January 10, 2009

Searching for the perfect (budget) resonator guitar

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rc2smAs the ancient proverb goes, “You do not choose a guitar, a guitar chooses you.” Ok, it might not be that ancient, but I heard it somewhere and it stuck. And so a guitar chose me one day as I walked into Smashing Guitars in Asheville, NC.

The Regal RC-2 was a shiny, nickel plated steel-bodied guitar begging me to pick it up. The sound was incredible, the action was perfect, and it played like a stick of butter. I had to have it.

Hopefully this article can help someone looking for a budget resonator guitar. Not having $2k to drop on a National (purrrrrr…), my options were limited. Ideally, $400-700 was my price range.

My criteria:

I play mainly blues slide, with some strumming as well, not too much soloing, accompanied by a harmonica, a kazoo, my foot stomping on the stage, and a capo.

The instruments I sampled

In my quest, I played the following instruments, all round-neck budget resonators in the $300-$800 range:


Here is my impression of the guitars I played

Fender FR-50
I played what I think was a Fender FR-50 at a guitar trader shop. It had a wood body, felt solid, played well, but didn’t have any grit or the tone I was looking for. It was the first one I played on my quest, and I knew there had to be something else. Plus, the Fender “F” logo holes really threw me off aesthetically. But for the cheap price it would make a better than average resonator.

Regal RD-40
The next two resonators I found were the Regal RD-40 wood bodied, and the Regal RC-2 nickel plated metal body. Both of these guitars looked beautiful. Never having played a resonator before, aside from the Fender, it was great to play slide and not have it hit any frets (I’ve been using my Martin for slide, but the action is too low).

I picked up the RD-40 first. The wood body had more of an acoustic guitar sound, but it also had that resonator twang I was looking for. I was impressed. It had a good warm tone, and I don’t remember too much more about it, because after I picked up the RC-2 everything changed.

Regal RC-2 Duolian
My first thought, especially looking at the price tag and the sheer beauty of the RC-2 was “no way am I buying this one, it’s too expensive and fancy, but I’ll pick it up just to see what it sounds like.”

When I strummed the first note in open G with a metal slide, angels rang down their songs from heaven, the skies parted, and the spirit of the blues rained down drops of Mississippi delta tone all over my body and soul!

Ok, so I loved it. It had that down and dirty blues sound I was looking for. I later found out that the duolian was what a lot of Delta blues players used waaaaaay back.

The RC-2 had tone, grit, bite, and it was smooth. The action was perfect, I was able to switch from open G slide playing to standard E strumming and still feel comfortable, i.e. the strings did not bite down hard into my fingertips. The action was of course a little high, to accommodate the slide, but it was still relatively comfortable to play chords a little ways up the neck.

It was also joined at the 14th fret to the body, and this will be an important factor. Just remember it was real easy and natural to bring that slide up to the 12th fret, as a lot of blues slide calls for.

The bridge was smooth on the fingers, too, as I did just a little solo noodling. It is definitely not a guitar to play blistering solos on, but it wasn’t so hard that It could not be done now and then.

The guitar was built solid and had a nice smooth round neck. It is heavy, but you have to expect this from a guitar with a metal body. There was a strap button on the bottom of the guitar but not on the inside by the neck

(Sidenote: Research & Metal Bodied Tone Perfection)

I walked out of the shop just craving to play the RC-2 some more. I went home to do some internet research, since I went into the store not knowing too much about them. I discovered that the wood bodied are favored by bluegrass and country players, the metal bodied by blues players. This made perfect sense to me, especially after hearing the grit and tone of the RC-2.

I then made up my mind that I’d get a metal bodied. The only thing that turned me off to the RC-2 was that shine… being a clean freak Virgo, the thought of polishing that chrome surface twice week was not making me happy. BUT MAN THAT TONE!!!!!

Regal Tricone RC-51
Next I found a Regal Tricone RC-51 at a local dealer. It had a good sound, but was joined at the 12th fret. The first time I tried to bring my slide up the 12th fret, I couldn’t reach it all the way. This was annoying. To be fair, it had a great sound and feel, comparable to the RC-2, but not having access to that 12th fret made it a no-go dobro for me.

