Converted Resonator Guitar

probably five years ago, somebody gave me an old hondo acoustic guitar. it didn't sound very nice (not even bad in a nice way), so i ended up forgetting about it and putting it back in its case.

last week i found it again, and the wheels got set in motion.

first, i cut a huge hole out of the body of the guitar, and put a cookie tin in that hole, securing it with deck screws through the back of the guitar. then i used a jigsaw to cut out a ring out of plywood, about a half inch bigger than the diameter of the cookie tin, and then used silicone caulk to secure a thick aluminum pie pan in the middle of the ring.

then i cut a bridge and tailpiece out of scrapwood --- cutting grooves for the strings into the bridge with a hacksaw, and drilling six holes into the tailpiece to thread the strings through. the piece of wood that acts as the bridge was then glued onto the center of the pie pan, so the vibrations that travel through the strings then travel through the bridge and through the pie pan, into the cookie tin --- this is where the "resonator" sound comes from.

then i put the pie pan/plywood ring contraption on top of the hole that the cookie tin is in, and secured it with silicone caulk and let it dry. in the meantime, i spray-painted the body black and went to valley music in uptown maumee to buy new strings and a "nut extension," which is a metal attachment that allows for a much higher action on the strings.

although i was very patient and allowed the caulk to dry for three days, it still wasn't holding strong enough. so now there are 38 nails surrounding the resonator piece holding it in place --- this piece really can't move at all if the guitar is going to stay in tune.

i glued the nut extension in place and put on the new strings, and it works. it doesn't sound as good as your $800 dobro, but i think it does sound pretty good, and all i had to pay for were the stings and the extension piece.

enjoy the video...i'm not the best slide player, it's just to show the sound of the instrument. sorry about the lighting.

p.s. i am going to paint over the caulk eventually so everything will look nice.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• converted
• resonator
• guitar
• dobro
• slide
• homemade
• instruments

[Poxican]

Nice work mate :D

Sounds brilliant!