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Post subject: Fender resonators
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:58 pm
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I've been looking at getting a resonator guitar, and have noticed several companies now offer decent ones under $500, including Fender.

Anybody here own one and care to comment on it?

Or have had any experience playing one?

Thanks.

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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:47 pm
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I have a Korean made resonator. You need to try one for yourself because they are all so different. Some have a plastic bridge, some have a maple biscuit, you have square necks for slide only because the actions real high, round necks, bell brass bodies, steel bodies. They are pretty loud and very metallic sounding. You may or may not like it. I do, especially if I'm doing some slide work. They are a lot of fun. The cheaper ones won't sound or play as nice as a Dobro, but they're still a lot of fun.

Try a lot of different ones.


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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:54 pm
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I have the FR-50 alunimum Cone and Spider style bridge. It came with a plastic saddle, which didn't do the guitar ny justice. I raplaced it with a Saddle I made out of Red Oak. You can get a bone one real easy. Once I did that I loved it. you can see it in pics of you acoustic thread.

It's the loudest Resonator I've found in the price range. Very good Abrasive Blues Sound. Not as good for traditional Bluegrass style Doro Playing. The epihone Biscuit has a sweeter sound, but very quiet.

63supro, could you give an example of a couple with Maple Biscuits? I'd like to try one out, knowing it has a Maple Biscuit. I assumed they all had metal cones and Coffee Cans (which I thought was the buiscuit).

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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:08 am
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On the low end you have Rogue, Hohner, High ond you have National. Mid range you have Johnson, Fender etc. Mine has a plastic saddle and aluminum cone . It really sings with heavy strings (John Pierce) but is really abrasive which is fine because I do mostly Son House, Bucca White type of Delta Blues. I've been looking into changing cones-saddles. A good friend of mine has a Dobro. I find it to be the real deal. All you can do is try them out. I'm leaning toward something in either steel or a bell brass body. For a slide I use either a Mudslide which is porcelain, or various bottle necks that I cut off with a tile saw.


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Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:01 pm
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I'm looking for a Dobro to compare--but they're slim pickings around here.
There are some others I'm considering as well.

Thanks.

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Post subject: Fender Resonator
Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:48 pm
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I just got the "48" chromed Steel Fender. It is loud, it is bad-ass, it's a bargain, and it looks great. Everyone agrees it sounds good--hey, I'd love to get a tri-cone National, but they are a couple of grand. The most important thing is knowing the tunings that work best with these babies (Open D-minor, for one) and testing many different slides til you get one that works for you. The fender resonator with pick ups looks good, too, but got the steel before getting a chance to try it. Good luck


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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:55 pm
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I own the FR-48, and it's a great sounding reso. I modified it by adding a Lace Dobro sensor and a volume & tone control.

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Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:06 pm
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2Buck Chuck wrote:
I own the FR-48, and it's a great sounding reso. I modified it by adding a Lace Dobro sensor and a volume & tone control.
Really, a lace sensor for a Dobro? I'm getting one for my FR-50.

Incidentaly, I had a chance to get a FR-48 for $350 when they first came out. I've been kicking myself for a couple years for letting it get away :(

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Post subject: Re: Fender resonators
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:24 am
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zontar wrote:
Anybody here own one and care to comment on [the FR-50]?

I want to preface this by saying that I got mine several years ago, so Fender may have rectified a very serious design problem with it in the meantime, but if not, I strongly recommend against buying this instrument!

Mine was very nicely built and finished, but incredibly, this model has a very slightly arched top (WHY?), which means that the resonator can never fit it properly. The cover, spider and cone -- which have to be perfectly flat -- were all buckled when installed and therefore can never really work or sound right. The cover is slightly bent like a potato chip to make contact with the top.

The top may appear at first glance to be flat, but it's not -- there's about a 1/2" arch built into the area of the upper bout, just enough to throw off the resonator installation.

This has to be the most mysterious design gaffe I've ever seen in a Fender instrument. :(

I never played mine. I was so disgusted I just threw it in the closet and haven't touched it in years.


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Post subject: Re: Fender resonators
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:59 pm
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Bezmotivnik wrote:
zontar wrote:
Anybody here own one and care to comment on [the FR-50]?

I want to preface this by saying that I got mine several years ago, so Fender may have rectified a very serious design problem with it in the meantime, but if not, I strongly recommend against buying this instrument!

Mine was very nicely built and finished, but incredibly, this model has a very slightly arched top (WHY?), which means that the resonator can never fit it properly. The cover, spider and cone -- which have to be perfectly flat -- were all buckled when installed and therefore can never really work or sound right. The cover is slightly bent like a potato chip to make contact with the top.

The top may appear at first glance to be flat, but it's not -- there's about a 1/2" arch built into the area of the upper bout, just enough to throw off the resonator installation.

