![]() Like many performers at the time, he was fascinated by the potential for making conventional flattop and archtop guitars sound louder. George was a Texan vaudeville guitarist and a keen tinkerer, by now living in LA and working for National. ![]() ![]() Nearly a century after their introduction, resonators are still the most popular and recognisable type of metal-bodied guitar. ![]() It’s likely that he and George Beauchamp collaborated to design the resonator guitar, National’s contribution to the search for more volume. Our story starts in California in the 1920s, where John Dopyera set up the National company in Los Angeles in the middle of that decade with several of his brothers. Some brave souls throughout the history of our instrument have gone further, and in some cases much further. And perhaps a few plates, and maybe the knobs. Usually, the only metal you’ll see is contained in the frets and the pickups and some of the hardware, such as the bridge and the tuners and the strap buttons. In this feature at least, we’re all about metal as a guitar-building material alone. If you’re expecting some wise words about the kind of metal associated with big hair and extreme shredding, please leave now while there’s time. Let’s get something out of the way before we begin.
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