TGM 9/5
NATIONAL RESO-PHONIC® RADIO TONE BENDAWAY & RESO-ELECTRIC
As the resonator revival gathers momentum we take a look
at two additions to the market
leading National Reso-phonic® range: a cutaway resonator and an
electro resonator - what next?
Review
by Michael Messer.
RADIO TONE BENDAWAY
This is the cutaway version of National’s now discontinued
Radio Tone acoustic hence the
Radio Tone logo on the headstock and the Bendaway suffix.
It’s a wooden-bodied resonator
that uses a single 9.5” diameter National-style cone. The
additional cutaway is, of course,
a common enough feature on regular acoustics and it’s added
here to improve upper fret
access which is pretty difficult on a standard non-cutaway
National where the neck joins the
body at the 12th fret.
The structure and design of the Radio Tone is based on the 1920s
era wooden-bodied National
Triolians - single cone resonators not to be confused with
tri-cones which have three
resonator cones - which for many are the best sounding guitars
that National built. My main
single-cone resonator for both studio and live work is one of
these wooden-bodied
instruments: a 1928 National Triolian - a nice piece to reference
the new reso against.
Like many players, I go a lot on first impressions; pulling the
Bendaway from its case, my
first thoughts were of real quality. Visually the Bendaway looks
very cool with its late
‘30s style headstock, slot soundholes - designed like an old
radio speaker cover - and its
matt, dark sunburst finish contrasting the nickel-plated
coverplate.
The neck is typically chunky and wide with quite a pronounced V
section. The fretting on the
dot inlaid rosewood board is from small gauge, quite
original-style wire while the
three-on-a-strip vintage tuners looks basic but feel adequately
positive and smooth in
action.
The factory set-up is spot on even though, like any guitar, it
may not suit everyone. But
the Bendaway came with a happy compromise of both string gauge
and string height that’s
applicable for both slide and regular picking. Incidentally, all
National’s currently leave
the factory with a set of Guadalupe .013”-.056” gauge
strings that may seem massive if you
play rock guitar but are perfectly normal for us reso-philes!
SOUNDS
The Bendaway is probably the most ‘multi-purpose’
guitar that National currently build
which, especially for the budget conscious buyer, is a very
important factor. The wood
(maple laminate) body gives a certain warmth and bass response
that you cannot get from a
metal-bodied guitar - there’s no escaping the tone of wood
for musical instruments!
Tuned to regular E, A, D, G, B, E tuning and you have a full and
characterful sounding
acoustic resonator tone that’s perfect for chunky rhythm
work with a lot of power for lead
lines. Remember, these guitars were designed to project sound at
a time when the amplified
electric guitar didn’t exist so they are loud - around five
times the volume of a regular
acoustic.
Tuning to both open G (D, G, D, G, B, D) and D (D, A, D, F sharp,
A, D) the Bendaway proved
a more than able performer for slide and lap-style playing. The
slide tone has a real dirty
growl in the bass and a very clean, warm top end - the two, often
elusive, factors that
constitute my ideal reso tone.
Also of note is just how right the guitar feels in comparison to
the real beast from the
‘20s. The additional cutaway may have the purists shaking
their heads but I found this
additional access a great bonus.
The main sound source of a resonator comes from the cone itself.
That is the ‘magic’
ingredient that sits under the nickel coverplate and it does all
the work. Certainly it’s
this major component that Don Young at National has got just
right. Making these cones is an
art in itself but these new ones are very close to those of
yesteryear: strong enough to be
loud and powerful but light enough to produce all those sweet
tones and harmonics so
associated with the old-style cones. Like any quality acoustic
they need playing in to get
the cones really working for you. You may initially notice a
certain banjo-ish tone from the
top two strings when you play ‘em above the 12th fret but
don’t worry, the more you play
this guitar the more the tone will open up and sound better. With
a few months of regular
playing, this guitar will ‘sing’.
I also tested the Bendaway as a lap guitar with a nut raiser
(this is a device that fits
over the nut to raise the string action for lap/Hawaiian-style
playing and not a tool of
torture!). As I said the Bendaway is a great all rounder I was
able to cover all styles of
lap steel playing with this guitar - it sounds particularly good
for hot jazzy lap
steel/Hawaiian playing. In short here’s a cost-effective
resonator that’ll give a lifetime
of service.
