Wooden resonator guitar plans or design options

[Bob H Abernathy III]

Hey fellas! No images for the Flood survivors right now. Soon though! looking good.

I was just curious if anyone has some ideas on where i can find some plans for wooden resonators Besides this place http://www.cadguitarplans.com/blueprints/  OR GAL But i actually didn't see any there. (FREE would be cool) . I have A billet of purple heart that is 2"x13"x7' and i attempted to book match a billet of the same tree for acoustics on the ban saw and it got to hot and developed cracks and got flexible and sad in the process :( this is lumber my pop's passed down to me upon passing away and it is beautiful..but i am concerned that the lack of proper environmental conditions over the years has made it unsuitable for regular acoustics. It's sad. But i think if i keep the pieces thicker and tried to make a couple of resonators with it..they could come out really nice...I would keep them for a few years to observe how they hold up after i build them...( i would probably keep the best) sell the remaining few for cheap just considering the wood might not be " proper" IF i decide to sell them at all. But i am sure there are a multitude of designs for wooden resonators and thought i would see  what you all would suggest or would think would be creative or different....or cool. Just a personal venture. I look forward to some insight.

Hope you are all are having a killer day. 

REPAIRS AWAIT!!!!!

Bob H Abernathy III

P.S i will send you pictures of the billet when i get out of calculus (yipee!!)

[Paul Breen]

Stewart MacDonald's has this for free

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Building,_general/Assembly/a-resoph...

[Bob H Abernathy III]

AH! totally forgot about that little booger!!! It does offer some insight but i was hoping for something with more support and a developed  sound well...But your right this does clear some things up! thanks paul!! you da man! I mean anyone who can play that bass has got to be the top dog!! DAAAANG!!!!

[Jon Hiltbrand]

I completed a walnut tricone in May of this year. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I looked everywhere for plans before I began building it. There are some plans available on Paul Beard's site.  I have not seen them, but I would assume that they are quality plans.

https://www.beardguitars.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&...

I read through the stewmac article too.  I was dead set on doing a traditional neck stick rather than a bolt-on or dovetail. I can't prove it, but I really do think it contributes to that reso sound. The stewmac article was the only one I could find that used a neck stick. Not sure about the Beard plans...

In the end I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I disassembled a metal bodied tricone, measured everything I could and put it back together lol. I had to make some changes to make it out of wood, but the basic geometry is the same. I did a walnut coverplate with an ebony palm rest and ebony tailpiece and lattice too. If you get hung up on anything let me know. I'd be happy to help.  Here's a link to mine if you want to check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHorfnbl3Ww

[Bob H Abernathy III]

DUDE!!! Killer!!! sounds solid. I like the aesthetics as well! Very purdy. And thank you for the website suggestions as well. I'm for sure looking for something that has a unique appeal as far as design goes. So for people that like the ones i build they would mind asking me to build one for them. But like i said i probably won't sell the ones made with this purple heart....I don't feel so great about the woods condition. I mean it's not awful...but it's not ideal either. I forgot to post pics, but i will tonight. Thanks again Jon! keep em comin! 

[Paul Breen]

Bob,

A wood resonator guitar with a sound well and a spider bridge is what would be appropriate for a Dobro. Biscuit bridge resonator's don't generally use one but there are no rules for home brewed instruments. The neck stick supports the cone in a typical biscuit bridge design and makes a sound well unnecessary but again, there are no rules that govern this. The sound well, however, does contribute to the tone and volume potential in Dobro style resonators.

If you don't already know... Dobro's are held flat, have high action, nut to bridge and are slide instruments only. The Biscuit bridge design (generally speaking) is held and played like a regular guitar with a low action at the nut but can also be played with a slide. Not to say that you can't build a spider bride instrument that plays like a regular guitar, it's been done and is kind of what a tri-cone is, although a tr-cone can can and has been configured as a square neck and just used for slide as well.

You need to narrow down what your vision is for your project. That should help you sort out construction details for your build. You may not find an exact plan for what you want for free or for money but you can discover details from one or multiple designs that give rise to your own design.