I just got one and I’m in love with it. Same tuning nightmare at first but once I lubed the nut with some graphite, it fixed it right up. Tunes great and stays there. Fantastic instrument for the price. I love Recording King.
Hey, looking to buy one of these myself. Looks like you guys passed through my home town of Greensboro, NC. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves and left with a good impression. I am planning a trip to Iceland later this year and have heard so many wonderful things about your country. Thanks for the video, cheers!
Hey Ryan, we absolutely loved it on the trip and we’re definitely coming back one day ☺️ I’m sure you’ll love Iceland, there is a lot to see and do here 🇮🇸 If you’re interested you can get in touch on Instagram and I can give you updates on gigs etc 👍 @kbald_
Fanny's is awesome! I remember going there when I was a broke traveling street musician. I hope to see you if I ever go to Iceland. Maybe we can jam a bit!
3:32 Love those SG door handles. Lol 😊I am currently awaiting the delivery of my Dirty 30’s Mini Bucker (Wabash Blue) and my full sized Swamp Dog! Thank you!
I’m still learning but have seen advertisements for this guitar at Guitar Center every day for the last month and I love the music you make in your video. If you ever come back to Nashville, I’ve got a beer waiting on ya. Thanks for the review 🤜🤛
Based on your review i also bought one. The tuners and strings were awful, so i replaced those. It now stays in tune, plus i gave it a decent set up with a heavier string set. It works well. Thanks for taking the time to review this, i would have not bought it believing it junk as the price was low :-0
Thanks for your review. My reso experience. It's long but hope it helps . . . I have most of the metal resonators under 1 K USD (although now its prob 1200 USD range now) , the Gretsch (Fender) bobtail etc. They tend to have issues that early 90's import guitars, they either have tone and suck at playability, or tone is meh and the playability is fixable to where its good. HOwever I know friends who have brass body resonators made by resonator luthiers (4 K USD range) and they are great sounding and well playing, plus the weight is manageable (heavier compared to heaviest solid body electrics but . .. ). I have played a Mule, National, and one made by Mike Lewis. The Mike Lewis is probably the best sounding one and they all play really well. The Mule is musical and easy to play and notes blossom as they decay. The National has the bell cream tone of its tricones. I have decided to stop messing with 1K and under and get something worth playing. The only one I don't have is Royall, supposedly they are the best of the 1K - 1.5K range and have both tone and playabilty. They are imported but they mod them and possibly recone or trim the cones . . . But they are behind in orders and always out stock since 2021. I was going to inquire but I have a mule coming and so if I like that I'll just save up for a Mike Lewis and another mule (backup) and sell off the import ones. They are all heavy. the RK 9 lbs + Recording tricone WITH BASEball D neck, (RK has since changed it to 1.75 in and C neck, but mine is 1.8-1.9 in like original Nationals, TBH its almost like a dang classical guitar). It sounds beautiful, my friend has multi-nationals and he says it has the cream bell thing they got. I got it for 700 USD via guitar center deal, but now they are 1.2 K ish range. But it needs a neck reset (and I'd have to ship it out to a reso expert and the labor plus he has replace the saddle, and shipping is insane) and the action in the first five frets is credit card thick to mid pencil tip and by the body join it is 2 pinky thickness (almost is). I have shaved the saddle almost where the strings are touching the T brace. At first I was going to exchange it but the tone is unreal and GC had other RK metal tricones but they sounded so bad compared to mine, and I figured I could get it fixed later, so I kept it. RK has changed their newer tricones, and seems they are better built and with playability (tone varies, and after checking 5 instances it doesn't nail the tone of mine) straight necks and regular C necks with 1.75 in nut. I have taken mine apart and the inside is almost exactly like my friend's Style 0 Tricone and has good cones, the thin spun ones. Other RK users have re-cone theirs with national cones. I also took the bracing (has power coat paint) and removed the paint (aluminum bracing) and its louder now and sustains even more. But I don't know how to reset the neck so I'll take it to someone. It has some sentimental value as this was my first acoustic (my mains are a student concert size taylor and epiphone DOT ES-335 ). The Gretschs come with Fender's V neck. THe V neck is hella prounounced, unlike their vintage tele's or strats, that have the soft rolled v (oh how good that Eric Johnson strat soft V) . Action is Fender acoustic (a little high but easily remedied by nut and saddle adjustments). The bobtail is a spidercone with steel body, and it has acoustic pick up. It sounds like a regular acoustic, so it isn't unique, and the weight is high 9's, also it notes die quicker than a regular acoustic. I'm prob going to sell it, because if I wanted a regular acoustic, I'd get a taylor or yamaha around 600-800 USD and they are lighter. The Gretsch honey dipper is a different story. It has that classic banjo ish metal sound. It's a single cone and its brass body. It too is around 9 lbs, but I'll keep it for the unique sound it has. It's a little harsh, but when played with my finger / finger tips / pads its better. The Republics are all tricones and all across the board with tone. They have playability and necks are great. I have brass one (best sounding one) that has a bell like tone, but it isn't as creamy or sustains like the recording king, but it was way easier to play and the neck is set right, and also has a 1.75 in neck so it feels like a stand acoustic C neck. They are set up well. I have a steel body one, and its just loud and jangly tone. The tone is unique but its more on the loud boomy side. I may keep it. But if the mule is absolute (like my pal's) I'll probably focus on the luthier made ones and sell all cheap import resos (but keep the recording king)
Never played one but didlay banjo with Hank Williams Sr's drummer who played Dobro in a city park in McMinnville, OR, back in the 80-s. Slide, has it's attractions but I'm mostly country/ bluegrass and rock.
