plans for resonator mandolin

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mark butervaugh
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plans for resonator mandolin

Post by mark butervaugh »

i am looking for bluprints for a dobro style resonator mandolin, also looking for gold stars and moons coverplate....any suggestions or ideas ....many thanx mark
Michael Lewis
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Re: plans for resonator mandolin

Post by Michael Lewis »

You might do well to contact National in Santa Barbara.
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Jim McConkey
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Re: plans for resonator mandolin

Post by Jim McConkey »

Beard Guitars sells coverplates, at least one with a stars and moon design. He also has blueprints for guitar-style resonators.

Jon Whitney posted a home built reso-mando a few years back. He is still active here, so maybe he has some more insights.
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Eddie McRae
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Re: plans for resonator mandolin

Post by Eddie McRae »

I play in a 2-man acoustic duo with a mandolin player. He's asked me to build him one and after seeing the National model, I've been trying to persuade him to go with a reso-mando. National bases their design on a regular A-style mandolin and they use a guitar-sized cone and cover plate (9.5" cone). My advice would be to start with a standard mando blueprint and alter it to accept the resonator components. For example, the 9.5" cone is 1.125" in height plus the height of the biscuit is generally 1/4".....so the main factor would be building the body deep enough to accept the cone and still get the desired action needed. The link to the National model is:
http://artisanguitars.com/national-rm-1 ... aple-body/
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Jon Whitney
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Re: plans for resonator mandolin

Post by Jon Whitney »

Jim McConkey wrote:Beard Guitars sells coverplates, at least one with a stars and moon design. He also has blueprints for guitar-style resonators.

Jon Whitney posted a home built reso-mando a few years back. He is still active here, so maybe he has some more insights.
Wow - I'm surprised anyone remembers that. Unfortunately I made up my own plans (hand drawn) and used a nine-inch pie pan as the resonator cone. It doesn't sound too bad but I don't think you would want to copy it. But if you do, I could dig through my old stuff and see what I've got left of the plans, forms, etc.
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Jim McConkey
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Re: plans for resonator mandolin

Post by Jim McConkey »

>Wow - I'm surprised anyone remembers that.

I think I've been on staff too long! <g>
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mark butervaugh
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Re: plans for resonator mandolin

Post by mark butervaugh »

Thanks all for responding .. One thing not sure of is body size I believe a resonator mandolin has to be bigger than a standard A style to accommodate a cover plate and cone . Does anyone know the dimension of a dobro style resonator bout length etc ???? Thanks again !!
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Eddie McRae
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Re: plans for resonator mandolin

Post by Eddie McRae »

If you go to National's website, they have 3 different reso-mandos shown. Select the link to any of the 3 and you'll see a link on the page for "specs". It gives the main dimensions. Lower bout is 11.5" and they show a body depth of 3" which to me seems a little excessive. Also, they use a standard 9.5" biscuit cone and coverplate which are easily attainable. That eliminates the problem of searching for a special-sized cone or coverplate.
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