NATIONAL
RESO-ELECTRIC
Now this is a National with a difference: a solidbody-sized
electro resonator with both
piezo and magnetic pickups. At the heart of guitar lies the same
9.5” resonator cone and
nickel-plated coverplate but this model has a 14-fret neck to
body join with a 22-fret
fingerboard.
The Reso-lectric is not based on any prior National design though
it seems loosely copied
from the early ‘50s solidbody student model. For National
then it is an entirely new way of
building a resonators though the Reso-lectric itself first
appeared in the National
catalogue back in 1990 but without the piezo pickup and just a
magnetic lipstick tube pickup
in neck position. Of course, the idea is to give the player a
resonator that performs like
an electro acoustic - no miking necessary, just plug straight in.
The added advantage here
is that we have dual ‘acoustic’ and
‘electric’ pickup sources which, although there’s
only a
mono output, can be mixed to create Parker Fly-like hybrid
sounds.
The body, which seems barely large enough to hold the resonator,
is a conventional solidbody
thickness made from alder with a flame maple faced ply for the
top. Strictly speaking it is
a solidbody though the majority of the body is cut out to take
the cone and also the
additional electrics and P90 style pickup. The top edge is nicely
bound and the body gets
another neat, matt-finish sunburst.
The maple neck, typically broad and big in feel (though actually
trimmer than the Radio
Tone) has a rounder section than the Bendaway. It’s bolted
to the body with four screws
hidden under rather naff push-on caps - surely slightly longer
screws in recessed washers
would be more elegant?
Buried within the biscuit bridge is a Highlander piezo pickup,
more visible is the cream
covered Seymour Duncan soapbar screwed firmly to the body below
the neck. These are
controlled by a standard three-way toggle (piezo, magnetic, or
both together) and three
volume controls: one for each of the two pickups and one master
volume. The onboard piezo
preamp and mixing circuitry is powered by two 9V batteries housed
in their own compartment
on the back of the guitar.
Like the Bendaway there’s no denying the cool ‘50s
retro look of the Reso-lectric or the
classy supplied set-up which is marginally lower than the
Bendaway.
SOUNDS
Played unplugged the Reso-lectric is a great practice guitar.
Obviously, there is very
little acoustic volume compared to the Bendaway but it’s
quite loud compared to a regular
solidbody electric. The quality of tone is good too and could be
used, miked up in the
studio, to add some characterful realism to the amplified
acoustic and electric tones.
With the guitar running into a 1950’s National/Valco valve
combo, the sound from the soapbar
is beefy and warm very electric but, by intention, only
marginally reso-like. Conversely the
straight ‘acoustic’ voice from the Highlander comes
across as rather thin, bright and almost
too resonator-like. But by mixing the two pickups you create a
subtly variable mix that
blends the honky realism of the Highlander with the warm depth of
the soapbar creating a
distinctly resonator-like electric tone - if that’s not a
contradiction of terms!
Cranked up in TGM’s sound studio, however, the Reso-lectric
didn’t like the higher-gained
Sonny Landreth-intended tones of our test-bed Marshall. The
soapbar proved no problem but
mixing in more of the Highlander produced some occasionally
uncontrollable squealing
feedback. Shame because without the piezo, much, though not all,
of the honky reso-character
is lost reducing the Reso-lectric to a pretty expensive
single-pickup electric that’s set-up
for slide. Of course, cleaner tones are no problem but then
it’s also not a great problem to
buy an acoustic Bendaway and have that fitted with either a
Highlander or McIntyre pickup
and you’ll have a full-sounding plug-in National which you
can use and abuse through effects
or whatever. But where the Reso-lectric scores is in creating
amp’d tones halfway between a
standard electric and amp’d resonator: an appealing middle
ground.
VERDICT
The Bendaway is about the best deal that National Reso-phonic are
offering in their acoustic
line. At just under 1400, it is the perfect all-round resonator.
It may not have the visual
appeal of a shiny metal-bodied National but it’s a great
piece to own especially if you want
it to perform in a variety of different styles.
