Parlor Guitar Or Resonator For Slide?

[colchar]

I am looking for an acoustic instrument for slide playing. I have dabbled with slide for a while, but want to get more serious about learning it. I also have money burning a hole in my pocket.

Problem is, I cannot decide whether to get a parlor guitar or a resonator. Of the ones I've tried thus far I have preferred the parlors, but have to try more of each.

In the meantime, I was hoping others would weigh in on what they would choose and why.

I only play at home so this is just for me, not an audience.

 

[mandoloony]

They're just two fundamentally different sounds. Actually four fundamentally different sounds if you include biscuit bridges, spider bridges, tricones and traditional wooden soundboards.

I don't think there are any objective pros or cons of either. It's like asking whether I should have a slice of pecan pie or pumpkin pie; the only real answer is "yes".

 

[Freeman Keller]

I play slide on almost everything I own including resonators (biscuit left, tricone center, spider right)



And small bodied flatops (parlor on left, 00 middle and 000 right)



Some things to remember - resonators tend to be loud, brash and somewhat nasty sounding. They can be played fretted in standard tuning but are at their best when played with a slide. I find the tricone the most versatile, its actually fairly "pretty" sounding played with flesh and nails, but its got a real bark when I get out the old bottle neck.

There is a lot of good slide music being played on flat topped acoustics - John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Paul Geremia, Rory Block..... Robert Johnson never played a resonator, Bukka did, as did Bonnie Raitte. The mahogany 00 in the picture above stays in open D and sees a lot of slide action, but still plays Little Martha and Police Dog Blues. I don't know what your definition of a parlor is but I would go a little bit larger - longer scales help with keeping the tension up when you tune down. You'll definitely want heavier strings. My resonators get a slightly higher action, my flat tops don't.

So the answer to your question is yes.

 

[KC]

#1 acoustic is a Martin 000-18 which I bought because I heard Ry Cooder played them. I love this guitar, playing a mix of slide & finger style. I still play and love my resos but this thing is spectacular.

Many / most parlors will be 12 fret which is tough— nice to have that room at the top of the neck.

And, like the man said, lots of variability between resos. Mahogany bodied biscuit is almost as mellow as a brass triolian. Duolian is a loud angry trash can (but I love it).

 

[black_doug]

Here’s what I use, with a soundhole pickup from Seymour Duncan if I want to plug in.

 

[mexicanyella]

@KC —“loud angry trash can”

Love it; the few times I got to play one I loved it too, and that sums up why

 

[colchar]

Some great info in here, thanks folks.

I don't know all of the names for smaller acoustics, so I just used 'parlor' as a catch-all term. I probably should have tried to be more precise.

At the moment, I prefer Open E. Am I right in assuming that smaller acoustics and wooden resonators should be able to handle that tuning without any issues?

So far, for resonators I have tried an Epiphone Hound Dog Dobro and a Gretsch 9201 Honey Dipper. For the smaller acoustics I have tried the two pictured below. The Simon & Patrick is a parlor, and the Gibson is a G-00.

 

[mandoloony]

A parlor guitar is traditionally defined as something smaller than a Martin size 0 - and the S&P does meet that, being .5" narrower. The Gibson is something closer to a Concert or Grand Concert size, though Gibson themselves never used those terms. These days, however, the internet tends to call anything smaller than a Dreadnought a "parlor" in much the same way that any old Japanese guitar is a "Teisco". Rant over.

At the moment, I prefer Open E. Am I right in assuming that smaller acoustics and wooden resonators should be able to handle that tuning without any issues?

The tuning alone doesn't tell you about how much tension is on the guitar; you'd need string gauges to calculate that. But given the range of strings out there, you should be able to put any guitar into open E in a safe manner. What you don't want to do is use a string set for square-necked resonators on a round-necked guitar (of any variety); that puts more stress on the neck than it was intended to handle (and the top of the body, if we're talking an ordinary acoustic).

