Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey Guys

     Love to build acoustic steel strings ,...but theres something about building the squarenecks.
Of course the primary weapons of choice (for me as a player) are squareneck resonators.

I guess what draws me to build more squarenecks a yr than steel strings ,...is the skies the limit on baffleing the inside of the box,...and of course that sound ,...that high lonesome beauty .

Not to mention,.... there is a great Mkt for squarenecks.                                                   If your box stands out with tonal integrity and top notch craftsmanship ,...you'll have no problem supporting this madness.

      

Hey JD Welcome to OLF.

Yes I do like resonators and yes I am slooowwwlllyy building one. I am using Beards plan from Stew-mac. Have almost finished the neck. Was thinking about using an Oak body for something different. Do you use the baffle with the round holes as on the plan I have? I read Randy Allen,
said he, doesn't use a baffle?? So being new to this kind of endeavor I will go with the plan. I have seen some of your guitars and they look terrific. So have a good day and keep encouraging others to try a resonator build.

JD, my good friend, my brother and teacher.....it's about time you saw the light and came over to this forum ......for those wondering who JD is......he is a trusted (and funny) friend, a good man and a big time Koa junkie.

Welcome JD !
I've been dying to build a squareneck resonator for a good long while now. It may well be my next project. I've got some really great flamed maple and birdseye maple that would look great on a reso guitar. I've become a fan of Jerry Douglas and AKUS, so I decided to learn to play. But it has to be on a reso I build for myself.

If it turns out well, I may add it to my arsenal to sell eventually. You never know...


Don W38402.735462963

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Welcome to the OLF JD, good to have you join us. I want to tackle a resonator in the future and will more than likely need some advice. I'm sure your experience will be a great asset to the forum.Don A38402.7353703704

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Thanks for the welcome guys,....Yea,.....Brian and I go way back. Its worked out well,... I blame him for my wood addiction and he blames me. Our wives don't know who to believe ! He He !

   Ron,.....I build sound post construction (open box) ,...with different baffleing technics and materials to acheive diff. color of sound.( depending on customers needs)

   Let me know I'll help in any way I can.

                       

OK that's it someone mentioned Koa! If you combine that with resonator I just had to chip in my two penny worth.

I've only ever built one resonator guitar, a 000 sized dobro. OK, I admit it, it started out in the building process as an all koa 000 guitar but, after the darn bearings on my dremel messed up the rossette channels, I didn't want to waste the top so turned it round and built the dobro! It's not of course a square neck but I love playing bottle neck blues on it.

Some pics for the Koa obsessed, of which there seems to be many!









I doubt if I'll ever build another resonator, as I'm now concentrating more on early instruments and learning inlay, but I'm sure glad I built this one.

ColinColin S38403.2860532407

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Hey,.. Colin

Thats a great looking set of Koa on that guitar.

Koa ,........I think the first time a luthier taps ,smells and handles Koa . There is some type of island madness worm ,...that craws in the ear enters the brain. Then it begins to scream (grab as much as ya can ,...stack it to to the ceiling.)

   I heard the only way to bet this madness ,...is find an active valcano and throw your most prized effort over the summit! He He He !

    

JD

Thanks, Koa is my second love, if you look at my posts you'll see that mahogany is what relly floats my boat! If you check out my Biography you'll see that I'm a geologist, so I've spent half my professional life on one volcano or another, In fact the chap that held a post before me went up one and never came down! I don't think the koa gods got him though.

Good to have you with us.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I heard the only way to bet this madness ,...is find an active valcano and throw your most prized effort over the summit! He He He !

It has to ba an unplayed (virgin) Guitar!!!

Wow Colin, you do some nice work. That is one beautiful resonator.     

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Thanks Don, As I said it wasn't supposed to be a resonator when I started building it! It just sort of evolved into one when I/my dremmel, messed up the rosette channel! I still haven't got round to building the all koa 000 it was supposed to be when I started out other projects seem to have taken over. I'll be putting some pics of my newly finished 10-course lute on here when I get them back from being developed (I'm not digital yet!)

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Colin,
It is very nice!!