My first resonator was an acoustic that I modified to fit the rim from the wheels of my grandmother’s old 1964 Ford Mustang. The inside of it has a old frying pan that had the handle sawn off. Still have it to this day.
Jerry you knocked it out of the park again I just bought a brand new resonator guitar and Matt do some work on it but anyhow thank you for sharing that video was very educational
Aloha Braddah! That cone looks like the mini Weber grill charcoal ash catcher, hahaha! Probably is….hmmmm, maybe I can take mine off the grill and do a DIY Dobro!? I enjoy your expertise in your repairs….an excellent Luthier! Mahalo nui loa for sharing!
The company was formed in 1930 and stopped trading in the 60s so the guitar is from somewhere in that window. I love your videos and I have learned a great deal from them.
I have a picture of the great Lonnie Johnson with a Kay electric, c late 40s early 50s. Had several Kay acoustics as a kid. My brother had a Kay electric bass, he put the long scale strings on it, & ruined it. Didn't sound too bad.
Worked aircraft a lot of years. Did a corrosion mod to a DC 8. An old timer used Scotch Brite on a high speed "grinder" basically a 90° dremel,(of course that was aluminum) but the corrosion just came right off. Another guy tried using a steel brush attachment, the old timer got on him good, as they were dissimilar metals. Any way the Scotch Brite worked great, of course we alodined all the stuff we cleaned. (I'd never before or since seen such a mess.) I know people are mentioning vinegar, but it's still an acid, a weak acid, but try a Scotch Brite wheel on your dremel. It may work quicker. The alodine actually puts a thin layer of corrosion on the parts but it prevents further corrosion. It takes just a few seconds, make sure to rinse it off good.(Just some stuff I learned. Thought I'd pass it along) Great job on the resonator by the way. I play slide, always wanted one, but I just tune my guitars in open D or G & go.(much easier on strings than open E).
Hi my friend I am watching you and wish I could tell you something about getting rid of the rust on the resonator. Never mind with all the mind boggling stuff you mentioned to rid your project of rust ,when you hear how simple it is done you will laugh. First off simply put your metal rusted dish into a bucket or old container where it will lay flat ,then cover it with some normal household vinegar leave it for a short time a few hours ,I usually leave it overnight or if badly affected a few days but I am assured a few hours work fine. Then remove it shaking all the crud off first place it under normal running water and lightly rub with steel wool or a manufactured kitchen scourer. It will come up beautifully just like magic before your eyes. Then if you wish buff till it comes up a bit more even and better looking , it really works like magic. Alistair all the way from Scotland I love your site. Alistair
Thanks for sharing this one. I have a Dobro mandolin but it has a "spider" inside, I've never seen a resophonic guitar or mandolin before with the bridge mounted like this, without a spider. Your videos always seem to show the unexpected! Brilliant.
I'd love to see the customer reaction to that one! Say, I have a 12 string Takamine in nearly throw-away condition. In fact, it looks like it's been thrown a couple times! I'll have to dig it out of the attic and give it a thorough examination. I'll be saving the pennies to ship my 1974 Alvarez off to you first, though!
It is high so it can be played as a slide guitar using a steel bar to note it. It is a very standard setup for that styld guitar. Thanks for checking it out.
Thanks for that. Very interesting. I've made a few CBGs and junk guitars and the next thing I'm going to try is turning my own resonator cones. So seeing inside that one and how it works is very helpful to me. A different design to the ones I've seen for sale. I would have like to have heard it being played though. Thanks again. Jim.
jimbomaltby yeah that was one of my early videos. I was just getting everything figured out. I should have played it. However, I don't know how to play a dobro LOL. thank you for watching.
