In 1929, the Triolian was changed to a metal body, and a year later a less-expensive version, the Duolian, appeared. While Dobro continued to primarily make woodbodied guitars, National moved forward with more metalbodies. With a simpler design and less expensive material (plywood), Dobro undercut the price of the cheapest National by almost 65 percent – $45 versus $125.īefore the year was out, National responded with its own single-cone woodbody, the Triolian. John Dopyera, a founding partner and the creative force behind the tri-cone design, left National and formed the Dobro company, which introduced a single-cone woodbody resonator guitar in 1928. National’s tri-cone was so well-designed – functionally and cosmetically – that it might have remained the only style of resonator guitar through the entire period, had there not been a rift among the owners of National. The resonator guitar was destined for a short period in the spotlight, as Hawaiian players would abandon acoustic guitars of all types by the mid 1930s in favor of electrics (with Hoopii again leading the exodus). They produced a sweet tone and higher volume than wood-body guitars, and with the endorsement of Sol Hoopii, the biggest Hawaiian guitarist of the day, they quickly made obsolete the hollow-neck Hawaiian guitars of Weissenborn as well as the modified conventional-style Hawaiians (with raised nut and straight saddle) of Martin and other makers. Style 1 was plain, and Styles 2, 3, and 4 sported progressively fancier engraved floral patterns. “white brass,” an alloy of copper and zinc – the basic elements of brass – with nickel added). National introduced the resonator guitar to the world in 1927, and it reflected the opulence of the Jazz Age, with not just one, but three resonator cones in a body of shining nickel-plated “German silver” (a.k.a. It offered plenty of visual flash at just over half the cost of the cheapest National tri-cone, and its brass body gave it a sound all its own. As a brass-bodied guitar, it occupied a unique spot between National’s inexpensive single-cone steelbodies and the high-end “German silver” tri-cone models (though there were a few single-cone models with German silver bodies). Introduced in 1930, the Style O was the endpoint of several years of rapid evolution of the resonator guitar. Although it has never been the favorite guitar of Hawaiian players, National’s Style O, with its shining metal body and tropical imagery, stands today as one of the strongest icons for the Hawaiian music that was the foundation of the resonator guitar’s popularity in the early 1930s.

National steel guitars for sale