Anyone know about resonator guitars?

[indeedido]

I'm thinking about picking up a cheap resonator guitar to play some slide on and the ocassional fingerpicking. I don't want to invest a lot in something that I may not play a lot, so I've narrowed it down to a couple Rogues.

Buy Rogue Classic Spider Resonator | Resonators | Musician's Friend

and

Buy Rogue Triolian Biscuit Cone Resonator Guitar | Resonators | Musician's Friend

I bought the brass body Rogue resonator last year from musicians friend and found it to be a nice guitar. It had gotten a little damaged in shipping so I sent it back but didn't get another. It was freakin' heavy.

Anyhow, can anyone tell me the difference in tone or function between the spider bridge and biscuit bridge? Also is there any tone advantage to having F holes vs screen covered sound holes?

[chefcraig]

I understand not wishing to spend much on an instrument you do not intend to use much, yet here are some things you might wish to consider. I'm not the biggest fan of Rogue products, at least from my experiences with their line of basses. They tend to require a great deal of adjustment straight out of the box, and for use outside of your living room, they are pretty under-engineered and impractical. Now perhaps this description might fulfill your particular needs. but in my case I've found that looking around a bit further (and possibly paying a small amount more) is worth it rather than dealing with the time/frustration/durability issues that these guitars represent.

[jhale667]

Wasn't Rogue Sam Ash's import brand-name once? Craig's right, you probably wanna avoid that like the plague from what I've seen of their guitar and bass offerings...





Edit: No, their knockoff brand starts with a "C" - but can't remember it at the moment...still not a fan of Rogue stuff..

[Diamondjimi]

Got me one of these from my gal for Christmas. Been playin the hell out of it lately.Has a built in pickup, decent sound for a factory PU.



Fender Products: FR-50 Resonator

I'm not inclined to offer an opinion about the difference between the two bridge styles because I've never personally compared them. Best thing to do would be to try out the two styles at your local music store.

[twonabomber]

Wasn't Rogue Sam Ash's import brand-name once? Craig's right, you probably wanna avoid that like the plague from what I've seen of their guitar and bass offerings...





Edit: No, their knockoff brand starts with a "C" - but can't remember it at the moment...still not a fan of Rogue stuff..

Rogue was at Musician's Friend. Sam Ash has Carlos Robelli.

[chefcraig]

I'm not inclined to offer an opinion about the difference between the two bridge styles because I've never personally compared them. Best thing to do would be to try out the two styles at your local music store.

I'll tell ya Dj, now that I've had some time to think about it, the key to the adjustment issues I mentioned before came from the dubious nature of the Rogue bridges themselves, as they were definitely the weakest link in the chain. It got to the point that I honestly considered replacing them, only to think better of the idea, as it was more a case of throwing good money after bad. I finally bit the bullet and wound up trading up the instruments entirely.

What bothers me in this instance is that the guitars indeedido is expressing interest in are highlighting the bridge as a selling point. As a result, I wholeheartedly agree with your idea of trying out the two styles. I'd go further to advise looking into some upscale models of the two designs as well, as they may define the particular characteristics of each in a much clearer fashion.

[indeedido]

I've found a lot of old timers across the web that think these are good guitars. High action shouldn't be an issue for playing slide on, but I hear ya on the cheap guitars. I'll try and find one locally to check out. Not sure if I want a tri-cone or a single cone either.

This guy gets a pretty good tone for youtube