Good to know, thanks!
Probably this question is way out of everyone’s wheelhouse, but what the heck. I bought a resonator a couple of years ago with the intent of learning slide. But as much as I like listening to slide guitar, realized that I was going down yet another tangential rabbit hole. I do really like the sound or the resonator, a single cone Chinese copy of a National type O (without the coconut trees) and would like to play it with standard tuning and a pick. The problem is that the setup is so dang high and the string gauge would make Stevie Ray Vaughn cringe. Do you think that a good luthier could lower the setup and replace or fill the nut for lighter gauge strings to where I wouldn’t need a slide to play?
Always wanted to try a resonator. Pictures please!
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If the nut needs refiling (or even replacement), then that’s definitely a job for an experienced luthier if you want it done right the first time. Take it to a good shop, they’ll tell you if that type of setup is possible. You probably won’t want to go too light on the string gauge though, because that will definitely change the sound. You probably need a certain gauge to get some sustain out of it, that sonic energy has to come from somewhere.
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Agree 100 % on the nut. The bridge is nothing more than a rectangular wooden block held by string pressure to the cone. To lower the string height, I imagine that you could just sand or shave a bit off of the cone side of the block/bridge thingy, AKA the biscuit. But I’ll leave that to the professionals since there might be some intonation considerations. I forgot to mention that it is a round neck and not square as some of them are.
Funny thing, I tend to sneeze deeply and loudly, which tends to make dogs bark and babies cry. My dad used to do it as well and I remember how it would give me an adrenaline rush when I was growing up and dad would sneeze. My kids are used to it now and really laugh when it happens. What’s funny is how loud the cone rings if I sneeze in the same room or even the adjacent room. So the cone and I must be on the same resonate frequency or something.
Of course you can play this like an acoutic.
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This is the one I occasionally play:
I raised the nut, but before I did it I used to play it normally. It has a nice sound.
Right now it is tuned openG (D-G-D-g’-B-d’) but you cannot play minor chords well with that, so I’ll try the C6 tuning (C-E-G-A-c’-e’), in which you play minor chords on the three high strings, and major ones on the low ones.
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I found a recording of my attempt at that Tallstrom piece I linked to in the music thread. It’s not my best, I since found a better one, but this was already uploaded so what the heck!
Less reverb, more buzzing! Crafter acoustic bass…
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Impressive! It’s not easy to get an acoustic bass to sound like that
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Thanks - I could actually not find anything else to play on it, so I sold it. I was hoping to join an acoustic band but didn’t get any offers on the local musician sites. Oh - except a busker, and I wasn’t going to do that.
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Slowly getting my left hand back under control as far as playing is concerned. I didn’t upload this to YouTube for fear of a copyright block, don’t know how that works these days, so put it on Drive instead…
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Nice playing there!
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Well done sir 
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Thanks guys - you’re very kind. 
