National Reso-Phonic Impressions

[Oren]

I've had it a week, now.

--solid, satisfying, heavy feel to it

--appears to be very well constructed; nice wood, I wish it had the antique brass (bronze?) hardware, but who wants to wait until one shows up?

--two women have compimented the appearance of it.

--loud; projects like, well, like a resonator instrument.

--tone can be very honky or very heavy on treble if played with a "normal" pick.

--tone can be sweet if played with Tortex 1.0 (blue) or 1.14 (lavender) mm picks; it likes the ones that have a squared-off edge (my National Delphi guitar likes the green Tortex picks the best--go figure!).

--if pick attack is just right, it can sound rather like an oval-hole mando; can also sound like an F-hole mando if strings are struck "just so".

--all sounds are amplified, unforgiving if slightly out of tune.

--holds up well to a loud Stelling resonator banjo.

--dynamic range is enormous.

--very easy to play; comes with light-guage strings; allows for fast picking; neck is rather wide; position playing up the neck is easy.

--lots of echoing sound; can be dampened a bit by winding a pipe cleaner through the strings behind the bridge.

--the low strings sound more full than any other mando I've played; with heavier strings might be able to put it into mandola tuning with some success (can the reso-mandola and reso-mandocello be far behind?--the reso-mandolin quartet: a glorious thought!).

--nice for just about any kind of mando music, if played carefully.

--beats the heck out of the Rigel spider-bridge mando (discontinued, I have heard) (and don't even consider the Johnson metal body reso-mando as a comparison).

--for the past week, I've been playing old-time, blues, Celtic, ethnic, Balkan, and swing tunes on it; it loves everything.

comments from others: "That mandolin sounds great."--jam session 5-string banjo player.

"I want one. How much was it and where did you get it?"--another mandolin player.

"I like it. I can hear you playing."--a certain red-haired lady.

If you try one out, don't be put off by the tone from a plastic pick--try a Tortex blue or lavender pick. I like using the rounded corner, and sometimes one corner sounds different from the other. The thing is so loud that minute differences in pick configuration or attack cause big variations in tone.

Heartfelt thanks to Wade Hampton Miller up in Alaska for loaning his rebuilt vintage reso-mando to National so that they could study it and produce this instrument. It is probably as close to the perfect no-fuss jamming (and probably gigging) mandolin as I will ever find.

[Mandobar]

i just got one of these myself and am really enjoying it.

[John Flynn]

I have played one on several tunes at a jam and like them also. I will definitely get one at some point. It is the true "banjo killer." No all-wood mando comes even close in volume and I have yet to play another reso-mando that comes close in tone. The Johnson is not even in the same league, tone-wise. The National also looks and plays great. I plan to get one at some point.

[Mandobar]

they are pretty scarce. before finally finding one at schoenberg's shop in CA, i was told there was a 5 month wait. at NAMM the mandolin at the National booth was "borrowed" for display.

[John Flynn]

If anyone is hot to have one, there is one with the antique finish at Music Folk in St. Louis right now. I am sure they would be glad to ship it to you. www.musicfolk.com

[Oren]

I took the National to our pseudo-Celtic folk-rock band practice this week where I usually play my beloved Godin acoustic-electric A8 mando (the mandolin that got me back to playing mandolins). The drummer was late, so I was playing some Scottish reels with the bassist, the rhythm guitarist (both plugged-in), and the bodhran (spelled right?) player. No problems hearing the National, and the tone was great. Started to teach them some Scottish reels that I'm working on.

When the drummer got there, I played the National into a mike, and I must say it sounded good.

I'll probably still use the Godin with this band because I'm used to being able to use the onboard volume and EQ--but the National would work just fine.

The honeymoon is definitely not over yet...

Oren

[danb]

Cool, can you post pictures? I recently got a Rigel reso-mando and would just add in that that's definitely the bee's knees if not elbows too! I'm a big fan of all things resophonic

[Kirk]

Thanks for the great info. ! I look forward to giving one of these a test spin.

I have two questions for those who have played these models. First, are these USA made instruments or imports ? Also, do you expect there to be any sound diffences between the "Vintage Steel" and the "Aged Brass" hardware models ? Thanks.

Kirk

[Oren]

"First, are these USA made instruments or imports ?"

As far as I know, all National Reso-Phonic instruments are made in California.

" Also, do you expect there to be any sound diffences between the "Vintage Steel" and the "Aged Brass" hardware models ?"

I doubt that there will be any difference. It's just the resonator cover, etc. that have a different finish. I think that the heavy wood body influences the tone more than anything else.

Oren

[mandroid]

Are they intonated properly all the way up to,say, 15th fret?
I had one of the Rigels for a while, flat bridge meant it went out of tune up the neck by the octave ,significantly.
Kept pulling the hair on my forearm too.. probably the cover edge doing that.

[Mandobar]

have had no problem with intonation.