Looking for a reasonably afforable National "Style O" copy for a Dire Straits Tribute band I am putting together. Obviously there are loads of good affordable resonators out there on the market, but I can't seem to find any that have the right looking Palm tree designs on the body. Obviously its just for the look, but it would be nice to look as accurate as possible and I go the same route with guitars as I do with food- eat with your eyes first!
Here you go: The Royall Palmulator. I have yet to see one of these Royall guitars even though the company is located here in California, but I think I have been in a guitar shop one time since the beginning of the pandemic in March, 2020.
I have been reading good things about them. The bodies are produced in Korea and China and they import them to California for final assembly and setup.
Are they available in the UK? No idea. Would it be worth the expense and having to "jump through flaming hoops" to get one to the UK? You would know better than I.
I'm a huge Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits fan. Saw Straits live twice, and I have seen the MK Band six or seven times.
Getting a palm tree theme guitar to be a little more realistic is a cool idea - but if it's a big hassle to do so, is it really worth it? Do you look like Knopfler? Do you sound like him when you sing? I won't even get into the electric guitar part - no one sounds like him, though I have heard some decent imitations.
What I'm getting at is would the audience really notice whether or not there is a palm tree theme if you had a Style O-like guitar for Romeo and Juliet?
Here you go: The Royall Palmulator. I have yet to see one of these Royall guitars even though the company is located here in California, but I think I have been in a guitar shop one time since the beginning of the pandemic in March, 2020.
I have been reading good things about them. The bodies are produced in Korea and China and they import them to California for final assembly and setup.
Are they available in the UK? No idea. Would it be worth the expense and having to "jump through flaming hoops" to get one to the UK? You would know better than I.
I'm a huge Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits fan. Saw Straits live twice, and I have seen the MK Band six or seven times.
Getting a palm tree theme guitar to be a little more realistic is a cool idea - but if it's a big hassle to do so, is it really worth it? Do you look like Knopfler? Do you sound like him when you sing? I won't even get into the electric guitar part - no one sounds like him, though I have heard some decent imitations.
What I'm getting at is would the audience really notice whether or not there is a palm tree theme if you had a Style O-like guitar for Romeo and Juliet?
They look great! Thanks, and while look like Mark Knopfler I don't, I can do a passable impression singing and playing (its all in the clawhammer-banjo style fingerpicken'! Although you are correct, everyone can try, but no one can do it like Mark ??) And honestly I have a fiesta red strat, a sunburst les paul and a palm tree reso would complete the set! Doesn't make any other difference than that ??
Whether ( that shiny plated finish) is spelled correctly depends if you are using British spelling or 'Murican .
And in another field of interest , it's not uncommon to see spelled either way . Kind of like Caliber vs Calibre . Either way the meaning is understood .
Actually, Bigg, this came up awhile back between a family member and I - who should know better.
I understand the analogy you're going for here but it is incorrect. It's not the one spelling vs. another business from either side of the Atlantic Ocean. I have my copy of of the Oxford University English Dictionary that my father bought in the '60s - the thing is close to 2600 pages in length and weighs about 25 pounds. No "nickle" to be found. But "calibre" and "caliber" are both in there.
I tried to look up the current online edition of Oxford, but they want a bunch of money to join the site so I declined. I figured my 1966 edition is good enough.
There was one online American dictionary that "allowed" the "nickle" spelling in recent years. "Allowed" is kind of like the TV game show host that is cutting the contestant some slack and awards the points if the answer is in the ballpark. In other words, "nickle" has apparently made it into the vernacular through a critical mass of spelling incompetence.
Another one I see a lot online is "lightening" referring to the electric bolts across the sky during a storm rather than "lightning." It's like fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard to me.
I guess I just never got over the school spelling bee championship in 6th grade where a playoff was required to declare a winner and a girl named Karen beat me on the third word to take home the trophy. I've been trying to make up for it ever since.
I think you'd be fine with most any O copy. It's the aluminium cone inside that really counts.
This is true. But he wants the palm trees on the guitar!
It's why he has a Fiesta Red Strat (though not a '62), and a sunburst Les Paul (though not a '58 - would need to sell the house for that one).
Exactly, everything Mark can do I can do MUCH worse! Of course the palm trees are a total nothing but its just nice to look at and feel like I have a reasonable approximation of a vintage national. Same as I cant obtain a 58 (duh) but I bought as close as is obtainable for me.
"Have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. "
Or, maybe no palm trees since you're not Mark? A couple years ago my wife and I did a Gillian Welch tribute, and I'm no Dave Rawlings so I used a Kay arch top instead of an Epiphone.
On the other hand- I always figured when I finally got my National tricone squareneck dream instrument a plain Style 1 would be just fine. But I ended up with a Style 2 1/2, and the wild roses are awesome. So if you really want the palm trees, you'll really appreciate them. Sometimes I just sit and admire the roses.
Or, maybe no palm trees since you're not Mark? A couple years ago my wife and I did a Gillian Welch tribute, and I'm no Dave Rawlings so I used a Kay arch top instead of an Epiphone.
On the other hand- I always figured when I finally got my National tricone squareneck dream instrument a plain Style 1 would be just fine. But I ended up with a Style 2 1/2, and the wild roses are awesome. So if you really want the palm trees, you'll really appreciate them. Sometimes I just sit and admire the roses.
Exactly, the patterns are beautiful, as are all of my guitars imho, and when I walk into the room I always see them and it makes me smile. Same reason as I wear clothes that I think look good, I feel good wearing them. I wanna feel good playing something I think looks awesome and makes me look awesome ??
For what it's worth, here is a link to a discussion on Imperial/Royal guitars. I gave a short review on a Royal round neck Tricone that was favorable at the time but I would like to offer some additional information. After playing the guitar for some time I thought the fret ends were a bit sharp and needed some dressing, and after taking the cover plate off I noticed that the bridge saddle was poorly made. It looked like they tried to carve some compensation into the top of the saddle and only managed to weaken the string slots. So, although the guitar was well made for the price, you might need to tweak the set up a bit.
