A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
to one or more spun metal cones (
resonator
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...
s), instead of to the guitar's sounding board (top). Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than regular acoustic guitars, which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion instruments in dance orchestras. They became prized for their distinctive tone, however, and found life with bluegrass music and the blues well after electric amplification solved the problem of inadequate volume.
Resonator guitars are of two styles:
* Square-necked guitars played in lap steel guitar style
* Round-necked guitars played in conventional guitar style or steel guitar style
There are three main resonator designs:
* The ''tricone'', with three metal cones, designed by the first
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
company
* The single-cone "biscuit" design of other National instruments
* The single inverted-cone design (also known as a spider bridge) of Dobro brand instruments and instruments that copy the Dobro design
Many variations of all these styles and designs have been produced under many
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
names. The body of a resonator guitar may be made of wood, metal, or occasionally other materials. Typically there are two main sound holes, positioned on either side of the fingerboard extension. In the case of single-cone models, the sound holes are either both circular or both f-shaped, and symmetrical. The older tricone design has irregularly shaped
sound hole
A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board.
Sound holes have different shapes:
* round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins;
* F-holes in instruments from the vio ...
s. Cutaway body styles may truncate or omit the lower f-hole.
History
National tricone
John Dopyera
John Dopyera ( Slovak: ''Ján Dopjera''; 1893–1988) was a Slovak-American inventor and entrepreneur, and a maker of stringed instruments. His inventions include the resonator guitar and important contributions in the early development of the ...
, responding to a request by the steel guitar player George Beauchamp, developed the resonator guitar to produce an instrument that could produce sufficient volume to compete with brass and reed instruments. Dopyera experimented with configurations of up to four resonator cones and with cones composed of several different metals.
In 1927, Dopyera and Beauchamp formed the National String Instrument Corporation to manufacture resonator guitars under the brand name "National". The first models were metal-bodied, and featured three conical aluminum resonators joined by a T-shaped aluminum bar that supported the bridge—a system called the tricone. National originally produced wooden-bodied Tricone models at their factory in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. They called these models the Triolian, but made only 12 of them. They changed the body meant for tricones to single-cone models, but kept the name.
Dobro
In 1928, Dopyera left National to form the Dobro Manufacturing Company with his brothers Rudy, Emile, Robert, and Louis, "Dobro" being a contraction of Dopyera Brothers' and also meaning "good" in their native
Slovak language
Slovak () , is a West Slavic language of the Czech-Slovak languages, Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of ...
. Dobro released a competing resonator guitar with a single resonator with its concave surface uppermost, often described as ''bowl-shaped'', under a distinctive circular perforated metal cover plate with the bridge at its center resting on an eight-legged aluminum spider. This system was cheaper to produce, and produced more volume than National's tricone.
Over time, the word "dobro" has become a
genericized trademark
A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products ...
used to refer to any resonator guitar.
National ''biscuit''
National countered the Dobro with its own single resonator model, which Dopyera had designed before he left the company. They also continued to produce the tricone design, which many players preferred for its tone. Both National single and tricone resonators remained conical, with their convex surfaces uppermost. Single resonator models used a wooden ''biscuit'' at the cone apex to support the bridge. At this point, both companies sourced many components from
Adolph Rickenbacker
Adolph Rickenbacker (April 1, 1887 – March 21, 1976) was a Swiss-American electrical engineer who co-founded the Rickenbacker guitar company along with George Beauchamp and Paul Barth.
Rickenbacker was born in Basel, Switzerland as Adolf Ric ...
, including the aluminum resonators.
National Dobro, Hound Dog, and Gibson
After much legal action, the Dopyera brothers gained control of both National and Dobro in 1932, and subsequently merged them into the "National Dobro Corporation". However, they ceased all resonator guitars production following the U.S. entry into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in 1941.
Emile Dopyera (also known as Ed Dopera) manufactured Dobros from 1959, before selling the company and trademark to
Semie Moseley
Semie Moseley (June 13, 1935 – August 7, 1992) was an American luthier and the founder of guitar manufacturer Mosrite.Mosrite.us website http://www.mosrite.us/en/about.php
Biography
Moseley was born in Durant, Oklahoma, in 1935. His fam ...