I came two years late. Probably somebody else mentioned this earlier. I'm thinking they converted this from a spider resonator style to a biscuit cone without inverting the cone, probably years ago. Creative and creative that you could retain that for your client. Nice sound for a lap steel "dobro" Guitar.
very good Jerry ! i have a resophonic guitar.. it has the spider bridge in it and i play flamenco on the thing.. it has that raspy sound which is similar to a flamenco guitar... i took it apart once and worked on it.. the guy who owns the local guitar store told me i was a whole lot braver then him.. i said brave or stupid...
its hard for me to understand how did the owner let that happen. you fix that ill bet the customer was very happy with your work. good job thanks for shearing
WHERE ARE YOU!!!WHERE IS YOUR SHOP? YOU PUT HEART, AND LOVE INTO YOUR GUITAR WORK...AND IF I NEED WORK THAT I CANT, DO ..YOUR THE GUY ID WANT TO HAVE WORK ON MY GUITAR,I play reso guitars ...YOU MADE THAT Cone work instead of just getting a new one ...you restore old guitars quite WELL NICE WORK !!!I HOPE YOU CHARGED HIM WELL FOR YOUR WORK ... PERSONALLY I would have left it set up for THE BLUES ..NOT a DOBRO style ,but HEY? HIS CHOICE ....YOU NAILED IT THOUGH AW SOME WORK!!!
That is a biscuit cone. You can order one from Beard or National. If you put the taller nut on it will pull the neck out which is no big deal on something cheap and readily available but being as old as that one is the shorter nut with just heavier reso. Strings would be fine. The cone should get replaced about once a year looks likes you did good on the bridge. I wish I had that guitar. Good video thanks.
What you can do in the future to help it is to do what I do to torn speakers which is to glue some fine linen material to the weak area. I usually use is rubber cement for speakers it should work on the aluminum and will not hamper the tone.
I don't know how in the world I missed this video! TH-cam didn't notify me, usually I get unsubscribed as well and have to go back and subscribe again but I checked and still subbed. Anyways good video! They must not have used the old spider bridge design at the time this was built.
Have you ever tried simichrome polish? and i was wondering why the owner didn't want you to clean or polish the actual wood body..would have been nice to complete your masterful job!
Beautiful restoration, never seen such a resonator it looks really weird without the Spider Bridge Could it be that it was rather a BIscuit system which have been converted to a Dobro style with this weird piece of wood supporting the bridge ? Anyway great work you did would be really nice to hear this instrument played with the tone bar
I suppose anything's possible. I really don't know. I just wanted to get it up in good shape to play. And the customer was quite happy. Thanks for watching.
I share your video with my friends on the Slide et Resonateurs Forum in France. One member actuall has seen such a model , it's a Shireson model a budget guitar, tey actually got sued for copying National. if you're curious here is a presentation of them. jakewildwood.blogspot.fr/2017/08/1930s-radio-tone-style-squareneck.html
Long history among blues and bluegrass fans in the UK. I saw my first one in a music shop in Shaftesbury Avenue (now long gone and turned into a coffee shop or similar) in about 1970 at what was then an exhorbitant sum for a London schoolboy (£36). It was a cheap copy of a Dobro and conisidentally branded 'Shaftesbury', but was prized by those who couldn't afford a Dobro, because it was rumoured (rightly or wrongly, I don't know) that the cone was actually the same as those used in Dobros.
That’s a patented Schireson Brothers’ resonator cone. Schireson was a builder in the 30s, supplied cones to Kay, and was sued by National for patent infringement which was the end of their company.
Hi Jerry, just a thought, have you considered aluminium foil tape for a cracked resonator cone. I bow to your experience but it seems to me to be less brittle than superglue?
During the 20s and 30s They were experimenting with aluminum. The problem with aluminum in musical instruments is that to be strong aluminum must be alloyed. To have good tone it must be pure. Most of the aluminum instruments were scrapped during WWII and made into airplanes.
anything rusty? Check out putting the stuff into (pure 5%) vinegar fore some minutes, hours or a day. (Afterwards you have to shower it with water/baking powder. If not, it maybe toxic depending on material.) No work - best result.
This has a Schireson cone. Not National style, not Dobro. they're rather crappy sounding. Schireson lost a lawsuit back in the 30s or 40s and vanished. Not that much of a loss.
It is high so it can be played as a slide guitar using a steel bar to note it. It is a very standard setup for that styld guitar. Thanks for checking it out.
It is high so it can be played as a slide guitar using a steel bar to note it. It is a very standard setup for that styld guitar. Thanks for checking it out.
My first resonator was an acoustic that I modified to fit the rim from the wheels of my grandmother’s old 1964 Ford Mustang. The inside of it has a old frying pan that had the handle sawn off. Still have it to this day.
