitar to be played lap style with a tone bar that you will need to supply – there are many styles. For regular slide play you will need to find the one that you like the best. Sold - Thanks John!


Specifications:

Scale Length:                34 inches
Nut Width:                    1 11/16 inches
Total Length:                49 inches
Body Length:                19 ¾ inches
Upper Bout Width:       11 inches
Lower Bout Width        15 ¾ inches

Body Depth:                 3 ¼ inches






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