Product: National Resophonic Havana
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
03/03/2009
at
05:54am
by
Great Guitars
Features
:
9
I bought this 1938 National Havana Resophonic at an auction for
furniture. It was lying between a lot of garbage but I was immediately triggered as I allways wanted a Resophonic guitar.
It was very dirty, worn frets so it has to be played for a longer time. The Havana model had a C prefix number on its head so it
could easily be dated 1938 as this model has been produced for only
two years with the National brand on it.
It is a 14 fret off the body model made by the Kay company.
Ssides and back are a kind of two colour sunburst while the top
is laminated with a spruce layer on top.
Back and sides are massif maple and the back even has a tigerstripe!
The tuners are the open type made by Kluson. They work well!
Everything appears to be original on this instrument including
the cone which is in pristine condition.
The neckwood appears to be maple as well. Rosewood fingerboard.
Finished with nitro cellulose lacquer.
Sound
:
10
At first I'd have to get used to this kind of sound and I thought it
to be bit muffy but after I changed some things the sound was getting much better! I've cleaned the inner part that was very dirty
probably never cleaned before. I dipped the resonator in hot water
with just a small amount of acid in it. It came out beautiful but
moreover, it worked much better now. The stringslots on the bridge were too deep. That muuffles the sound as well. I flattened it again and placed a small piece of ivory on top of it with a proper radius.
That made the bells ring the way it should be: much brighter, much
more sustain and mixing of the different strings.
I like the woody edge these partly wooden instruments give you!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
Unbelievable but after 70 years this neck was still in great shape
which is quite remarkable as these necks bear no trussrod.
The normal wear on the coverplate of course and player wear on the body. When refretting this guitar the studs resting on the back
came off but that's only a minor problem. Reglued them.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
You can read the other reviews but I can confirm this: Built like a tank. You can really depend on it though the resonator once exposed
is of course a fragile part. Too much pressure on the cone might
damage this unit. National doesn't give any warranty once the strings
have been wrapped under the tailpiece in order to achieve a better
angle so beware not to do such a thing.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with them though I hear great things regarding support.
Overall Rating
:
9
I owe many guitars of the well known brands as well as really old
classical guitars (around 1820) I love the workmanship and the dedication of these old luthiers. The sound is significantly
different and very surprising. As I live in Europe it is of course easier to obtain these older treasures. But at the end I allways
want them to be playable again so now I'm running out of time!!
I'm really glad I came across this National and it will be a part
of my collection as long as I live.