, who merged it with his
Mosrite
Mosrite is an American guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the early 1990s. Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists.
Mosrite guitars wer ...
guitar company and manufactured Dobros for a time.
In 1967, Rudy and Emile Dopyera formed the
Original Musical Instrument Company
Original (formerly "Original Musical Instrument Company", also known for its acronym "OMI") is an American brand currently owned by Gibson through its subsidiary Epiphone. The company uses the brand to produce and commercialize resonator guitars. ...
(OMI) to manufacture resonator guitars, first branded Hound Dog. In 1970 they again acquired the Dobro trademark, Mosrite having gone into temporary liquidation.
The Gibson Guitar Corporation acquired OMI in 1993, and announced it would defend its right to exclusive use of the Dobro trademark—which many people commonly used for any resonator guitar. , Gibson produces several round sound hole models under the Dobro name, and cheaper f-hole models both under the Hound Dog name and also its
Epiphone
Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...
brand. All have a single resonator, and many are available in either round or square neck.
Other National instruments
After the formation of the National Dobro Corporation, the term ''National'' was often used to refer to an instrument with a non-inverted cone, to distinguish these designs from the inverted-cone Dobro. Makers particularly used it for single-cone biscuit designs, as the relatively elaborate and expensive tricone was for some time out of production. Players and collectors also used the term for the older tricone instruments, which despite their softer volume and rarity were still preferred by some players.
In 1942, the National Dobro Corporation, which no longer produced Dobros or other resonator instruments, reorganized under the name
Valco
Valco was a US manufacturer of guitar amplifiers from the 1940s through 1968.
Apart from its original products, Valco also commercialised electric and acoustic guitars and basses through its subsidiary companies.
History
Valco was formed ...
. Valco produced a large volume and variety of fretted instruments under many names, with National as its premium brand. By the early 1960s, Valco again produced resonator guitars for mail order under the brand name ''National''. These instruments had biscuit resonators and bodies of wood and
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
.
In the late 1980s, the National brand and trademark reappeared with the formation of
National Reso-Phonic Guitars
National Reso-Phonic Guitars is a manufacturer of resonator guitars and other resonator instruments including resonator mandolins, tenor instruments, and resonator ukuleles.12-string guitar,
ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
, Brazil, has produced a wide range of
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
s and other string instruments since Angelo Del Vecchio founded the company in 1902. In the 1930s, they began producing resonator guitars, resulting in their most famous model: the ''Dinâmico,'' (their trade term for resophonic instruments).
In addition to the Dinâmico guitar, which is still in production, Del Vecchio also produced Dinâmico cavaquinhos, approximately like a
resonator ukulele
A resonator ukulele or "resophonic ukulele" is a ukulele whose sound is produced by one or more spun aluminum cones (''resonators'') instead of the wooden soundboard (ukulele top/face). These instruments are sometimes referred to as "Dobro ukule ...
, and
resonator mandolin
A resonator mandolin or "resophonic mandolin" is a mandolin whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones (''resonators'') instead of the customary wooden soundboard (mandolin top/face). These instruments are sometimes referred to as "Dobro ...
s. They also produce standard acoustic instruments, as well as Hawaiian-style lap steel guitars.
Czech Republic
In the late 1990s Amistar, a Czech Republic manufacturer, began marketing tricone resonator guitars.
Australia
Wayne Acoustic Guitars produced a spider bridge resonator guitar in the 1940s and 1950s in Australia. They were made out of cheap Australian timber using a tone ring rather than a tone well but they had no neck reinforcement and a pressed (rather than spun) cone, often called a pillow cone due to the shapes pressed into the face to strengthen the cone. Many examples exist today.Barron Clarke, Australia As of 2010, Don Morrison was producing resonators under the Donmo brand name.
Recording King
Recording King is a musical instruments brand currently owned by The Music Link Corporation, based in Hayward, California, which also produces other musical instrument lines.
Range of products commercialised under the Recording King brand are ...
, Republic Guitars, and Rogue also produce or import a wide variety of comparatively inexpensive resonator guitars. Johnson has also produced resonator ukuleles and mandolins.
South Africa
A company called Gallotone in South Africa produced resonator guitars in the 1950s and 1960s..