Very interesting video and an excellent restoration job you've done on it. ❤
Jerry you knocked it out of the park again I just bought a brand new resonator guitar and Matt do some work on it but anyhow thank you for sharing that video was very educational
Aloha Braddah! That cone looks like the mini Weber grill charcoal ash catcher, hahaha! Probably is….hmmmm, maybe I can take mine off the grill and do a DIY Dobro!? I enjoy your expertise in your repairs….an excellent Luthier! Mahalo nui loa for sharing!
The company was formed in 1930 and stopped trading in the 60s so the guitar is from somewhere in that window. I love your videos and I have learned a great deal from them.
Thanks for the note. Thanks for watching.
I have a picture of the great Lonnie Johnson with a Kay electric, c late 40s early 50s. Had several Kay acoustics as a kid. My brother had a Kay electric bass, he put the long scale strings on it, & ruined it. Didn't sound too bad.
Worked aircraft a lot of years. Did a corrosion mod to a DC 8. An old timer used Scotch Brite on a high speed "grinder" basically a 90° dremel,(of course that was aluminum) but the corrosion just came right off. Another guy tried using a steel brush attachment, the old timer got on him good, as they were dissimilar metals. Any way the Scotch Brite worked great, of course we alodined all the stuff we cleaned. (I'd never before or since seen such a mess.) I know people are mentioning vinegar, but it's still an acid, a weak acid, but try a Scotch Brite wheel on your dremel. It may work quicker. The alodine actually puts a thin layer of corrosion on the parts but it prevents further corrosion. It takes just a few seconds, make sure to rinse it off good.(Just some stuff I learned. Thought I'd pass it along) Great job on the resonator by the way. I play slide, always wanted one, but I just tune my guitars in open D or G & go.(much easier on strings than open E).
Great work as ever Jerry!
Really enjoyed your recent back from Canada video. Cheered me up on a damp Day in England...
Awesome restoration work. Thanks for sharing.
thanks for your verbal clarity in the process
Hi my friend I am watching you and wish I could tell you something about getting rid of the rust on the resonator. Never mind with all the mind boggling stuff you mentioned to rid your project of rust ,when you hear how simple it is done you will laugh. First off simply put your metal rusted dish into a bucket or old container where it will lay flat ,then cover it with some normal household vinegar leave it for a short time a few hours ,I usually leave it overnight or if badly affected a few days but I am assured a few hours work fine. Then remove it shaking all the crud off first place it under normal running water and lightly rub with steel wool or a manufactured kitchen scourer. It will come up beautifully just like magic before your eyes. Then if you wish buff till it comes up a bit more even and better looking , it really works like magic. Alistair all the way from Scotland I love your site. Alistair
That's what I do to cover plates and reed plates on pre war marine band harmonicas. They shine and play like new.
I like this guy. He does great videos and is a craftsman.
Thanks for sharing this one. I have a Dobro mandolin but it has a "spider" inside, I've never seen a resophonic guitar or mandolin before with the bridge mounted like this, without a spider.
Your videos always seem to show the unexpected! Brilliant.
Thank You Richard.
I'd love to see the customer reaction to that one! Say, I have a 12 string Takamine in nearly throw-away condition. In fact, it looks like it's been thrown a couple times! I'll have to dig it out of the attic and give it a thorough examination. I'll be saving the pennies to ship my 1974 Alvarez off to you first, though!
Sounds good Jeff. Thanks for watching.
Amazing work Jerry. I love watching you videos, I pick up so many tips. Have a great day my friend and look forward to your next video :)
+Andi Jones thank you very much.
It is high so it can be played as a slide guitar using a steel bar to note it. It is a very standard setup for that styld guitar. Thanks for checking it out.
Thanks for that. Very interesting. I've made a few CBGs and junk guitars and the next thing I'm going to try is turning my own resonator cones. So seeing inside that one and how it works is very helpful to me. A different design to the ones I've seen for sale. I would have like to have heard it being played though. Thanks again. Jim.
jimbomaltby yeah that was one of my early videos. I was just getting everything figured out. I should have played it. However, I don't know how to play a dobro LOL. thank you for watching.
Really enjoyed that Jerry. Many thanks from England.
Nice work on the resonator and bridge. The customer should be very pleased with it now. I play resonator guitars and had an urge to play it!
