Why Resonator guitar cone , neck, guitar body materisl matter

[Emma]

Regardless of the number or size of the cones or the materials used to make them, they all amplify the sound of the resonator guitar similarly. A standard acoustic guitar’s strings transmit their vibrations via the bridge to the guitar’s top wood which amplifies their sound. A resonator guitar works on a similar principle but includes one or more cones to amplify the sound level by transferring the vibration of the strings via the perforations in the cone and/or other sound holes in the guitar top. The cone is what accounts for the bright, metallic timbre.

Metal vs. wood bodies

The various woods used in conventional acoustic guitar tops and bodies have a huge influence on their sound. With resonator guitars, the difference between those with metal versus wood bodies is the chief consideration.

Metal-bodied resonator guitars

Most metal-bodied resonators have either steel or brass bodies coated with nickel. Steel is said to produce the rawer sound associated with rural blues guitarists such as Son House and Bukka White. Brass may have a somewhat rounder, more mellow tone. Vintage metal resonator guitars were often ornately decorated with engraved or etched designs. Today’s budget metal guitars often have pressed metal embellishments to keep their cost down.

Wooden-bodied resonator guitars

As mentioned above, the specific woods used have less impact in resonator guitars versus their acoustic cousins. Most are made with less expensive laminated woods rather than the solid tonewoods used in quality acoustic guitars. That said, the wooden body imparts a somewhat warmer sound with less attack and punch than a steel-bodied guitar. When players refer to a Dobro, they almost always are referring to a resonator guitar with a wood body.

Different necks and cones for different genres

Resonator guitars are built with both rounded and square neck profiles. Square neck resonators are designed to be played with a metal slide, sometimes called a steel, and are set up with a very high action—sometimes as much as a half-inch above the frets—making standard fretting using the fingers impossible. Country and bluegrass players typically use a variety of open tunings and play the guitar in the “lap steel” position—that is with the fretboard facing up.

Resonator guitars with rounded neck profiles are more commonly played by blues and roots music guitarists in the conventional guitar position with the fretboard facing away from the player. Depending on the player’s preference, they can be set up with a range of string heights that permit fretting with the fingers or a bottleneck slide that produces the whining tone associated with Delta blues.

While neck and action height are somewhat genre-specific, many steel guitarists today ignore those conventions. Indeed, with the resurgence of acoustic music styles, Dobros and other resonator guitars are turning up in all kinds of music from pop and rock to even jazz. Accordingly, many different tuning are used with steel guitars these days.

Here’s a run-down of the various neck/cone configurations as they relate to different music genres:

Square neck spider cone guitars: typically used for country and bluegrass

Square neck tricone guitars: typically used for Hawaiian music, some blues

Round neck tricone guitars: used by some jazz players and in blues, especially for bottleneck slide

Round neck biscuit resonators: Primarily used in blues, slide or conventional playing