The Reso-lectric is a slightly different story. I’m not
questioning the quality of the
instrument or the fact that apart from high-gain applications it
works very well and looks
damm cool. But is it an electric resonator for acoustic players
or is it a
resonator-sounding electric for electric players? Frankly it sits
between the two. It lacks
depth in its amplified acoustic sound and versatility in its
electric sound. I suspect,
therefore, it’ll appeal to existing acoustic resonator
owners who want a simple plug-in
electric instrument or electric players wanting to bring a new
texture to their music.
Either way it is no cheap option but it’s a hassle free way
of getting a
characterful-sounding electro-resonator - the only one currently
offered by National.
RADIO TONE BENDAWAY
RRP: 1350 (inc case)
Single-cutaway acoustic resonator. All maple laminate body, hard
rock maple neck with
19-fret rosewood fingerboard. Neck joins body at 12th fret.
9.5” National resonator cone,
vintage-style 3-on-a-strip tuners.
Options: Now that the Radio Tone is only available with the
Bendaway cutaway, the nearest
12th fret non-cutaway single resonator guitar is the Estralita
with slot-headstock at 1350.
Fitting a Highlander system to these acoustic Nationals would
cost approx. 250.
Colour options: Amber to walnut sunburst (as reviewed).
Contact: The Acoustic Centre, 131 Wapping High St. London E1 9NQ.
0171-265-1366
Dimensions
(In mm unless stated)
Bendaway
Scale Length 635 (25”)
Width of neck
...at nut 46.5
...at 12th fret 58.3
Depth of neck
...at 1st fret 23.2
...at 8th fret 25.3
String spacing
...at nut 40.5
...at bridge 58
Action as Supplied
...at 12th fret treble 3.5
...at 12th fret bass 3.2
Weight (kg/lbs) 2.7/6
RESO-LECTRIC
RRP: 1700 (inc case)
Solidbody-sized electro resonator. Alder body with flame maple
veneer face and single bound
edge. Bolt-on hard rock maple neck with 22-fret rosewood
fingerboard. National resonator
cone, vintage-style 3-on-a-strip tuners. Highlander piezo in
biscuit bridge with onboard
preamp, Seymour Duncan soapbar magnetic pickup, 3-way toggle
pickup selector switch, piezo
volume, magnetic volume, master volume, mono mixed output only.
Active circuitry powered by
two 9V batteries.
Options: The Acoustic Centre offer a stereo output modification
if required, POA.
Colour options: Sunburst (as reviewed). Custom colours, POA.
Contact: The Acoustic Centre, 131 Wapping High St. London E1 9NQ.
0171-265-1366
Dimensions
(In mm unless stated)
Reso-lectric
Scale Length 652 (25.7”)
Width of neck
...at nut 44.5
...at 12th fret 55
Depth of neck
...at 1st fret 23.1
...at 12th fret 24.3
String spacing
...at nut 39
...at bridge 54
Action as Supplied
...at 12th fret treble 2.8
...at 12th fret bass 2.5
Weight (kg/lbs) 3.6/8
CHECKOUT...
Other top-end National-style makers include...
Paris-based FINE RESOPHONIC GUITARS offer a full range of
National- and Dobro-style
instruments including wooden-bodied single-cones and
electro-resonator models, which are all
hand-built to the highest standards. Prices start around 1500,
contact Mike Lewis
00331-4677-8617. F1 RESONATOR INSTRUMENTS are a small Derby-based
outfit which hand-build
National-style single and tri-cone resonators using a unique
carbon-fibre constrcution. They
are great value from 1000, contact Alan Timmins 0115-9724831.
SCHEERHORN RESONATOR GUITARS
are located in Kentwood, Michigan. Tim Scheerhorn is probably the
most notable maker of
Dobro-style resonators although his range includes a
National-style electro-resonator priced
at approx 1800, contact Tim Scheerhorn 001-616-281-3927. BELTONA
RESOPHONIC GUITARS have
just upped an left the UK to re-locate in New Zealand. They make
the whole range of
National-type instruments including an electro-resonator. Prices
starts around 1800, contact
Ralph Bawn 01904-621011.