Recording King RM-998D Resonator

This a a heavy chrome plated bell brass Pre War design,Style O biscuit resonator guitar from Recording King with a round neck. 14 Fret, Medium to fat neck made of maple and painted brown, has real abalone position markers. Rosewood fretboard, kinda wide. Very nice and heavy chrome plating with diamond cut design on the resonator cover. Hand stamped F holes. No electronics but very loud guitar! Bought in 09 new, not sure if its new or old stock. Generic tuners, nothing fancy, but they hold the guitar in tune. Its a acoustic resonator! Features, what features? lol, they are all the same give or take some. 6 stings, chrome plate, biscuit bridge, hand spun Continental resonator cone 9 1/2 inches in diameter.

Ok, heres where it gets good! This thing is loud! Not a little but alot! And praise God, I finally got me a resonator that has that nasal twang in spades! I love that sound, and have wanted one of these for 40 years. I finally got one and you can color me happy!
Resonators have a bright sound and this one is no different. Has a solid bass thump on the bass strings. And this guitar is heavy! compare its heft to a Gibson les Paul. The body is not as big as a dread,and not sure but the guitar isnt as long either. Its fits very tightly in my 3/4 heavy duty Ritter gig bag.

Action was kinda high. Guessing it was set up for slide playing more than finger style. I play finger style and use a bottleneck slide on my ring finger ala Duane Allman. I tightened the truss rod and got the action down to a nice compromise between good slide string height and finger friendly height. Perfect brass chrome all over, no defects on the body, neck or anywhere, except for one small chip on the neck where the neck meets the body. I don't like the thick brown finish on the neck. (prone to chipping, looks like) I guess they didn't want the nice maple to show though. Im not sure the light colored maple neck would look right with a chrome style resonator. The chip is noticeable but I will fine sand it and use furniture polish to blend it into the finish so it wont show. I would like to just sand the whole finish off and stain the neck, but that's too much trouble right now. One day I may, but as long as it doesn't chip anymore, no problem. Maybe it was bumped when they put it in the box for shipping to me, I don't know. The headstock has a plastic Recording Logo, which I would have preferred a decal to the plastic. Its kinda cheesy, but cool in a retro way.

The frets aren't as smooth as I would like. I should have run steel wool over them before I replaced the strings, but didn't. It may not be the frets. Because this is a resonator and the strings help keep the biscuit bridge in place, I read online that you need to use heavier strings. It improves the sound and keeps the bridge floating on the cone in place. I put .12 to .53 on. I usually use lighter strings on my acoustics. And not use to the wound third string. The frets don't have sharp edges. And I know in playing they will smooth out. Plays fine up and down the neck. Bending the strings is hard for me as their is lots of tension on the neck. But, I will get use to it. But, when playing slide you dont bend alot of strings anyway. Its not impossible mind you just need stronger fingers. Some people use strings that are .16 to .58...not me! lol I will say you should use the heaviest strings you can stand to get the best possible sound.

I am a left handed guitarist so I needed to take off the cover plate on the resonator and I rotated the biscuit bridge 180 degrees so the bridge would accept the left handed strings. Worked like a charm. The intonation was perfect after doing this. Thanks to the internet I found this little trick so I didnt have to recut or replace the wooden biscuit bridge and recut the saddle. Remember never take off all the strings on a resonator or the bridge will rotate and become crooked! When replacing strings, do one at a time unless you plan on re-positioning it.

This guitar is built like a tank. You could probably win a fight in a bar with it and it would still be in tune! lol..*Please I do not recommend violence of any kind!!!!

Unless you tune it too tight, and break a string, you shouldnt have any problems. I use standard tuning and open G. I havent tried to tune it to open E. Probably will tune it to D and use a capo instead to get E.

I got a chance to see the inside and the welds are tidy and tight. the brass is good quality and the plating is awesome. I dont see why this guitar wouldnt last for generations.

I guess if I wanted to be picky I would say I would like Gotoh tuners instead of the generic ones. They work, oh heck, I will probably eventually put the Gotohs on just because I like em.

The only problem with playing this onstage, is that its so dang shiny and bright it would probably blind you! :>

Have no idea on warranty etc. I just recently discovered the Recording King brand and am quite impressed. Its a old American company resurrected and these are now made overseas. Doesn't bother me where they are made. Quality is quality! And money is tight!

Its great quality and bang for my buck. I have never been able to afford National or Dobro brand guitars. This is a respectable, quality import. The prices are where most can afford them and they are based on old American designs from way back in the day. Recording King even has Custom shop limited editions. They are beautiful at very reasonable prices! You can check them out at www.recordingking.com.

And due not to my skill but my inherent Yankee ingenuity; over the years I have learned to do setups on my guitars. I can adjust truss rods, replace bridges, nuts, saddles. Adj Intonation. Level frets and replace electronics and pickups. And guys, I am female! lol Its amazing what lack of funds can do.

*Since I did my own adjustments and minor repair...I give myself a 10 for being incredibly kind and helpful to myself. :>

I have owned high end guitars, Taylors,Takamine, Gibsons,Carvins,Ibanez, Fenders and scores of other lesser brands. I have bought leftys and flipped and coverted right hand instruments. I dont care if its lefty or righty, if I want it, I will convert it.

I judge the guitar by bang for your buck. I love my Gibson Sg and Ean 20 lefty Jumbo Takamine, but I love my imports too. Please dont rule out lesser brands..with a little tweaking you may get a National in a Recording King wrapper! You just never know. (wink)

I have been playing guitar since I heard Duane Allman wailing on late night radio in Iowa in 1969 or 70. Im now a bonifide Texan. by choice not by birth. Seems like life time or 2 ago, but I have been playing on and off for nearly 40 years. Have it been that long! Lordy, Lordy! Im over 40!

I have never played another bell brass biscuit resonator. Never seen a lefty one ever. I would buy this again and again. I owned a Regal D-35? back in the 90s.. It had a spider bridge. It cost more than this one did and never had one ounce of nasal country twang like I was looking for. This one sounds great! I wanted a tri-cone but found out that there are 3 cones in one. 2 on the bass side and 1 on the treble side. didnt sound to friendly for converting to lefty. All in all, in took about 30 minutes to convert it to lefty.

My favorite feature is that its the chrome resonator I always wanted and it sounds exactly like I hoped it would. I got it for a steal too. These retail for a little over #600.00. I got mine for lots less! Guess the Good Lord finally decided it was time for me to have one!

I chose it for its price, looks and name. I love the idea that is is a faithful copy of a prewar design.