National String Instrument Corporation
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The National String Instrument Corporation was the company formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars.
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[edit] National resonator guitar designs
The National brand and trademark are particularly associated with two of the three basic resonator designs:
- The tricone design with three resonator cones.
- The biscuit single resonator design.
Terms such as National or National pattern are often used to distinguish these patterns from the competing Dobro design.
[edit] Other National instruments
National also produced resonator ukuleles and resonator mandolins.
[edit] History
[edit] Formation
The company was formed by John Dopyera, the luthier who had invented the resonator, and George Beauchamp, the steel guitar player who had suggested to Dopyera the need for a louder guitar able to play a melody that would be heard among brass and other wind instruments.
In 1927, the first resonator instruments were produced and sold under the National brand. They had metal bodies and a tricone resonator system, with three aluminium cones joined by a T-shaped aluminium spider. Wooden-bodied models soon followed, based on cheap plywood student guitar bodies supplied by the Kay, Harmony and other established guitar manufacturers.
[edit] Dobro
In 1928, Dopyera left National, and together with four of his brothers formed the Dobro Manufacturing Company to produce a competing single resonator design, with the resonator cone inverted. John Dopyera continued to hold stock in National. The Dobro design was both cheaper to produce and louder than the tricone.
National replied by introducing their own single resonator design, the biscuit, which Dopyera claimed to have designed before leaving although the patent was registered by Beachamp. National also continued to produce tricone designs, which were preferred by some players for their tone.
In their 1930 catalog, National list eight key associates, including Adolph Rickenbacker, George Beauchamp, Harry Watson, Paul Barth, and Jack Levy.
In 1932, the Dopyera brothers secured a controlling interest in both National and Dobro, and merged the companies to form the National Dobro Corporation.
[edit] National Reso-Phonic Guitars
In the late 1980s the National name and trademark reappeared on reproduction resonator instruments manufactured by National Reso-Phonic Guitars. As of 2006 their model range includes not only the tricone and biscuit mechanisms used on the original National instruments, but also the inverted cone design used on the Dobro.
[edit] See also
- Resonator guitar, particularly the history section.
- Dobro Manufacturing Company.
- National Reso-Phonic Guitars.
[edit] External links
- National Resophonic WebPage.
- notecannons.com, Colin McCubbin's site devoted to prewar national instruments.
