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This particular page was created 06/04/2004 and last updated 23/04/2005
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| | You can see it at Ebay from time to time, and possibly other places as well - a kit to convert a standard guitar into a resonator guitar. Is it a good idea? If the point is to get a cheap resonator guitar, you're probably better off with a ready made budget model instead. But if you enjoy working with wood and happen to have an old spare guitar (not a valuable one!!!!!!!) it may be worth considering, and it is a fun project, and not that hard. There are a few things to keep in mind though: - The sound
Don't expect great resonator guitar sound from any old guitar! This seems pretty obvious, but is easy to forget in the excitement. - The size
Make sure your guitar is big enough to fit the resonator before you buy. Any western/dreadnought/jumbo guitar should do, but some of the smallest folks guitars simply aren't wide enough. (This is also true for some older guitars, but I seriously hope you're not planning to put a big hole into an antique instrument!) - The bridge
The kits I have seen do not include a bridge. This is a small added expense that should be taken into account. - The look
In case you haven't noticed, there's a hole that needs to be cvovered up in the top of the guitar. No big deal since we're gonna get lots of spare material anyway. But since the correct placement of the resonator is further fown on the body, half covering the original soundhole it may be hard to get it to look good. Here are a few alternative solutions:- Don't worry about the looks (it's not that important after all ;-)
- Refinish the guitar afterwards (that's what *I* would have done)
- Build a brand new top for the guitar (a little bit extreme perhaps)
- Place the resonator so low it doesn't overlap the original soundhole at all (looks good, but the intonation will be way off. You can get a nice slide guitar that way, but you might as well remove the frets since they you won't be able to use them at all)
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