Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all.
Well I have finished my 1st resonator!!!!! It was loosely inspired by the 1920's wooden body El Trovador by National. A deeper body and a little more bottom end than a typical wooden body resonator.
I used my L-OO body shape. It is a 12 fretter with a National single cone biscuit bridge resonator. Backs and Sides are cocobolo. The top was was a piece of curly cedar that I got from the Zootman. It seemed a little too flimsy for an acoustic so I epoxied it to some scrap spruce. The resonator top doesn't need to really move. It just needs to be stiff. The laminate with cedar and spruce was plenty stiff. Slotted headstock with Waverly 3 on plate tuners. My own design on the inside. Unusual "f" holes. Cover plate is engraved with my logo and "The Delta Dog"

Joe White's FANTASTIC finish!!!!!!

Thanks for looking

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Very nice Andy, I love it! Is this one for you or a customer?

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

just gorgeous!!!! so well conceived and delivered. love it.
phil

Tracy
This one is all mine. It is the first reso I made, so I would never build one for someone else without making a prototype first. Too risky!!!! Especially since the blueprint of the construction was all my own idea.

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Beautiful reso Andy bro!!!!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Beautiful Andy, I can hear it moanin' and barkin' from here!

Oklahoma hills,
Joe

Way cool, Andy!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Andy, Great work! Where did you find the info on the National you fashioned it after? The National hardware and Waverlies tell me that you owed yourself. Good on ya'. So, what do you think of the sound? I've got the same biscuit bridge on a National "O" but it's attached to a tin can.

Thanks for the inspiration,
Danny

Danny V
Like most guitars, it works around the scale length. I made drawings based on my scale length so the center of the bridge was 0.125 further than the scale. I spoke to the foreman at National and he gave me some advice on size of the big hole and how deep theirs are. The rest was just creating a structure to support it. I did my standard neck joint. (Double mortice and tenon) No big long A bar like a banjo or a National. The coverplate and cone came from National.

I do have the Beard plans, but the single cone biscuit plans are for a metal body so I had to adapt.

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

That's really slick, Andy!! Great job. Everything you touch seems to turn to gold, my friend. I've decided that you must also have a very deep stash of coco.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Ron
there is local hardwood store that specializes in cocobolo. So I can find a ton of it!!!!!!
The are just up the road in Carlsbad

http://www.anexotichardwood.com/

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Totally cool, Andy. Congrats!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

You wanna sing the blues with that?

Tie one end of a rope around the guitar, and the other end around a trailer hitch on the bumper of a pickup truck. Not a new pickup truck, it's got to have more rust than solid metal, and you have to be able to spit through a hole in the floor and hit the ground. Drink 13 shots of whiskey. No, not some top shelf whiskey, the $3.99 a gallon stuff. Now, dump the rest of the bottle in the gas tank, and fire it up. Smash the bottle, but keep the bottle neck. Go down a dirt road at about 30 mph, take a sharp left through a barbed wire fence and into an old cornfield. Do some doughnuts. You're getting close. Stop the truck. Get out your cell phone and call your girlfriend or wife, or both of 'em. Tell 'em you never really loved them, and tell them they need to lose 40 pounds. When they start screaming, tell them they can take your dog when they leave. Hang up. Throw the phone as far as you can. Snap a small chunk of rusty steel off the truck body for a pick. Take your wedding ring off and throw it as far as you can, then jam the broken whiskey bottle neck on that ring finger. Now, you're ready to untie your reso, and really play some blues!

Go to the back of the truck, and untie the rope from the trailer hitch. Now reach into the back of the pickup, and carefully get the Calton case and untie the other end of the rope. Open the case. Man, aren't you glad you have a good road-worthy case for this beautiful instrument! Hey, you can wreck your liver, your truck, your marriage, but don't mess up that nice reso! Sit on the tailgate and play some blues. You should have an easy time writing an ad lib song about how you're going to be sleeping for a week with your dog when you get home.

Honey, don't look at me like that
No, them blue jeans don't make you look fat
I'll sell my Brazilian Rosewood guitar
with all the abalone bling
I'll stay out of the bar
and I'll buy a new wedding ring
Don't make me sleep in the dog house
Don't make me sleep in the dog house
Don't make me sleep in the dog house again

Andy, did I mention that is a really nice reso?

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Nice Lyrics Dennis!!!

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Quite a project Andy, looks beautiful as usual, nice job!

So have you figured out how to play that thing

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Greg
As you personally saw my playing ability at Ervins, the answer is practically no.
Time to learn.

You guitar are just fantastic. Double tops etc. It seems everyone on the AGF has one of your guitars or has one
on order. Congrats on building such fine and sought after works of art!!!!!!!

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

JJ and I saw that at Joe White's and just ooohed and aaahed over the cocobolo. The top is really pretty, too. Congratulations on a real keeper.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Nice, Andy...and even nicer in person! We had a little discussion on how one of Joe's excellent bursts would look. Either way it just reeks MOJO! Please post some sound clips when you have some time.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Yeah, well you saw my playing too, I'm not exactly a wiz!!


Thanks for the kind words Andy, slowly but surely my guitars are finding new homes, thankfully happy ones!

Cheers,
Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars