TSSN - Posted - 04/10/2021:  06:01:07

Any thoughts out there on resonator mandolins? I have played several over the years, but never made the acquisition.

I just can't quite get with that sound. It isn't bad, but to me, it ends up sounding like something not a mandolin.

Am I crazy? Whose build is the "best"? In other words, what build would I try to know for sure that it's not the right instrument for me (and not just that I have tried bad instruments)?

mandosoft - Posted - 04/10/2021:  06:57:28

I owned one for a few years and didn't get much enjoyment out of it. I have played nicer (3k-ish) National resonators from the 1930's and they have a nice sound. Still not something I'd personally want in may collection.

Yooper - Posted - 04/10/2021:  07:42:46

Sam Bush makes one sound pretty good. He does some impressive slide mandolin on it. I think his is a metal body National. They do seem to have a bit of a specialty sound. Kind of like mandolin-banjos.
Maybe some of the blues mandolin players can comment. I googled "blues mandolin resonator" and a bunch of videos came up, along with a variety of discussion threads. That seems to be the niche.

Mandodennis - Posted - 04/10/2021:  09:50:23

Resonator instruments are an acquired taste. That is for certain. They are among the most arcane stringed instruments we have. They should have gone the way of the buggy whip the day Ro-Pat-In plugged in the first Electro String frying pan guitar. But no, one man's trash is another man's treasure.



So I will admit it. I have taken part in a resonator guitar association hereabouts for many years. Mandolins do show up at the meetings now and then. I am a lap style guitar player (among other things). So beyond the roundneck and squareneck Dobro and National style guitars, Weissenborns, Konas and electric lap steels, reso-ukes, yes, I do have a taste for resonator mandolins. But I will admit to having owned only one. That one just wasn't satisfying. I am still looking for the perfect instrument for me.



As for who makes the best. The correct answer is, "That depends on what you are looking to sound like".



As in the guitar world there are two major types of resonator mandolin designs - biscuit bridge and spider bridge. Both designs were sketched out by John Dopyera for National guitar. Yes, there have been many other pretenders to the resonator design throne but these two design types predominate. National was responsible for initial production of the biscuit bridge type. The Dopyera brothers (Do-Bro's) left National over the adoption of the biscuit bridge design because they thought the spider bridge design was superior. AT least that's how the story has been handed down. Is the spider bridge superior? All depends upon your taste.



By the numbers, the biscuit bridge mandolin will most often be the type of resonator mandolin you will run into. One reason National (George Beauchamp particularly) chose to go forward with that design was that is was cheaper and easier to produce. And there was this Great Depression thing that came along shortly after which supported that decision. So there are more biscuit bridge mandolins out there. They can be wood body or metal body instruments. The metal bodies seem to be more common (in spite of WWII metal collection drives). To my ears they all have a plinkety-plink kind of sound, as Patrick points out "not a mandolin". The wood body models soften that a bit. A good set-up with a fresh cone can help a lot. They are, as has been noted, a stalwart choice of blues players. It has a sound we associate with 1930's blues players, rather "lo-fi" like recordings played on your Victrola. And biscuit bridge resonators dominate the blues guitar field. I'd vote for the National RM-1 as the best of the breed available today. I would not turn down a Beltona if one were offered to me.



There are spider bridge resonator mandolins out there. The Dobro brand was the source of these from the beginning. And just as spider guitars are favored by a different type of player than the biscuit type, the spider bridge mandolin has its own appeal. But you do not see a lot of them in the hands of well known players. Levon Helm played one, if I am not mistaken, but he was more likely to be seen with a regular mandolin. They have a more full-spectrum sound than do the biscuit bridge type for a couple reasons I won't get into. More of a "hi-fi" sound. So they sound more like a mandolin but there is no mistaking that it is still a resonator instrument. Best examples available today would be those made by the Dopyeras under the OMI or Dobro brands from the 1970's on up (until Gibson bought and destroyed the Dobro brand). And that is what I am hoping to stumble across some day, maybe a Safari model.

The key parts needed to make a new mandolin are available. Paul Beard has offered both the the cones and spiders through his shop. So I would think a few have been made by individual luthiers. 



Don't hate me. I am a resonator kind of guy.



Dennis

Edited by - Mandodennis on 04/10/2021 10:03:53

Eddie Collins - Posted - 04/10/2021:  17:13:59

I notice picking with entirely different technique when using one, more like digging in and flat picking on guitar. Seems those playing blues mandolin have used them over the years.

TSSN - Posted - 04/11/2021:  04:35:39

Thanks for the extra detail Mandodennis . I wouldn't say I don't like the sound, it's just not a mandolin sound, to my ear anyway. In fairness, I have not come across a National resomando, even in a shop. So, everything I have tried has been a newer, less expensive copy/immitation.

Jim Yates - Posted - 09/02/2021:  21:54:40

Here's Rich DelGrosso on his National.

Rich DelGrosso and Don Stiernberg