Restoring a Wasted Resonator Guitar - Completed!!! Full Restoration Video - 1930s National Duolian

[@NeilRobertTurner]

Nice job, cool jig, cool clamps

[@pamcarr4003]

Great job! Thanks for sharing D.

[@triplesevensix291]

You got skills man! Really nice. Sounds boss!!

[@bigdguitars]

thanks!

[@avielkharrat5788]

That's a hell of a job! Awesome !

[@JMnyJohns]

Been watching you a long time and you still keep surprising me with your inventiveness and talent. You're a damn master D.

[@bigdguitars]

Thanks dude. Means a lot to me. This was a challenge.

[@Guitars-KiD]

Greetings! What kind of wood do you make the neck of the resonator guitar from? We have (maple, ash, cherry, alder, walnut)?

[@demantoid418]

Nice job. thanks for posting.

[@wombat6]

You said you didn't install a truss rod because that wasn't "original". My 2 cents : if the original design is bad, change it. And it's not like the lack of truss rod is a good design.

[@MrSteveCasper]

Great job! I got 1932 I'm going restore. Could you post the link for the neck jig for cutting splines?

[@74dartman13]

Nice work!👍😎🎸🎶

[@deek49]

Great job. Enjoyed the video - very informative.

[@deek49]

I inherited a similar guitar recently. The metal circle over the resonator cone has some wear marks, one of which is down to the metal with some light scratches. What would you recommend I use to remove the scratches?

[@johnnypk1963]

Yea McConville is an excellent luthier, great channel. This one turned out nice.

[@peteqwerty51]

Just watched the video ( 3years late) surprised you didn’t screw the finger board to the body under the top fret MoP dots (the holes are there ) and no mention of a neckstick/body wedge. Some advice from a resonator expert would have been good. You did an ok job but with your skills and some advice it could have been perfect, Pete T

[@alext9067]

I don't know anything about these resonator guitars but that brace or tenon attached to the neck and then to the body is very interesting.

[@tulk3747]

take a wire wheel to it, sand it and buff it to a mirror shine.

[@bigdguitars]

I am tempted to do that

[@markbundy1694]

@@bigdguitars Great Idea,,,That Would look Great.

[@joeduncan4487]

Nah, it won't look authentic

[@georgekrabs6948]

@@bigdguitars Use a non abrasive method or you'll be tearing your hair out

[@margarethouse404]

The Shiney originals were Nickel plated . The Doulians were painted ( with Du Pont Duco ) and that is one of the original colors .

[@PelleKuipers]

I really like the color. Please show it with the cover on the cone! Though if you want it clean, maybe you can get someone to sandblast + polish the body?

[@pamcarr4003]

Maybe take the paint off and repaint with the same kind/color of paint. Wouldn't that just be restoring it? Don't know much about this stuff. Just thought I'd toss that your way. Kinda excited to see what comes of this! Pam

[@bigdguitars]

pam carr I am thinking take it off and leave it.

[@pamcarr4003]

Oh, that would be cool! Yeah, I think that would look good! If not go with purple! LOL!!!!! Just messing with you my man. If by chance it doesn't, then go with the original color or a color of that era. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out! Thanks D!

[@TheCrystalyne]

Wheres the cone cover???

[@jaeztheone]

essential to protect delicate cone !!!

[@jlsagely6892]

Lighter strings and detuning 1/2 step will help.

[@steveredenbaugh9058]

You paid $1300 for that?!?!!

[@bigdguitars]

I know....

[@steveredenbaugh9058]

@@bigdguitars not gonna beat ya up about it.. I assume you bought it at auction and didn`t know all the shit wrong with it.. maybe a learning experience? what`s done is done.. make the best of it . been there many times..

[@bigdguitars]

I thought it would be worth something. I had no idea it was like this. These do go for a decent buck. I thought maybe I should wash down the body see what I can get out of it.

[@steveredenbaugh9058]

@@bigdguitars good idea the body is leaning towards Hideous...

[@avielkharrat5788]

You bought a piece of history ! If you make something out of this, you give this guitar a second life. American luthery history is worth the buck !

[@markbundy1694]

Yo Bro Nice Dobro!!!! Sounds Great, Now you can bust out your best Justin Johnson!!!!

[@michaelmcclain5091]

Not a dobro. It's a national. They were painted. Given the iffy wood in the neck, perhaps wartime production? I have one from '29 according to the SN. The neck is mahogany and the fret board is ebony with bar frets. The paint is a crinkle texture, at least where there is still paint left on it.

[@margarethouse404]

@@michaelmcclain5091 Maybe , Maybe not , all depends on year of production . John Dopyera and George Beauchamp were partners in National String Instrument Company . In 1928 they had a falling out , and John and his brothers started Dobro Manufacturing Company . Dobro thrived , National went bankrupt . In 1932 , Dopyera bought up the assets of his former company , and the combined company was National- Dobro Corporation . Instruments were still marketed under the respective brand names , but from 1932 on , all the Nationals were actually made by Dobro .

[@aWildJosh213]

Picture: A nice restored resonator guitar Price: $1,300 What you ACTUALLY get: a rusty old broken guitar ripoff What you should have paid: $5

[@balanceaz]

Never use titebond on your frets.

[@slanford6767]

I'm the first kewlsouunds great. I only hope and it shouldn't after all these years then once don't warp. My 57 Martin hasn't after all these years and it has no truss rod.

[@michaelmcclain5091]

Your Martin has a truss rod! It is just not ajustable. It has a piece of steel that is "t" shaped like a flexible flyer sled runner. Subsequently they changed to a square steel tube, followed by. The adjustable rods in the current production.

[@solasta]

Its not a Dobro!

[@bigdguitars]

Yep change d that!

[@SergeCeyral]

Please, don't polish that body : you'll ruin the value of the guitar! Duolians were originally painted with DuPont Duco paint (grey or greenish/yellowish); And use a set of medium gauge strings (13/54) for that baby, tuned to open D or open G, and the neck will not be at risk... With a light gauge set (11-52), you'll always get a tiny sound, with buzz or rattle

[@bigkingbud]

Me, I'd clean the headstock off, stain it, and put a decal on it. Finish the neck. I'd leave the body the same, it isn't original paint, someone probably painted it to keep it from rusting. It looks like they painted it A LONG time ago though, so the patina is nice(and desirable). The guitar is worth about $3000 tops, but someone would love to have it, and the right buyer may pay more. If you cleaned it down to the metal it wouldn't change the value, and it would just become a matter of opinion for buyers.