 

[Mike Eskimo]

Take it from me and Tom Bukovac, if you want to get good on slide, practice on your Tele or Strat set up with normal light gauge strings at regular action.

And if you want to get really good, do it in standard tuning.

Put open D/E and open A/G aside for six months to a year…

 

[Tommy Biggs]

I played slide on a crappy acoustic for a looooong time, got my touch and intonation down, built a library of licks. I’m a big fan of small bodied guitars, a nice parlor would be really nice if you’re only dabbling in slide.

A reso is a real upgrade, and worth considering. I played some cheap resos and they all would have been better* than what I was using. More volume and sustain, and that sweet tone.

‘Better’ is misleading though, I played a lot in spite of the shortcomings.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I play slide on flattop acoustic, roundneck resonator, and electric.

They just all sound different. For my style, the flattop is the most versatile, but I love 'em all, and you need to think about your style, not mine.

It really depends on how you want to sound. The reso will give you more jangle, the parlor will give you more depth.

More important than parlor-versus-reso is where the neck joins the body: twelfth or fourteenth fret? If you wear your slide on your pinky, then I recommend twelfth because when you slide up to the twelfth fret, the guitar's body will automatically stop your hand at the right place. You don't have to look where you're going.

My reso has a twelfth-fret join, and the other guitars join higher, so I tend to use the reso more for slide tunes just because I my slide-ups to the octave I-chord always land dead-on..

 

[douellette]

My main acoustic for slide is a Kalamazoo KG-14, and it's the most versatile in tone. I've used my J-45 with good tonal results, but I have that setup with pretty low action, and I have to really pay attention to keep from clicking the frets.

I have a Republic tricone that I really like, but it gets left home more and more. It's very heavy, and a one-trick pony (a very nice trick, especially for the price). It's an eye-catcher when I bring it out, but I almost never play it at home.

To answer your original question, for a home player learning slide, I'd suggest a small acoustic guitar, ideally a 14-fretter.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

The republic wood bodied tri-cones are pretty cool.

I’ve seen them go pretty ridiculously cheap used on reverb.

I used to have a NRP Islander just like Corey Harris’s. Wood bodied. It was like a 1992 but it had a 1931 cone in it.

I had nine or 10 vintage nationals from the 30s and I missed that Islander more than any of them.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Some great info in here, thanks folks.

I don't know all of the names for smaller acoustics, so I just used 'parlor' as a catch-all term. I probably should have tried to be more precise.

At the moment, I prefer Open E. Am I right in assuming that smaller acoustics and wooden resonators should be able to handle that tuning without any issues?

So far, for resonators I have tried an Epiphone Hound Dog Dobro and a Gretsch 9201 Honey Dipper. For the smaller acoustics I have tried the two pictured below. The Simon & Patrick is a parlor, and the Gibson is a G-00.

Thr term "parlor" guitar is not well defined, I tend to use it to mean a guitar smaller than Martin single ought or a so called "small" concert, typicallt about 12 inches across the lower bout and short (24.0 or 24.5) scale. While a parlor will work fine for slide, I would suggest something a bit larger, just to get a bit more balance in the overall sound.

Tuning up to open E or A is common for electric guitars where you are starting with only about a hundred pounds of tension, but for an acoustic it is far better to tune down to D or G (the two most common slide tunings). I will bump my string gauges up to mediums for any guitar that will see a lot of slide (my resonators and the mahogany 00 in my picture above). Sometimes on the reso's I'll even go one step further on the first string since I do a lot of single string stuff on it. But honestly, with good technique I can tune an acoustic down to D or G and not have any problems.

Both open D and G have good fretted songs and you will often add fretted notes to your slide playing, turn arounds and walking bass lines.