Playing
Resonator guitars are popularly used in bluegrass music and in blues. Traditionally, bluegrass players used square necked Dobro-style instruments played as a steel guitar while blues players favored round-necked National-style guitars, often played with a
bottleneck
Bottleneck literally refers to the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle near its opening, which limit the rate of outflow, and may describe any object of a similar shape. The literal neck of a bottle was originally used to play what is now known as ...
.
Styles and positions
The resonator guitar is most often played as a lap steel guitar, and the more common square-necked version is limited to this playing position. Square neck instruments are always set up with the high action favored by steel guitar players, and tuned to a suitable open tuning.
The round necked version is equally capable in either lap steel or Spanish guitar position. It may be set up with a variety of action heights, ranging from the half-inch favored for steel guitar (making use of the frets almost impossible) to the small fraction of an inch used by conventional guitarists. A compromise is most common, allowing use of a
bottleneck
Bottleneck literally refers to the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle near its opening, which limit the rate of outflow, and may describe any object of a similar shape. The literal neck of a bottle was originally used to play what is now known as ...
on the top strings but also use of the frets as desired, with the guitar played in the conventional position.
Many different tunings are used. Some square neck tunings are not recommended for round neck resonator guitars, owing to the high string tension required, which in turn requires the stronger square neck. Slack-key guitar tunings are most suitable for bottleneck playing, and conventional E-A-D-G-B-E guitar tuning is also popular.
Players
In bluegrass music
The resonator guitar was introduced to bluegrass music by
Josh Graves
Josh Graves (September 27, 1927 Tellico Plains, Monroe County, Tennessee – September 30, 2006), born Burkett Howard Graves, was an American bluegrass musician. Also known by the nicknames "Buck," and "Uncle Josh," he is credited with introduci ...
, who played with
Flatt and Scruggs
Flatt and Scruggs were an American bluegrass duo. Singer and guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs, both of whom had been members of Bill Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys, from 1945 to 1948, formed the duo in 1948. Flatt and Scru ...
, in the mid-1950s. Graves used the hard-driving, syncopated three-finger picking style developed by Earl Scruggs for the five-string banjo. Modern players continue to play the instrument this way, with one notable exception being the late
Tut Taylor
Robert Arthur "Tut" Taylor Sr. (November 20, 1923 – April 9, 2015) was an American bluegrass musician.
Taylor played banjo and mandolin as a child, and began playing dobro at age 14, learning to use the instrument with a distinctive flat-pick ...
who played with a flat pick.
Tuning for the resonator guitar within the bluegrass genre is most often an
open G
Among alternative tunings for the guitar, an open G tuning is an open tuning that features the G-major chord; its open notes are selected from the notes of a G-major chord, such as the G-major triad (G,B,D). For example, a popular open-G tuning ...
with the strings pitched to D G D G B D or G B D G B D, from the lowest to highest. Occasionally variant tunings are used, such as an
open D
Open D tuning is an open tuning for the acoustic or electric guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are (from lowest to highest): D A D F A D. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a D major chord: D, the root note; A, ...
: D A D F# A D.
Other notable bluegrass players include
Jerry Douglas
Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer.
Career
In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he h ...
,
Mike Auldridge
Mike Auldridge (December 30, 1938 – December 29, 2012) was an American Dobro player and a founding member of the bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. The ''New York Times'' described Auldridge as "one of the most distinctive dobro players in the ...
,
Rob Ickes
Rob Ickes hymes with "bikes"is an American dobro (resonator guitar) player, born 1967 in San Francisco, California, United States. Ickes moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined the contemporary bluegrass band Blue Highway as a founding member in ...
,
Phil Leadbetter
Phil Leadbetter (March 31, 1962 – October 14, 2021) was an American resonator guitar player.
Life
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Leadbetter began playing the resonator guitar at age 12. He was a 1980 graduate of Gibbs High School in Corryton, ...
and Andy Hall.
In country music
The resonator guitar was used in older
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, notably by
Bashful Brother Oswald
Beecher Ray "Pete" Kirby (December 26, 1911 – October 17, 2002), better known as Bashful Brother Oswald, was an American country musician who popularized the use of the resonator guitar and Dobro. He played with Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain ...
of Roy Acuff's band, but was largely supplanted by the pedal steel guitar during the 1950s. Despite this, the instrument is still frequently used as an alternative to the steel guitar.
