Here is an in depth Comparison/Review from one of our excellent International customers, Nico from the Netherlands.

If you are looking for a resonator guitar,  then you can't go wrong with a National Resophonic. These guitars are great instruments and the overall finish is superb. All of the NRP guitars are faithfull reproductions of the original ones. When I first discovered the old blues players I immediately fell in love with these old resonator guitars from the late 1920's. My first discovery was Sam Lightnin Hopkins, which I discovered through a book of Kenny Sultan who had his own version of Sam Lightnin Hopkins. Soon I discovered other delta blues players like Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Boy Jefferson etc and that is when I first discovered resonator guitars. My very first resonator guitar was a handmade dobro from the Tjech guitar lutier Jiri Lebeda. This guitar didn't had the sound I was looking for and so my second guitar became a Regal (handmade by Amistar) tricone. Good guitar, but this guitar had a small modern neck and the finish of the body was on a few points very poor although the wood finish was very good.

I sold that one and my search continued for the right guitar with the sound that I wanted. On Ebay I came across a NRP Vintage Steel and got in contact with the seller, which was Artisan Guitars.  I could have purchased  a National from a dealer here in Europa, but I would have to spend a lot more money to get these guitars due to the fact that the currency at that time was in my advantage.  After  some e-mails with Bill from Artisan guitars I had a good feeling about it and decided to buy my first National from him, which was the tricone. If you are also from outside the USA like me and still hesitating in buying a NRP, then I can only say this: you can't go wrong. The guitar is fully insured and Artisan only does business with Fedex for shipping which they do very well and fast! I had absolute no problem with Fedex and they send you a tracking number so you can track your guitar where it is at that moment.

Now I am the proud owner of three National guitars and my last guitar I purchased from Artisan Guitars is a NRP M2 single cone wood body resonator. I also own a NRP 12 frets Triolian single cone metal body resonator and a NRP tricone vintage steel body.

Bill from Artisan guitar asked me if I could do a small review on both the single cones so I toke place behind my PC and gave it a go:

First of all, let's take a closer look at the M2. The M2 is a single cone wood body resonator with a maple biscuit bridge. It has a laminate top and back and solid mahogany sides. The headstock is a solid one with beautiful pearl inlay and open gear tuners. The neck has a deluxe finish with mother of pearl position markers. The sound compared to the Triolian steel body sounds a bit warmer, but they sound very similar. The big difference between these guitars is the feel of the neck. The Triolian has a more v-shaped neck at the top and the M2 a more round shape.

See the picture below to see the difference:

The left photo is the neck of the M2 and the right one the neck of the Triolian.

The left photo is the neck of the M2 and the right one the neck of the Triolian.

The cover plate of the M2 has a satin finish and has the same finish as my Vintage steel tricone. After passage of time the finish will age.

Taking a closer look at the Triolian:

The headstock of the Triolian is a slotted headstock with open gear tuners on the side. Notice the coverplate missing on the headstock for the trussrod. This is done to give it a more vintage look which has been told to me by Don Young from National guitars. The headstock of the M2 is a solid headstock with open gear tuners on the back of the headstock. The M2 has a beautifull pearloid overlay finish on the headstock.

See the pictures below for the headstock of both guitars:

Here is a picture of the coverplate of the Triolian:

Notice that the coverplate of the biscuit is screwed to the big round coverplate.

All National Resophonic guitars come with a deluxe hardcase shell with the NRP logo on top of the case:

When you order a guitar from Artisan guitars, they come standaard with a lot of NRP stickers, a nice keyring  and a cleaning cloth.

These guitars are standard stringed with .013 – .056 gauge strings. If you are really into playing slide, maybe a heavier gauge will be better  like .015 – .056.

Both guitars have a bound finished neck with 12 frets to the body. If you are into playing the style of the old blues players, this is the guitar for this style. I can really recommend these guitars and they will last for years! They stay very well tuned and I seem to notice that the cone of both guitars opens more when you have played a couple of hours on them. Compared to the Tricone, both guitars have more volume (especially the bass).

I prefer playing these guitars without fingerpicks but on my tricone I use plastic fingerpicks when playing slide. It's all a matter of personal taste.

To hear the difference between both guitars I have recorded a very simple 12 bar blues song. In this tune you can hear clearly the bass strings and the treble strings.