National Reso-Phonic Resophonic Guitar (1957)
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Item # 7989
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National Reso-Phonic Model Resophonic Guitar (1957), made in Chicago, grey pearloid finish, hardwood body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, black alligator grain chipboard case.
One of the National company's oddest fretted experiments (and that's saying something!), the 1950s Reso-Phonic model is essentially a solid body resonator guitar, which functions solely as an acoustic instrument despite looking like it really ought to be electrified! The 1930s style resonator cone is set into a small solid wood body covered in grey/green pearloid, with a second coverplate on the back to allow some sound to escape.
There is a plastic pickguard covering the upper half of the body decorated with pinstripes, a script "RESO-PHONIC", and a metal plate National shield logo. The bolt-on neck is a very short scale, similar to the one used on the company's budget Supro student guitars and has a stenciled National logo on the headstock. The instrument is not as loud as the company's pre-war resonator guitars but has a very distinctive tone, perhaps best described as somewhat like an original 1930s National already recorded onto a 78 RPM record! Odd, endearing, and one of our dark-horse favorite eccentricities; a great trashy blues machine if there ever was one.
Overall length is 34 in. (86.4 cm.), 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 22 in. (559 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
A nicely original guitar, unaltered and -- as these go -- quite a decent player. There is corrosion on some of the metal areas, most notably on the back coverplate. The pearloid on the body is actually pretty solid with only a few dinks in it, and the neck finish and frets are very clean. The pickguard and headstock stenciling are also unusually intact with none of the usual rubbed-away spots. Overall this is the nicest of these we have had, with a somewhat tatty period chipboard case that is too long for the guitar but appears to have been with it for a long time. Excellent - Condition.
One of the National company's oddest fretted experiments (and that's saying something!), the 1950s Reso-Phonic model is essentially a solid body resonator guitar, which functions solely as an acoustic instrument despite looking like it really ought to be electrified! The 1930s style resonator cone is set into a small solid wood body covered in grey/green pearloid, with a second coverplate on the back to allow some sound to escape.
There is a plastic pickguard covering the upper half of the body decorated with pinstripes, a script "RESO-PHONIC", and a metal plate National shield logo. The bolt-on neck is a very short scale, similar to the one used on the company's budget Supro student guitars and has a stenciled National logo on the headstock. The instrument is not as loud as the company's pre-war resonator guitars but has a very distinctive tone, perhaps best described as somewhat like an original 1930s National already recorded onto a 78 RPM record! Odd, endearing, and one of our dark-horse favorite eccentricities; a great trashy blues machine if there ever was one.
Overall length is 34 in. (86.4 cm.), 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 22 in. (559 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
A nicely original guitar, unaltered and -- as these go -- quite a decent player. There is corrosion on some of the metal areas, most notably on the back coverplate. The pearloid on the body is actually pretty solid with only a few dinks in it, and the neck finish and frets are very clean. The pickguard and headstock stenciling are also unusually intact with none of the usual rubbed-away spots. Overall this is the nicest of these we have had, with a somewhat tatty period chipboard case that is too long for the guitar but appears to have been with it for a long time. Excellent - Condition.