Republic Guitars - Passionate American Resonator Company, Reasonable Prices

singemonkey

Republic Guitars:

http://www.republicguitars.com/

It's really interesting that they make parlour sized resonators too. Here are a few of their beauties:

Parlor Size "Resolian":

Tricone:

Spider Bridge guitar:

RP-1 Parlour Guitar:

Maybe a bold SA entrepreneur should score the distribution ?

MikeM

☹ I want one. That Resolian looks and sounds great.

singemonkey

MikeM wrote: ☹ I want one.

That's what I figured ?

MikeM

Seriously, might have to chat to a friend to bring one over for me ?

Ray

Budget Nationals:
http://www.nationalguitar.com/catalog/hot-rod-steel

singemonkey

Ray wrote: Budget Nationals:
http://www.nationalguitar.com/catalog/hot-rod-steel

Well, you put me in my place ?

vic

There's one on Gumtree right now....1929 model Dobro

http://capetown.gumtree.co.za/c-Stuff-for-Sale-musical-instruments-1929-Original-Dobro-Resonator-Guitar-For-the-Antique-Collector-W0QQAdIdZ221810060

MikeM

Too much for my pocket :/

Ray

singemonkey wrote:
Ray wrote: Budget Nationals:
http://www.nationalguitar.com/catalog/hot-rod-steel
Well, you put me in my place ?

No, no. Not at all. Just looking at all of them. I have a spider and I want a biscuit, tricone if possible and the steel/brass guitar sort of turns me on.

singemonkey

No I was kidding. I know it just brought all the repressed fans out of the woodwork

"The Mississippi Delta,
Was shining like a National guitar..."

It took me a long time to learn what that lyric meant.

Republic obviously makes a few guitars that are pretty much knockoffs, but also new instruments as well - at least I've never seen these parlour resonators before.

It's nice to see a new American company take a bold step into guitar making outside the usual realm of solid-body electrics. You should check out their range, Ray. They offer a lot of aged guitars too - which I find quite appealing given the delta like shininess of new ones. Also nice to see a new American company that's not a "boutique" company charging top-dollar.

lapdawg

Ah! I have been looking at Republic guitars for a while. I have spoken to Frank & can back up what everyone says about him - he's a real stand up guy. I have read a number of threads on this company and the general belief is that these are the best v for m resonators around. Of course if you can fork out R3000 on a National...
The instruments are all made in China in what is apparently a small operation. Frank carefully quality controls everything he sells & appears to have many many happy customers.
Frank will deliver (fully insured) to SA for a superb rate. i.e. $135 delivery to anywhere in Africa!
See : http://www.republicguitars.com/shippinginformation.html

I am going to get brass biscuit cone with the Hawaiian scene sandblasting...
I'm a lefty. Frank said he will convert it & send the RH nut & bridge for no extra cost for if I ever wanted to sell it.
I can land it for about R6 000.

lapdawg

I checked out the budget National Guitar link quoted here. This is not the real national guitar site. These are only copies. In fact they look very similar to the Republic guitars, only a little more pricy.

The real National site is: http://www.nationalguitars.com/index.html
Difference = ...guitars.com

BTW - As nice as the old Nationals and Dobros are, the general recommendation is that if you want playability, don't but old. These intruments had no truss rods and are very risk to buy unless you can actually see/play it first. I have heard many say that the new Nationals (and some other makes ) are actually better sounding.

singemonkey

Good info lapdawg. It does seem that until China starts making high quality guitars of its own, some of the best value for money guitars are built there but quality controlled elsewhere. ESP's Edwards line uses the same approach - MIC but quality controlled in Japan. The PRS SE line too, right?

Good to be warned that those cheap Nationals are copies. For a start it's not cool to buy a guitar with another company's brand on the headstock, and secondly the name will probably mean you're paying more than they're worth.

Republic does sound like they have a good reputation for people who want to get into historic style resonators but can't afford a good National or Dobro.

Ray

Bloody hell! So the scallywags even kleppy the brand and there's a whole bloody reso forum that's hopping with excitement about the budget Nationals. Ja, I want a biscuit and those Republics look good - also looking at Musicians Friend sort of house brand - Rogue which comes in even cheaper.

Bob-Dubery

Check out some of the "Fenders" on that site. The headline/banner proclaims "Fender", the small print will tell you that bits of it are Fender, but some rather large bits of it are not. In nearly every case the finishing and relicing was done outside of the Fender factory. But don't worry, they all say "Fender" on the headstock.

aja

X-rated Bob wrote:don't worry, they all say "Fender" on the headstock.

Phew! Thank goodness for that! Just now I was worried, but that settled the stomach right down.

FENDER...

fender...

fender...

lapdawg

singemonkey wrote: Good info lapdawg. It does seem that until China starts making high quality guitars of its own, some of the best value for money guitars are built there but quality controlled elsewhere. ESP's Edwards line uses the same approach - MIC but quality controlled in Japan. The PRS SE line too, right?

Good to be warned that those cheap Nationals are copies. For a start it's not cool to buy a guitar with another company's brand on the headstock, and secondly the name will probably mean you're paying more than they're worth.

Republic does sound like they have a good reputation for people who want to get into historic style resonators but can't afford a good National or Dobro.

Thanks - There are actually many out there claiming to sell stuff bargain basement (Chinese connection guaranteed in all off them). Try this one for a chuckle:
http://www.tradetang.com/
I think though there must be some loophole with resonatorguitar.com & the guitars bearing the logo from the 20's/30's. The "real" site is a fairly recent company who bought the copyright, made a huge effort to replicate the original Nationals & do so in the states. They call themselves "National Resophonic". I suspect that there may be loopholes to the use of the trademark.

vic

aja wrote:
X-rated Bob wrote:don't worry, they all say "Fender" on the headstock.
Phew! Thank goodness for that! Just now I was worried, but that settled the stomach right down.

FENDER...

fender...

fender...

What a joke !