Regal RC-1
The regal RC-1 looked the same as the RC-2, but had a gun metal finish that would be much easier to keep clean. It was also made of polychrome steel, and was not nickel plated. It was a little shop worn and had older strings and was hard to keep in tune because of this. It had that same swampy tone as the RC-2, but just a little more tinny, whereas the RC-2 had a lot of warmth to it.

The RC-1 felt like I was playing a cheap foreign made guitar, whereas with the RC-2 the body and neck felt very solid. The RC-1 almost felt like a toy compared to the RC-2, and the paint job also made it look and feel cheap. Budget-wise, if you had to settle for the RC-1 I don’t think you’d be disappointed. It is a solid guitar and had that swampy, dirty delta blues tone to it.

Regal RD-30 (black)
This black beauty ended up being in the running as one of my favorites. It had a clean acoustic sound, very warm, and played like a well made guitar. It felt great, looked great, but didn’t have that bayou twang.

Regal RD-38 (cream with gold hardware)
This was the best sounding guitar out of the whole lot at this shop. Looks-wise it was… well, as tacky as a cream colored guitar with gold hardware should be. It also had a new set of strings, which I’m sure added to the crystal clear sound. It was easy to tune, and just had a great, clear, impressionable sound to it. Plus there was a flaw in the paint job and he was letting it go for a ridiculous price. If I was looking for a wood-bodied resonator, it would have been a toss up between these two.

Johnsons

I played several Johnsons while I was there:

To be honest I was not impressed by any of them. They would be adequate for someone just wanting to noodle around and play at home. A professional musician would quickly outgrow these and would be dying to upgrade in a hurry.

They were a cheaper than the Regals, a good beginner resonator. I won’t even go into that much detail since they just didn’t amaze me.

I will mention that the Johnson Bottle Slide Triolian had a 12th neck joint, which threw me off just like the Regal Triolian. It was the most beautiful Johnson they had, but I just had to have access to that 12th fret!!!

Final Verdict

In the end, I kept going back to the RC-2. I researched other instruments online, seeing a few higher quality resonators that were in the $800-$1200 range, but I didn’t have that money to spend.

I also looked and looked for a metal bodied resonator that was not shiny like the RC-2, but they are hard to come by. I found a few on the net, but I am just not the type of person to order a guitar sight unseen. Each guitar is unique, and you really should play it before you buy it.

All this time the RC-2 just kept calling me back. So I made up my mind to go play it again and make an offer on it. I picked it up, and after playing all of those Johnsons and the RC-1, there was no comparison. It was all about the tone at this point, and the RC-2 had it all.

I made an offer, and took it home. It came with a nice black locking case. The action in the store was even set up perfectly, so I was able to take it home right then. I bought a stand, and he threw in the slide I was using, a chrome metal slide which looks nice with the chrome metal of the RC2.

Bringing it Home

I came home and jammed on my new baby, and there was a little buzzing in the strings. So, I decided to put on a new set. I read one review where someone opened up their RC2 and there was electrical tape inside, holding the cone in place, which is BAD and really affected the tone. I took off all the strings, removed the cover plate, and the cone. No tape, thank goodness.

(Note: When you change resonator strings, change them one at a time, since the strings keep the biscuit cone and bridge in place. Taking all of the strings off at once risks the chance of the bridge being misplaced when you put it back on. Make a mark on one side of it so you know you put it back on right! And just eyeball it to get it back on as straight as possible.)

With the new strings, the buzzing was gone, and it sounds so sweet! It’s like playing candy covered in butter and money.

As a footnote, some say to upgrade the cone to a Quarterman cone, which will take out a lot of the banjo-like tone of the RC-2. I have not looked into this yet, but I will say that when I opened the guitar up, the cone seemed very lightweight, and almost flimsy. I imagine a better made cone would improve the sound. It is also recommended that you get a good setup, which will make the guitar shine even more.

(I’ll mention that my other guitar is a Martin 000-16rgt acoustic with a LRBaggs pickup. Not to show off my gear, but just to say that I’m picky when it comes to gear, and if I’m going to get something it better be made well and sound good.)

I hope this article helps anyone looking to buy a budget resonator guitar. I was very happy with my purchase. Please feel free to comment on this article, if it was helpful, or if I left anything out.