Talk:Resonator guitar

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This should IMO be a temporary redirect, in that not all resonator guitars are dobros. But better than nothing for the moment. Andrewa 01:34, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Now expanded to a stub. Some of the material currently at Dobro and John Dopyera should probably be moved here. Andrewa 12:16, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Now expanded to a full article.

There's a lot of misinformation about! For example, http://memory.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/html/dollyparton/country-glossary.html is headed The Library of Congress (LC) Presents: Music, Theater and Dance and then asserts:

The Dobro (image, left), also known as the resonator guitar, is a precursor to the steel guitar and was developed in the late 1920s. It has one or more resonator discs - usually metal - mounted inside the body and connected to the bridge. It was developed in America by John Dopyera, son of a Czech violin maker, and first manufactured in 1927 by the National String Instrument Corporation. The Dobro was originally developed in response to a growing demand for a guitar that could produce a greater volume of sound than the conventional instrument. The Dobro is played face up with a series of finger picks and a metal bar to fret the strings.

That is to say, all resonator guitars are played in steel guitar fashion according to this glossary. This appears to be a very widely held myth, even believed by some prominent players. They're also wrong about the Dobro coming before the lap steel guitar, which was already highly developed by 1927. Andrewa 23:21, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Four resonators, or five? 2 Resonator players 3 Audio examples 4 Principle and basics?

[edit] Four resonators, or five?

An anon with no other contributions changed the maximum number of resonators that Dopyera used in his experiments from four to five. It may be merely a test, but if anyone has further information on the subject, please tell me. Andrewa 20:19, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Resonator players

Perhaps we should clean up this list? Understandably, gentlemen like Son House and Jerry Douglas have a prominent place on the list, but David Gilmore and Eric Clapton? They have at times incorporated resonators into their work, but the vast majority of their output is on Strats and dreadnaught acoustics, which are decidedly different instruments than resonators. I think only those who are known as career resonator players should be on the list. Otherwise, we'll have to include Lenny Kravitz on a list of drummers because although he has played drums on some of his recordings, is known primarily as a guitarist and singer. I'd make the necessary changes, but I'm not familiar enough with many of the people on the list. --buck 16:09, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

I think the information that Gilmore and Clapton are competent players and have helped further popularise the instrument is encyclopedic, so we want to be very careful not to lose content here. Perhaps we should divide the list into people mainly notable for their resonator playing, and people mainly known for something else (such as electric guitarists) whose resonator playing is nevertheless notable? I think that's the position with Eric Clapton, many people would never have heard of the resonator guitar except for his use of it. There will be some line calls even then, for example Mark Knopfler.

The other thing is, it would be good to somehow note the style and instruments plated by these people. Some of them I guess played bluegrass on a lap steel Dobro, others bottleneck blues on a tricone. Probably again split the list up, with an others catchall, and allowing some players to be on several lists. Andrewa 00:01, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Audio examples

The sound of the guitar being difficult to describe, short audio files of its play would be helpful. --69.237.113.185 21:40, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Would directions to recordings fill the same function? e.g. for the sound of a National style 0 listen to the introduction to Romeo and Juliet (song) Marza Tax 06:27, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Principle and basics?

Can somebody please explain what exactly a resonator is and how it is supposed to work?--Cancun771 20:49, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

A resonator on one of these guitars is usually a thin aluminium cone (similar to the cone on a loudspeaker) to which the vibrations of the strings are transferred mechanically, amplifying the volume and conferring a distinct tone. For example, the bridge of the guitar sits on the thin end of a cone. When the strings are plucked the vibrations of the bridge are transferred to the cone which then produces sound. Marza Tax 05:10, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

To see what a resonator looks like have a look at this page [1] Marza Tax 06:08, 1 December 2006 (UTC)