James Burton
James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...
and
Grady Martin
Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly.
A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' " El Paso", Loretta Lynn's " Co ...
played flat picked dobro on many recordings.
Leon McAuliffe
William Leon McAuliffe (January 3, 1917 – August 20, 1988) was an American Western swing guitarist who was a member of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys during the 1930s. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a me ...
initially played a dobro before exclusively transitioning to electric lap and console steel guitars.
In blues music
The resonator guitar is also significant to the world of blues music, particularly the Southern style of
country blues
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. Unlike country and bluegrass players, most blues players play the resonator guitar in the standard guitar position, with the fretboard facing away from the player. Many use slides or bottlenecks.
Many players in the 1920s and 1930s, including
Bo Carter
Armenter (or Armentia) Chatmon (March 21, 1893 or January 1894 – September 21, 1964), known as Bo Carter, was an early American blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts and on a few of their recordings. He also m ...
, and others like
Bukka White
Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White (November 12, 1906 February 26, 1977) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer.
Biography
White was born south of Houston, Mississippi. He was a first cousin of B.B. King's mother (White's mother and ...
,
Son House
Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902His date of birth is a matter of some debate. House alleged that he was middle-aged during World War I and that he was 79 in 1965, which would make his date of birth around 1886. However, all legal re ...
,
Tampa Red
Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was a Chicago blues musician.
His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues gu ...
and
Blind Boy Fuller
Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1904February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, rural African Americans, along with Blind Blake, Josh Whi ...
, used the instruments because they were louder than standard acoustic guitars, which enabled them to play for a larger crowd in areas that did not yet have electricity for amplifiers. For the same reason street musicians like
Arvella Gray
Blind Arvella Gray (January 28, 1906 - September 7, 1980) was an American blues, folk and gospel singer and guitarist.
Gray was born James Dixon, in Somerville, Texas. He spent the latter part of his life performing and busking folk, blues and ...
used resonator guitars while busking, e.g. on Chicago's Maxwell Street.
One of the few Delta Blues players to play lap style in the 1930s was
Black Ace
Black Ace was the most frequently used stage name of the American Texas blues musician born Babe Kyro Lemon Turner (December 21, 1905 – November 7, 1972), who was also known as B. K. Turner, Black Ace Turner, Babe Turner and Buck Turner.
...
, also known as B.K. Turner. He toured and recorded with his mentor
Oscar "Buddy" Woods
Oscar "Buddy" Woods (born c. 1900 or c.1903, died December 14, 1955) was an American Texas blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.
Woods, who was an early blues pioneer in lap steel, slide guitar playing, recorded thirty-five tracks between 19 ...
, who also played lap style Resonator guitar and Lap Steel. Woods, who was fifteen years older than Ace, taught him his guitar playing techniques.
The instrument is still used by some blues players, notably
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...
,
Eric Sardinas
Eric Sardinas (born November 10, 1970) is an American blues-rock slide guitarist born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is noted for his use of the electric resonator guitar and his live performances. He sometimes sets his guitar alight on stag ...
Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was ...
,
Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues sin ...
,
Doyle Bramhall II
Doyle Bramhall II (born December 24, 1968) is an American guitarist, producer and songwriter best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Roger Waters. He is the son of the songwriter and drummer Doyle Bramhall.
Early life
Bramhall was born i ...
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...
Larkin Poe
Larkin Poe is an American roots rock band originally from north Georgia, currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, and fronted by sisters Rebecca Lovell (born January 30, 1991) and Megan Lovell (born May 12, 1989). Featuring strong southern harmo ...
.
Varieties
Single resonator guitars with a bowl resonator and spider (''Dobro style'') are often heard in bluegrass music, while tricone (''National style'') instruments are still preferred by many blues players. Single-resonator biscuit (also sometimes called ''National style'') instruments are also currently produced, and give a different sound again.