This has to be the most mysterious design gaffe I've ever seen in a Fender instrument. :(

I never played mine. I was so disgusted I just threw it in the closet and haven't touched it in years.
You should have exchanged it. I got mine the very first year they came out, the cone and resonator fit to the body perfectly, and the spider cone isn't supposed to come buckled, that's a pretty obvious factory flaw, don't you think?

Mines in great shape today, and I play it nearly everyday. The only complaint I'd have is the Plastic saddle. I replaced it with one I made out of Red Oak, but Bone would have done just a nicely.

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Post subject: Re: Fender resonators
Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:10 pm
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FirstMeasure wrote:
and the spider cone isn't supposed to come buckled, that's a pretty obvious factory flaw, don't you think?

Absolutely not -- it's a design flaw.

The top is built arched. On purpose. With a structural brace to form the curvature.

Does your FR-50 have a perfectly flat top, or does it have the same shallow arch mine does? It's easy enough to tell if you look at it carefully.

I also saw the identical situation with others in the store.


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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:38 pm
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Yes it has an arch to it, but no, it doesn't "buckle" the cone, or the bridge, and it sits flush with the body. I've taken the thing all the way apart an put it together a few times, keeping the cone free of dust and cat hair. There is no issue with the resonator seating, and (I believe) the arch top allows for a more woody resonance.

If you don't tighten the screws down in a star pattern, you'll warp the Cone or the Cover, whichever you're tightening. I'd say this happened to yours. The ones in the music stores I've played have only one problem, Plastic saddle.

I'd also say that if Spider Cones aren't your thing, try a Bisuit.

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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:16 pm
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FirstMeasure wrote:
Yes it has an arch to it, but no, it doesn't "buckle" the cone, or the bridge, and it sits flush with the body.


It has to: If it's a flat cone edge and a flat spider and a flat cover, it CAN'T sit in an arched top without either the top warping back flat or the cone assembly bending to match the top.

It's physically impossible, unless it's shimmed up even somehow, which mine is not. Something has to give somewhere. Think about it.

Every one of the FR-50s I saw had a tension ripple across one side of the cover from being tightened down on this irregularly curved surface.

On other resonator fora a few years ago, I brought this up and it was dismissed as an old, fatal issue with the FR-50 with no solution except redesign. According to the experts, proper spider resonator setup requires perfect true and flat mating surfaces throughout so that the pressure on each foot of the spider is evenly distributed around the cone. Makes sense. Obviously you can't do this across an arched surface.

The solution the builders tried on mine was just to crush the cone edge where the tightest feet were! Ouch! Then they cranked the whole mess down tight and shipped it.

Naturally, the sound was really choked as the resonator assembly was grossly out of adjustment...and always would be under the circumstances.

I disassembled the thing and rotated the cone so that there would be undamaged contact points under the spider feet and then very gingerly put everything back together with the minimum possible screw tension with some gaps showing. The sound opened up hugely, but that was an inadequate and temporary solution to what is obviously an insoluble problem. Square peg, round hole. :(

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I'd also say that if Spider Cones aren't your thing, try a Bisuit.


I have one and it's very different sounding. Very ethereal and spooky under the right circumstances.


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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:28 pm
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The arch plateaus to a nice flat rim, the ripple (that mine has, too :( ) is in the cheap, stamped out cover. I set it on a very flat sufface when I took it apart the first time and it just doesn't sit flat. I considered replacing the cover with a better one, and there are a lot of them on ebay, but I just kinda forgot about it.

The cone sits nicely in its seat, however. No issue at all with the cone.

What kind of Biscuit do you have, if you don't mind my asking? I'd like to get one someday, but all I've tried in the price range is the Epiphone, which was a little quiet.

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Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:29 pm
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FirstMeasure wrote:
What kind of Biscuit do you have, if you don't mind my asking?

Oh just one of the cheap Chinese Rogue "Triolian" ones I got on sale for $129.99 from MF a year or two ago:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/?sku=519191

I was considering busking with a friend and I wanted something that looked the part but would be no loss if it were destroyed in some street mishap.

As it turned out, UPS completely demolished the box it came in so badly that the guitar and everything else I ordered fell out in the floor of the truck. The driver told me the next day that they had to go back to the terminal and sweep it all out with a broom. :shock:

Incredibly, the guitar survived intact! A couple of tiny nicks, but nothing to send it back over. The finish is pretty sloppy and machines are pretty atrocious, but they work. The guitar sounds and plays better than I had any right to expect, with a really remarkable, strange sound with eerie overtones and echos. Intonation and fretwork are better than average.

While it looks REALLY cheap and cheesy up close, it does the job...I wouldn't go any more than I paid for one, though. "List Price $499.00"? hilariious! :wink:


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