History of National Reso-Phonic Guitars
THE TRICONE MODEL IS BORN
In the 1920's, two Los Angeles men came together, originally to make a new type of guitar using the horn principle, who would together create the National Resonator guitar as we know it. The amount of responsibility each had in creating it is, as Brozman describes in his book, is disputed by the various parties. However, there's no doubt that both were important to the creation of the first tricone guitar.
George Beauchamp's first idea was to create a "wild looking" Hawaiian guitar which sat on a stand and had a horn attached to the bottom. John Dopyera built it, as Brozman relates, "against his better judgement--he knew George's idea wouldn't work before it was made." Beauchamp did use this eccentric gizmo of a guitar on the vaudeville circuit, but abandoned it. It was a perfect stage guitar with unusual looks, but it sounded terrible.
George then suggested to John that he build one based on the same principle as the mica disc on a Victrola. John experimented with various other materials, such as pressed fibre, glass, tin and other metals. He settled on a very thin, conical shaped aluminum resonator design, used in a set of three connected with a T-bar inside an all metal body.
Dopyera used three as it mellowed the sound, as opposed to using one large cone which was louder, but harsher in tone and with less sustain. He applied for a patent on this tricone guitar in 1927, which was finally granted in 1930.
Beauchamp found some investors, and in a short time, the National String Instrument Company was formed. Factory production of this remarkable new guitar began in 1927, and by the next year, the company was producing hundreds a week.
THE SINGLE RESONATOR MODEL IS BORN
It was then when the first problems between the two founders emerged. Dopyera had rejected the single resonator idea earlier, but in Beauchamp's mind, it was the perfect design for a lower cost instrument. The tricone was more expensive, and mainly bought by professionals, and that market couldn't last forever.
In fact, during the Great Depression, it was the single cone type (which was patented by George in 1929) that as the author Brozman puts it, "not only became a good seller, saving the company from the Great Depression, but a sizable part of the National legacy."
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However, Beauchamp's patent was the cause of the schism between the two. Dopyera left National afterwards, which cost him his original patents, and his partner continued to run the company.
Dopyera doesn't disappear from history though. He then formed the Dobro Manufacturing Company, which created a single cone resonator guitar with a new design (and a guitar that still bears the name). Later, after some rather complicated moves, National merged with Dobro, and we'll cover that in a later installment of this series.
Simply put, all these events resulted in two major designs, the tricone and the single resonator. As stated earlier, the tricone has a smoother sound that sustains (the notes last longer), and the latter a sharper, and clearer sound. Which is better is really a moot point, as one could say it is like choosing between Tampa Red and Son House.
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