Many bluegrass players prefer wooden bodies, blues players either metal or wood. The early metal-bodied instruments were generally of better quality than the earliest wooden-bodied ones, but this may not be the case with more recent instruments. Metal bodies may be brass, aluminum or steel. Fiberglass has also been used as a body material, and a
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
bodied resonator guitar is commercially available. Both metal and wooden bodies are often painted, or wooden bodies may be stained or lacquered, metal bodies may be plated or plain.
Bluegrass players tend to use square necks, while blues players tend to prefer round necks. Square-necked guitars give a slightly greater variety of possible tunings, while round-necked guitars give a much greater variety of playing positions.
Single resonator instruments can have round sound holes with screens, or round sound holes without screens, which many players used to remove to improve the bass response. They can also have f-holes, often with gauze screens that are also sometimes removed but have an important function in strengthening the belly particularly if the body is of wood.
An enormous number of combinations are possible, most can be found either on old or new instruments or both, and many styles of music can be played on any resonator guitar.
Electric resonators
Though the original aim of the resonator was increased volume, some modern instruments incorporate electric pickups and related technology. Many modern makers produce instruments with one of a variety of pickup types—and some players retrofit pickups to non-electric instruments. Most commonly, resonator guitars use piezoelectric pickups (contact type transducers) placed under the bridge or elsewhere on the instrument, or use specialized microphones placed inside the instrument or directly in front of the cone to preserve the resonator's distinctive tone.
However, all acoustic and
semi-acoustic
A semi-acoustic guitar, hollow-body electric, or thinline is a type of electric guitar that was first created in the 1930s. It has a sound box and at least one electric pickup. The semi-acoustic guitar is different to an acoustic-electric guit ...
styles are very sensitive to
audio feedback
Audio feedback (also known as acoustic feedback, simply as feedback) is a positive feedback situation which may occur when an acoustic path exists between an audio input (for example, a microphone or guitar pickup) and an audio output (for exa ...
, making the design and placement of these pickups extremely critical and specialized. Some modern models are manufactured with both piezoelectric and magnetic pickups. In addition, some piezoelectric styles are active pickups, in that they incorporate a preamplifier that increases the output of the pickup to match modern amplifier inputs. More recently, solid body electric resonator guitars have appeared. These instruments incorporate one or more magnetic pickups, and are played via amplification.
Other resonator instruments
As well as resonator guitars, resonators have been used on:
*
Basses
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass ...
Ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
s, (see
Resonator ukulele
A resonator ukulele or "resophonic ukulele" is a ukulele whose sound is produced by one or more spun aluminum cones (''resonators'') instead of the wooden soundboard (ukulele top/face). These instruments are sometimes referred to as "Dobro ukule ...
) produced by National and Dobro 1928-1940
* Banjos
*
Tenor guitar
The tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was initially developed in its acoustic form by Gibson and C.F. Martin so that players of ...
mandola
The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
s
* Mountain/
Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of ...
s
*
Viola guitar
The ''viola caipira'', often simply ''viola'', (Portuguese for ''country guitar'') is a Brazilian ten-string guitar with five courses of strings arranged in pairs. It was introduced in the state of São Paulo, where it is widely played as the b ...
s
Brands
Historic brands of resonator guitar still in use today include
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
, Dobro, and Regal. None of these brands are still owned by their original companies. Each returned after one or more long breaks in production:
* The ''National'' name is now used by
National Reso-Phonic Guitars
National Reso-Phonic Guitars is a manufacturer of resonator guitars and other resonator instruments including resonator mandolins, tenor instruments, and resonator ukuleles.Gibson Guitar Corporation since 1993. Gibson manufactured Dobro branded instruments under its
Epiphone
Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...
division up to 2020. Since then, no Dobro branded instruments have been produced.
* The ''Regal'' name, similar to Dobro, has been bought and sold several times since its original owners went defunct; the name has been a brand of
Saga Musical Instruments
Saga Musical Instruments is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor of stringed instruments, particularly fretted instruments and members of the violin family, and parts and accessories for them. They own twenty-two brands, fifteen are listed be ...
since 1987.
US patents
* #1,741,453 covering the ''tricone''.
* #1,896,484 covering the ''Dobro''.
* #1,808,756 covering the ''biscuit'' single cone resonator, lodged in the name of Beauchamp.