28th June 2013 at Ain't Nothing but the Blues Bar, London W1 (support band for Little Freddie King).
The National style Resonator Guitar has one or more metal cones instead of the wooden sound board. The instrument was developed in the United States in the 1920s and 30s by the National String Instrument Corporation to provide a louder instrument than an acoustic guitar. It differs from the Dobro in that with the convex surfaces of the resonator/s are uppermost. In the last couple of decades several companies in different parts of the world have manufactured their own versions of the National Guitar.
Resonator Guitars are assigned the number 321.322-6 in the Hornbostel-Sachs classification of musical instruments (
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbostel-Sachs ), indicating:
3 = Chordophone. Instruments where the sound is primarily produced by the vibration of a string or strings that are stretched between fixed points.
32 = Composite Chordophone. Acoustic and electro acoustic instruments which have a resonator as an integral part of the instrument, and solid body electric chordophones.
321 = Lutes. Instruments where the plane of the strings runs parallel with the resonators surface.
321.3 = Handle Lutes. Instruments in which the string bearer is a plain handle.
321.32 = Necked Lutes. Instrument in which the handle is attached to, or carved from, the resonator, like a neck
321.322 = Necked Box Lutes. Instruments in which the resonator is built up from wood.
321.322-6 = Strings vibrated by a plectrum.
