Hi, I am looking for my first resonator and am grudgingly coming to the conclusion that I really do think nationals sound better then cheaper options. At least on headphones I like the sounds of brass body tricones the best, but none are local. There are raw and style 1 versions available online. Do they sound different or are the differences mostly cosmetic? Thank you!
The raw Nationals are available in steel, brass or German silver, a raw brass instrument gets funky pretty quickly, so unless you don't mind a green, spotty guitar or polishing it all the time, I'd get the style 1. Don't get me wrong, you will also need to polish a style 1, just not nearly as much. It's my opinion that a raw brass guitar is nasty, the sound difference is minimal. Congratulations on getting whichever one you choose, it took me 35 years to get my style 1.
Edited by - Wildeman on 06/21/2025 09:09:57
The biggest difference is cosmetics. If you are going to buy a National tricone, might as well go all the way and get the classic Style1. You can’t go wrong with a Style1. Let us know what you decide to buy.
As you probably heard, the steel bodies sound different from the brass bodies.
And if you're ordering a new one, it's a mere $1000 more for a Style 2. (I contacted them and asked a short while back).
The difference was around $1700.00 on the two old ones I was looking at, strangely enough they were consecutive serial numbers, style two #1136 and style one #1137, so it seems they just pulled one off the line and engraved it . I opted for the style one.
Edited by - Wildeman on 06/24/2025 05:33:22
I only have a Style 2 1/2 because that's what showed up on the Guitar Center Used Gear site at an "I don't believe it" price. That fancy engraving still doesn't help me play like Sol Hoopii.
Personally, I prefer the sound of steel over brass. The NRP brushed steel is a nice National tricone under $4k usd.
Edited by - member65504-deleted on 06/25/2025 10:15:00
quote:
Originally posted by wlgiiiI only have a Style 2 1/2 because that's what showed up on the Guitar Center Used Gear site at an "I don't believe it" price. That fancy engraving still doesn't help me play like Sol Hoopii.
The style 2 engraving is my favorite, but the engraved models have become a bit out of reach for me, they had a style 4 at Gryphon as well as my 1, how cool is that? Finding two of them in a shop to try out. I'm old enough to remember when vintage style 1 square necks could be had for $1000.00 to $1500.00, it's been a while since then. I was happy with the price I got mine for.
Edited by - Wildeman on 06/25/2025 12:45:05
My favorite is the Style 97, with a surfer in color. I doubt if I'll ever even see one.
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