The Hound Dog is a spider bridge wood body (like the one on the right in my photo), the Honey Dipper is a metal bodied biscuit bridge - they are very different guitars. Spiders tend to have that sweet long sustaining note that we associate with blue grass dobro (the style of guitar and play, not brand). Think Jerry Douglas, Josh Graves,.. Biscuit bridges have a much shorter attack and decay and the metal body adds the metallic nastyness to the sound - they are mostly associated with old Delta blues. Both are certainly slide guitar but very different sounding. By the way you can damage the cone on a biscuit bridge by tuning it up to E or A.

While we are talking about resonators there is one other configuration - the tricone, most often metal bodied but there are wood ones too (like mine). Tricones have three small cones instead of one big one, they tend to be somewhere betwee spiders and biscuits in terms of attack and decay. They are also somewhat rarer and more expensive.

A lot will depend on exactly what style of music you want to play - there are many flavors of "slide". For bluegrass it will a spider bridge "dobro", for Delta blues it will be a biscuit. Modern finger style (Kottke/Fahey) would be a flat top acoustic, in the case of Kottke a 12 string tuned in the cellar.

There are no wrong choices.

 

[Tom Grattan]

If you want a one of the best sounding slide guitars, IMO, is a Weissenborn reproduction. They have a completely hollow neck, and the best sound. https://www.weissenborns.com/blogs/weissenborn. I tried many variations of slide guitars but the Weissenborn is just the best.

 

[mandoloony]

OP's selection of possible instruments indicates they're looking for a guitar to play slide, not steel. Weissenborns have square necks and can only be played on the lap.

 

[Flaneur]

Play a ton of guitars! Your fingers and ears will help you to decide.

I have two biscuit resos, a spider.....and I used to own one of those sweet Art & Lutherie Ami parlours, similar to the one you're looking at. (I wish I had that one back).

I play slide,

on virtually every guitar I see. You never know, if you'll be bowled over, by something unexpected.

 

[Freeman Keller]

If you want a one of the best sounding slide guitars, IMO, is a Weissenborn reproduction. They have a completely hollow neck, and the best sound. https://www.weissenborns.com/blogs/weissenborn. I tried many variations of slide guitars but the Weissenborn is just the best.View attachment 1158815

I have built two Weissenborn copies and like square neck dobros they are only designed for lap style play. Think Ben Harper and David Lindly or the great Hawaiian musicians of the 1930's

 

[Tom Grattan]

Never heard a Wessenborn or Dobro described as a "Steel Guitar". I think the confusion is in the neck shape. If you have a "guitar" neck on the the acoustic and play it with a slide is it a slide guitar where as if you use a slide on an electric guitar it's a Steel. Or lap steel, pedal steel etc. I have a Martin O18 which I have played a bit with a slide but nothing compares the the Weissenborn. If you've never played a good one do yourself a favor sonically.

OP's selection of possible instruments indicates they're looking for a guitar to play slide, not steel. Weissenborns have square necks and can only be played on the la

 

[mandoloony]

Never heard a Wessenborn or Dobro described as a "Steel Guitar". I think the confusion is in the neck shape.

Any guitar with a square neck is a steel - or a Hawaiian guitar, as they used to be known. Weissenborn and Dobros were both manufacturers that made many kinds of instruments, though arguably both are best known for their acoustic steels.

If you have a "guitar" neck on the the acoustic and play it with a slide is it a slide guitar where as if you use a slide on an electric guitar it's a Steel. Or lap steel, pedal steel etc.

Nope.

A Spanish guitar has a round neck and can be played with fingers or a slide wrapped around the finger. In the latter case, the style of playing is called slide guitar.

A Hawaiian guitar/lap steel typically has a squared neck, though there are exceptions; what matters is that the neck is set up such that it can only be played with a solid bar. The bar is occasionally called a slide, but it's usually refferred to as a bar or steel. It is this steel that gives the steel guitar its name.

Either a Spanish guitar or a Hawaiian guitar/lap steel can be acoustic or electric. Both instruments existed before the advent of electric amplification, and both were electrified in the '30s.