+Dave Chapman thank you very much. Happy New Year
I came two years late. Probably somebody else mentioned this earlier. I'm thinking they converted this from a spider resonator style to a biscuit cone without inverting the cone, probably years ago. Creative and creative that you could retain that for your client. Nice sound for a lap steel "dobro" Guitar.
very good Jerry ! i have a resophonic guitar.. it has the spider bridge in it and i play flamenco on the thing.. it has that raspy sound which is similar to a flamenco guitar... i took it apart once and worked on it.. the guy who owns the local guitar store told me i was a whole lot braver then him.. i said brave or stupid...
Fantastic video’s. Can’t stop watching
its hard for me to understand how did the owner let that happen. you fix that ill bet the customer was very happy with your work. good job thanks for shearing
WHERE ARE YOU!!!WHERE IS YOUR SHOP? YOU PUT HEART, AND LOVE INTO YOUR GUITAR WORK...AND IF I NEED WORK THAT I CANT, DO ..YOUR THE GUY ID WANT TO HAVE WORK ON MY GUITAR,I play reso guitars ...YOU MADE THAT Cone work instead of just getting a new one ...you restore old guitars quite WELL NICE WORK !!!I HOPE YOU CHARGED HIM WELL FOR YOUR WORK ... PERSONALLY I would have left it set up for THE BLUES ..NOT a DOBRO style ,but HEY? HIS CHOICE ....YOU NAILED IT THOUGH AW SOME WORK!!!
Yeah, why buy new when Jerry can make the used do! Lol
You sir, are a miracle man!
Thank you Scott. Very kind of you to say.
Nice job restoring that old Kay Kraft resonator.
Thank you Dale.
very impressive :) good work and good thinking there on the bridge.
Justic3h thank you.
Sonofagun. It was made that way! They also came in a square neck. It was not a Spider Cone Conversion as I originally thought.
great job,old dobros have a great sound.old bashful brother Oswald would be impressed.
Thank you
nice work Jerry!
That is a biscuit cone. You can order one from Beard or National. If you put the taller nut on it will pull the neck out which is no big deal on something cheap and readily available but being as old as that one is the shorter nut with just heavier reso. Strings would be fine. The cone should get replaced about once a year looks likes you did good on the bridge. I wish I had that guitar. Good video thanks.
What you can do in the future to help it is to do what I do to torn speakers which is to glue some fine linen material to the weak area. I usually use is rubber cement for speakers it should work on the aluminum and will not hamper the tone.
I'm sure it would work physically. But I disagree about the tone.
Great job, my word you have some patience, if this was my guitar it would be a wall clock lol, peace and love to you and yours from bonnie scotland.
Andrew Reynolds thank you very much my friend.
Hi there. That cone and bridge system looks very much like the ones in the Schirson brothers guitars and mandolins.
It's actually spelled Schireson.
It is..
Great work!!
songbyrdsings1 thank you
excellent work
bill schofield thank you.
Thanks for all the great vids! That is a crazy bridge on that resonator. BTW I think we have the same phone...
kmd9999 thanks fof watching.
awesome job!
Sacco Belmonte thank you.
I don't know how in the world I missed this video! TH-cam didn't notify me, usually I get unsubscribed as well and have to go back and subscribe again but I checked and still subbed. Anyways good video! They must not have used the old spider bridge design at the time this was built.
Thanks Randy. It's an oldie, but goodie.
Glue is a wonderful thing
Have you ever tried simichrome polish? and i was wondering why the owner didn't want you to clean or polish the actual wood body..would have been nice to complete your masterful job!
iamrichrocker thank you very much. Yes I do use semichrome polish now. I didn't at the time though.
When the resonator buzzes on a dobro with a spider type resonator does the center screw need to be tighter? Thanks I enjoyed your video! Tom
Beautiful restoration, never seen such a resonator it looks really weird without the Spider Bridge Could it be that it was rather a BIscuit system which have been converted to a Dobro style with this weird piece of wood supporting the bridge ? Anyway great work you did would be really nice to hear this instrument played with the tone bar
I suppose anything's possible. I really don't know. I just wanted to get it up in good shape to play. And the customer was quite happy. Thanks for watching.
