I want to buy a Reso, help!!

Owens_kiwi · #1 July 24th, 2006

I am quite new to the slide-guitar thing and i want to buy an affordable Resonator guitar. Does anyone have experience with Johnson Resos? I am interested in the JM 998 Serie...does anyone know how the quality of these instruments is?
And is there a "classical" look for those instruments? Are the shining chrome-models traditional or came the first models in the good old days along like the "sandburst" models?

Kirk Lorange · #2 July 29th, 2006

Sorry, O_k, I'm not familiar with Johnsons. I do recommend that you try out before buying though. Resonators can be very dull sounding if you get a dud. I've tried many and very few have that singing, ringing quality we all want to hear.

Owens_kiwi · #3 August 26th, 2006

Thank you for your advice...i have come to the conclusion that i want to spend a bit more money for a Reso. I just ordered the Natonal Catalogue, however it´s hard to make a decision which model is good for me, cause i can´t play them. Over here in Germany one hardly has got the chance to find National gutars in music stores...further more i am left handed....
So do you think it would be a risk to order a national guitar without i played it before?

allthumbs · #4 August 26th, 2006

Nationals have a great rep. They should for what they cost. There is at least one custom reso maker in Germany. I saw his stuff years ago. You might be able to google for it.
You can also find some good reso makers in Oz. There is a maker in San Fransisco who makes awesome carbon fiber resos which I would buy in a second if i had the cash. You are paying a premium for the National name. You have a lot more choices in the high end side of resos. The low end is Johnson's and Rouges etc. I wouldn't order a low end res without playing it first. The quality is spotty and you could go through 3 or 5 to find a good one. A lot of people do a mushroom mod for more volume and swap in a National cone into the 5 to 700 buck range reso to bring up the general quality of their non national reso. Do some research. You might find a better bang for the buck than a National.

Schermerberger · #5 September 14th, 2006

Hi Owens Kiwi and all,
for what it's worth, it seems that the more economical reso's have a mix of some that have a sound well and those that dont. The soundwell greatly improves the singsong resonating sound. You might check the specs on that one to see if it has one or not. In metro-detroit there are many guitar shops yet there are only about 5-7 resonators for sale in the whole area. I am in the same boat searching out a moderately priced reso' and am almost thinking of ordering a reso kit from Stewart MacDonald but I'm not to that point yet.

Dolph · #6 September 17th, 2006

O_K,

You might find what you are looking for next door, so to speak. Jeremy Spencer, a slide player with the orignal Fleetwood Mac, these days plays an Amistar which is made in the Czech Republic in the same place where the Doperya Bros, inventors of the Dobro came from. Couldn't be more than an overnight trip for you and well worth it if you can actually try them out. Their website is http://www.amistar.cz

Dolph

allthumbs · #7 September 18th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolph

O_K,

You might find what you are looking for next door, so to speak. Jeremy Spencer, a slide player with the orignal Fleetwood Mac, these days plays an Amistar which is made in the Czech Republic in the same place where the Doperya Bros, inventors of the Dobro came from. Couldn't be more than an overnight trip for you and well worth it if you can actually try them out. Their website is http://www.amistar.cz

Dolph

Wow. Those are sweet.

Dolph · #8 September 18th, 2006

They do look good AT but I'd love to know how much they are and what they sound like like. Let us know if you ever get down there O_K.

chrisnickey64 · #9 July 3rd, 2008

i picked up one of these from a friend of mine about a year ago for 200 u.s.d. $ and i gotta say that it's a low end guitar but it sings ! i have read here that you really gotta avoid the lower end resos as they tend to have a dull sound and, it may be true to a certain extent but for the $ i am pleased with this and anyhow for a genuine delta blues sound i would have to say the cheaper the better as i'm sure some old blues hound back in the early 40's was also playin the bottom of the line too! ***1/2 stars outa 5 for oscar schmidt!