ADVICE

HELLO ALL

I AM NEW TO THE DOBRO , BOUGHT A REGAL RD-38BS , AFTER PLAYING A FEW OTHER DOBROS AND HAVING LISTENED TO RECORDINGS , MY REGAL SOUNDS REAL THIN
ANY SUGGESTIONS

THANKS JOHN

John, the Regal is a starter piece. Ask yourself how serious you are about playing this instrument and then consider the following:

1. You could take it to a custom builder for a set-up and he would take the spider and cone out and replace them with top-quality parts and do any necessary upgrade work to the nut and bridge. This work might cost you half the suggested retail price of the guitar and you would have a guitar that would sound better but that you almost certainly could not sell for what you have into it.

2. As above, except that you could get the resonator guitar set-up instructional video and parts from Beard guitars and save some money doing the work yourself. How handy are you, and how long are you willing to have the guitar down while you work on it to get it just right? It might take several attempts to get any one aspect of the work done just right. I wouldn't exactly recommend this, but if you want to look into it here is the Beard web address:

www.beardguitars.com

3. The Regal RD-38BS reso has a soundwell in it. Some of the guitars that you have been playing and listening to may have been the more modern soundpost and baffle designed guitars, and they tend to have more volume and bottom end. Now you're edging into custom-built territory. If you are content to play the Regal until you can save up to buy a better guitar the next level up is going to be either a Gold Tone Beard (be sure that it is set up at Beard guitars--there is a sticker certificate that you can see through one of the screened holes,) a Wechter Scheerhorn, or a Gibson Hound Dog. These guitars are not custom guitars and are factory built, and they cost between $800 and $1600. After that it's pretty much custom, and they are going to be at least that $1600 all the way up to $6000 or so, depending on the appointments and tonewoods you might want.

I bought a Fender Champ lapsteel guitar about 4 1/2 years ago, and a National Tricone a little more than a year later. I barely got to spend any time with the lapsteel for the first year, but when I did start goofing with it I realized that I wanted the acoustical version, and so I put a nut-raiser in the National and then started patiently shopping. A few months later I came into a little windfall, and it wasn't enough to pay for the guitar but it was enough to make me confident putting in an order with Todd Clinesmith. I waited sixteen months and paid $3400 for a guitar with almost nothing fancy on it to boost the price.

I have to date played a lot of different resonator guitars and some mighty fine sounding custom jobs included, and though I have played a lot of them that I really liked I haven't yet played one that made me sorry that I got this guitar from Todd. I'm not a snob about this guitar, but if I could only have one I could be happy with this one.

The advice that I would give you is this: play and listen to as many different guitars as you can, and do this enough so that you begin to become familiar with the characteristic sounds of particular makes of guitars. Find a builder whose guitars you really like the sound of, and save up your money while you are getting to know the various builder's works. Spend as much money as you can figure out how to put together for the upgrade without buying a collectible piece. Be patient and look and listen until you find the right one.

Alternately, a lot of people upgrade a little bit at a time as the deficiencies of their present instrument manifest themselves and they keep practicing hard so that the steady upgrades seem justifyable. I went from a converted roundneck guitar straight up to the top shelf, but I did this with confidence because I have been playing string instruments for more than forty years and I knew that this wasn't some passing fancy--I knew that I would end up there eventually. I couldn't see the logic in buying an instrument that I knew I wouldn't want to keep before I even had it.

My guitar looks very much like the deep red sunburst here:

http://www.clinesmithinstruments.com/clinesmith/maplefinishes.htm

Happy hunting!

Art Kohnke

Art

Thank you very much for the info . You verified what I had kinda fiqured out on my own