View Full Version : review of national model one resophonic
Don Christy
May-10-2005, 6:56am
Well I got the reso yesterday and played it most of the afternoon and took it to an ensemble class. The reviews are in and they are great! I really like the tone and man is it loud.
I think the sound is much sweeter than you might expect from a resonator. Sounds like a nice mando with slight amplification. It has great sustain and really nice tone. Several folks in my class played it and all seemed to like it. It's a monster though, so you have to kind of hold back a little if you don't want to blow out the other instruments. Here's a link to some pics in another thread:
Pics of reso mando (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=12&t=24518)
Don
John Flynn
May-10-2005, 7:19am
I was one of the people who played Don's National last night. Holy cow! I gotta get one. Louder than a good F-5. More sustain than a good F-4. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Great tone. It even has an incredible chop. This is the true "banjo-killer." As others have said, it does NOT sound like a little resonator guitar. It sounds like a good mandolin played through a PA with reverb. Don is right, you do have to back off playing it in a jam. It is so loud, you can actually startle yourself and others if you really attack the strings. It is heavier than a regular mando, but not all that much. The fit and finish is excellent, it is a great looking instrument. The playability is excellent. It has a nice case. Great price too. I think these things will catch on.
jflynnstl Posted
It is heavier than a regular mando, but not all that much.
Could someone please post the actual weight as compared to say a typical A5 and F5. I didn't have a scale handy when I played the National at Mass Street Music during the Mandobrunch but I thought it was a lot heavier than a regular mandolin. But then again I'm an engineer and sometimes get hung up with numbers. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif Some people might be content with saying that a Boeing 747-400 is larger than a Cessna 172, but not all that much. I would say the 747 has a 212' wingspan compared to 35'10" for the 172 yada, yada, yada. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sleepy.gif
GVD
Don Christy
May-10-2005, 8:32am
I would say it is much heavier. I'll try and post the actual weight of the reso and my f style mando for the engineers in the audience.
DOn
Avi Ziv
May-10-2005, 8:46am
How about sound samples? I still don't know what it sounds like. Very curious though.
Thanks,
Avi
RolandTumble
Aug-29-2005, 5:29pm
I played one for about 20 minutes the other day in a store. I really have to figure out how to get one (I know, buy it--but at $1500 they're "very expensive" by the standard of my finances...).
Couple of things to add:
The open strings do have a bit of "the reso sound", though fretted notes don't.
The store owners, thinking they were funny, propped a set of earplugs on the top in the display case. After I'd played for a while, they both said that they were surprised by how sweet the tone is.
My only complaint is the fingerboard, and it's a personal preference thing. The FB is, I think, a little wider than normal, but the FB on my regular mando is noticeably narrower than normal. I'd like to order a custom neck (and bridge, just for the spacing on that end). Body could be dead stock, except maybe at the neck joint, and it would be fine....
I played an old Gibson A right afterward, and the tone seemed so thin--not just quiet--that I wished I'd tried them in the opposite order.
Haven't had a case of MAS this bad in a while.
jmkatcher
Aug-29-2005, 5:53pm
I tried a newly arrived one the other day myself. It truly is a beautiful thing, but I was surprisingly disappointed by the sound. At least the way I play, the tone sounded metallic without being especially rich or even that loud. Just my opinion...