elderly has a 1937 trojan on it's website. it needs a neck reset and a fret job. the neck set doesn't scare me. i've taken necks off dozens of stella's and other guitars, i've reset the neck on my 60's hounddog and the fret job is a snap. my question is they have "NO SOUNDWELL" in caps. i'm not familiar enough with this particular guitar to ascertain what they mean by that. is it sound post type? is it "fake" like some prewar pseudo reso's. any body have any insight?
someone on the forum forwarded me the find. which i sincerely appreciate.
The soundwell is the ring the cone sits on, usually plywood or something, no? So the Elderly photos could have the guitar assembled for pretty picture purposes, but not in playing condition yet (since that cone would slide around).
The soundwell is a ring, or short tube, really, with a flange extending outward at the top, attached to the face of the guitar, and a flange extending inward at the lower end, upon which the cone sits. The soundwell only extends part way through the guitar and is supported also by the neck stick which runs under it. I don't know whether the soundwell in a Trojan is made of metal or laminated wood. I assume you could get one from NR-P, but don't know that for sure. You could also try Lenny.
But looking at the pics, it appears that the cone is in position and bearing the pressure of the strings? Perhaps the interior of the Trojan is different from other National resonators and the cone is supported by some other means and no soundwell is neccessary? Maybe Lee will see this thread and enlighten us? As Slack said, call Elderly and see what they say.
All for now. John C.
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Elderly doesn't "mock up" their pictures - what you see is what they've got hanging in the showroom, i.e. it is strung up. They even say it plays fine for lap.
My understanding - based solely on what I learned when looking to buy a reso, was that a full soundwell surrounds the cone as described, and affects the sound and resonance beyond just supporting the cone (hence the name soundwell, instead of cone support). Similarly, a full soundwell isn't strictly required to support the cone, which can be achieved (more cheaply I gather) in other ways - don't ask me to describe, I can't, but I think the term "open" is used, which to me implies that the cone is vibrating within the entire inside of the guitar, rather than just within the soundwell.
Call 'em and ask 'em - they're very friendly up there.
In my understanding of Reso builder terms a sound-well is associated with spider setups, and its below the cone,cercular,with holes in it,and it affects the tone like a2tom mentioned, Ive heard with biscuit bridges its called the cone rest plat-form, The woodbodied Nationals had a wooden platform for the cone, why they refer ro a sound-well is beyond me!
yea, i pretty much figured this guitar did not have a "sound well" as used in a spider cone, i am familiar with those. i have built two spider type reso's, my first was a kit usung a sound well but the second i used sound posts supporting a ring which the cone sat on. i've worked on severa wooden dobro's and they have a ring supported by the neck extension and posts as waxwing describes. i have never opened a wooden national before. i assumed it was similar to a dobro but wasn't sure. thanks for your responses.
I would be hesitant in jumping on this one DaBluz, necksets on wooden Nationals are not easy at all,its a dove tail and supposedly Trojans are a real headache! The new Nationals have a metal platform built in them and I think thats why they sound more like metal ones than the older ones!