One of the best guitar reviews I've seen! Thanks for making it. That is a really amazing guitar, now I want one! I'm interested to hear how it strums and slides in Open C, though. How about a Bon Iver cover? 😅
Tu vídeo es muy completo y honesto, da una idea exacta de lo que ofrece el instrumento. Yo tengo actualmente un resonator de la marca Busker, pero estoy buscando un segundo dobro, con cuerpo de madera. He visto algunas buenas opciones en la marca Gretsch. Muchas gracias por la revisión. Saludos desde España. Like y suscripción. :)
¡Hola Matojo! Bienvenido a mi canal. Me alegra mucho que te haya gustado el vídeo y que te haya resultado útil. Me gustaron mucho los resonadores Gretch y tengo que decir que el Boxcar es una gran opción si buscas uno sin camioneta. Espero que encuentres un buen resonador de cuerpo de madera. Saludos desde Islandia y espero que esta traducción haya salido bien.
Just watched a fairly new review on the particular model of which I thought I would purchase but this guy absolutely slated the extremely rough finish of the fret ends! He seemed genuinely shocked by this.
Já, hann þekkist víða hreimurinn 😅🇮🇸 Sá svona í Hljóðfærahúsinu um daginn á um 70þús. Sé pínu eftir að hafa ekki keypt sqareneck þar sem ég er farinn að spila meira á hann eins og lap steel.
Recording King dirty 30's-- $229 was my choice after playing the expensive versions because historically 1930s musicians didn't have much cash, it has the Delta dirty sound that takes me straight back to the 1930s.. . ( I am never going to clean this guitar) I will have it worked on just a little bit , and put different tuners on it and a Shure 57 mic . Sometime I will buy a antique resonator after much searching.
With good strings it is amazing, a Woody sound between guitar and a banjo, the cone is very resonant. I personally like the fact it is not exotic wood because I prefer exotic woods when they are forest. Slide? Fingerpicking is as fine
Hi, I really love the plugged in sound, I saw you had it di through a Kemper but was wondering if there was a particular setting or if it was in the style of a certain amp as it seems to work really well with that guitar style?
Very cool. Did you intentionally go to America to buy a resonator? Or was this a family vacation and you decided while you're there you may as well make a youtube video buying a guitar? I think you made a great choice in the end. Looks / sounds fantastic. I like how you got into the local garb: Nashville shirt, cowboy hat, etc. PS: Just read no volume knob for your guitar's pickup. doh
Thx for the informative and well-presented video! I have an RK rattlesnake with the fishman Nashville pickup. I love playing it and share some of your observations of RK, but I am an upright bass player normally, so maybe not the best reviewer. Occasionally I hear some rattling (ha ha) inside the cones. Since I'm new to this type of instrument, I'm not sure if this normal or not, I suspect not. I find the Fishman Nashville internal pickup to be weak, I may need to buy a Fishman pre-amp for my belt to give it a boost. Was wondering if you have ever listened to any of Chris Whitley's resonator work? I have the fortune to live about 5 miles from Paul Beard's shop. If I progress on the instrument and can warrant upgrading, I may move up to a Goldtone. If you're ever back in the states sometime, and also moving up maybe we go over and visit Paul's shop here in Maryland. Take care, I hope to come back and visit Iceland again sometime, I love your country!
I have owned a beard , It;s gone , however I remember them as spider bridge , perhaps Im wrong , do they make one with a biscuit bridge now , I own a dirty 30tyreso minis the pickup , I have been offered twice what I paid for it. On your comment on the heavy guitars made from metal -, they get colder than a well diggers @SS --LOLI love my wooed recording king and the folf there are very helpful . the Grover Sta-tite 135 are the replacements for it , I haven't done it yet but I can feel it coming . Also the G string may break at the saddle piece , I now tie that one in a not , it actually works . the on;L string I replace more than the others in=s the G , It gets used more , save money buy a few xtra wound g strings . If you want get more sound , there are sound poles inside the guitar supporting the cone system I thinktheres 4 , 2 of men got loose and I replaced with better wood dowels . but that takes guts to do , Mine had lost their glue hold , so I had to .
Thanks for your honesty review, i would buy this guitar but listen the harley benton clr custom line, for 100$ difference maybe it's good guitar resonator with gold tone, can you tell if try these guitar?
I have D'addarios on my Recording King Minnie Bucker currently. I want to put on Elixur mediums, to get a louder tone but I'm concerned it will put too much tension on the tuners. Do you thinnk it's okay?
I've been wanting a resonator guitar since forever. I'm attracted to the metal body models, but they seem to sound like a tin can. My logic dictates that a wood resonator would have a warmer sound. I don't know which one to get? The guitar you're playing, and maybe any resonator guitar, kinda' has a banjo sound to them. All in all, they sound great.
I think you are right, the wooden body resonators have a warmer sound. Maybe try the Gretsch metal body I talked about in the video, that one has a pretty warm sound actually.
@@Kbald Yes, the Gretsch Honeydipper is also on my list. I've been checking out the guitars at Royall Resonator Co., Regal, Recording King and the Epiphone Dobro Hound Dog. I don' want to spend more than $1,000.00.
Hey - very similar story here! I was in Nashville last week and bought this guitar at Fanny's. Just one quick question: have you had to set up this guitar for slide playing? I feel it's almost playable the way it is but perhaps could do with slightly higher strings. What do you think? Many thanks!
Gott stöff! Gaman að sjá Íslending með svona vandaða youtube rás 😄 Er einmitt að fara til Austin yfir páskana, spurning hvort að einhver resonator laumist með heim ef ég finn einhvern sexy 😎
They were in constant backorder and I had to get a black one instead, it plays fine after my usual adjustments. Small first-test video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DctLIem5YJI.html
If you don't mind the extra weight of the bell brass body the Gretsch Honey Dipper is a truly great resonator for the price. I added the Justin Johnson surface-mount humbucker and couldn't be happier.