I share your video with my friends on the Slide et Resonateurs Forum in France. One member actuall has seen such a model , it's a Shireson model a budget guitar, tey actually got sued for copying National. if you're curious here is a presentation of them. jakewildwood.blogspot.fr/2017/08/1930s-radio-tone-style-squareneck.html
I don't think anybody across Europe has ever seen such guitars until the Dire Straights album cover Brothers in Arms from 1985.
Long history among blues and bluegrass fans in the UK. I saw my first one in a music shop in Shaftesbury Avenue (now long gone and turned into a coffee shop or similar) in about 1970 at what was then an exhorbitant sum for a London schoolboy (£36). It was a cheap copy of a Dobro and conisidentally branded 'Shaftesbury', but was prized by those who couldn't afford a Dobro, because it was rumoured (rightly or wrongly, I don't know) that the cone was actually the same as those used in Dobros.
English music hall comedian Max Miller used to play a National resophonic guitar back in the 1930s and 40s. www.alamy.com/max-miller-image5360135.html
That’s a patented Schireson Brothers’ resonator cone. Schireson was a builder in the 30s, supplied cones to Kay, and was sued by National for patent infringement which was the end of their company.
Hi Jerry, just a thought, have you considered aluminium foil tape for a cracked resonator cone. I bow to your experience but it seems to me to be less brittle than superglue?
It looks like the resonator part was stolen from the kitchen. Lol hahaha
Nice !
Would the intonation be long to compensate for the string height, because thats going to fret sharp at that height?
Yes, a Kay guitar that size will have a scale length of 25.75 inches.
Indeed a very rare Guitar most likely early 30's
My first thought was... someone put a trashcan lid on a guitar... LOL If it works... it works. When it breaks give it to Jerry. He can fix ANYTHING!
Nice job. Love resos. Are Kays halfway decent? I ask because someone in my area has one up for sale and I have G.A.S.
Can't speak for all Kays, but this one was kind of low end. Thanks for watching.
During the 20s and 30s They were experimenting with aluminum. The problem with aluminum in musical instruments is that to be strong aluminum must be alloyed. To have good tone it must be pure. Most of the aluminum instruments were scrapped during WWII and made into airplanes.
anything rusty?
Check out putting the stuff into (pure 5%) vinegar fore some minutes, hours or a day.
(Afterwards you have to shower it with water/baking powder. If not, it maybe toxic depending on material.)
No work - best result.
That sucker is cool! Nothing like old guitars.
Rosa String Works why is action high?
This guitar has a National Guitar style resonator ... I would replace the resonator with a national cone
Rosa String Works does that guitar have braces inside of it?
Yes but much different from a standard guitar.
Rosa String Works do you do full neck resets?
Yes
no Simichrome??
That would have worked great. It was before I discovered simichrome.
Forgive my ignorance, but why is the action so high on this guitar?
Johnny John it is played as a slide guitar with a bar. You do not chord it with fingers. thank you for watching
It is tuned to an open G chord usually.
I think one problem was there were chipmunks inside the body; I thought I heard them talking at one point....
think the cone is upside down ,then add biscut bridge. forget that tall gagdet. ? ? ?
I think it was just an early design. Thanks for watching.
When you charging $80 an hour the slow way is the best way
All I can tell you is, I believe I am faster than anybody else I know that does this.
I have one... The black wood is original.. The round part is not..
This has a Schireson cone. Not National style, not Dobro. they're rather crappy sounding. Schireson lost a lawsuit back in the 30s or 40s and vanished. Not that much of a loss.
to clean the rust should just soak in vinegar
Wouldn't be a proper woodworker without a black thumb
there's no excuse for having the action that high
JISCO DATA It's played flat Hawaiian style with a bar. It is not noted like a regular guitar. The height is standard for that style of instrument.
There's no excuse for a conclusive opinion on something one obviously knows nothing about.
Shut up you Dip Shit...you must be a Democrat...there really is no excuse for that.
There’s actually plenty of excuse for the action to be so high...for one to play it laying flat with a steel bar, it’s indeed necessary.
It is high so it can be played as a slide guitar using a steel bar to note it. It is a very standard setup for that styld guitar. Thanks for checking it out.
It is high so it can be played as a slide guitar using a steel bar to note it. It is a very standard setup for that styld guitar. Thanks for checking it out.