Resonator guitars designed in the 1920s for pre-electric amplification might have vanished Missing Link style, if they weren't so damned cool in their own right. They neither sound nor look like standard acoustic or electric instruments, and therein lies their quirky charm. Now, Versoul's Reso Sun 6-string acoustic extends the boundaries of the known resophonic universe.
How? Vintage wooden resonator guitars had plywood bodies; their sound was almost entirely generated by a metal cone. Versoul brings some of the liveliest tone woods to the dance, resulting in a robust auditory blend of metal and wood.
A two-piece European spruce top complements the tonal power of sides and back of either solid East Indian rosewood or European curly maple. The marriage of metal and wood is built into the instrument's details, right down to the National-style cone topped by a Versoul maple biscuit and ebony bridge piece. A Finnish moose shinbone nut is a further sound enhancer. Connoisseurs of vintage resonator guitars often note the superior sound of the 12-fret-to-the-body models, and that's a point of tradition Versoul honors here. But its Finnish aspen and maple bolt-on neck, along with the East Indian rosewood fingerboard, offer innovation and a new note of elegance, as does the East Indian rosewood tailpiece.
Versoul never shorts on striking good looks; behold the distinctive Googie-style boomerang upper bout sound holes and the stunning laminated birch veneer gold leaf-finished resonator cover plate - its little sound holes suggesting dancing sunbeams. Alternately you may choose a steel cover plate with laser cut soundholes depicting shamans, an image drawn from ancient Finnish rock paintings. A further option is Versoul's unique percussion Rattlenator, activated by a rosewood knob on the cone's cover plate. The Rattlenator delivers a snare or maracas-like percussion effect as it rattles against the aluminum cone. And while this guitar delivers plenty of punchy volume unplugged, amplification is an option via a transducer AKG C411PP contact condenser microphone.
- Top: solid red cedar
- Solid maple back and sides
- Bindings: maple bindings with wooden purflings on body
- Nut: moose shinbone
- Tailpiece: Versoul East Indian rosewood
- Neck: round Finnish aspen/maple/aspen, two-way adjustable truss rod
- Neck joint: bolt-on, 12 frets to body
- Fingerboard: East Indian rosewood (16" radius)
- Frets: 18 / Dunlop 6230
- Tuners: Gotoh SE700 nickel plated
- Colors: natural, black, terracotta, dark purple
- Resonator: National style cone by Beard or other manufacturers
- Bridge: Versoul maple biscuit
- Finish: nitrocellulose lacquer
- Neck width at nut: 44.5 mm
- Scale length: 25 3/4" (654 mm)
- Body thickness: 98 mm max
- Overall length: 1000 mm
OPTIONAL:
- AKG C411PP under-bridge contact condenser mic with phantom adapter on XLR jack
- Solid East Indian rosewood or elm back and sides
- Solid European spruce top
- Gold plated tuners
- Shaman resonator cover plate (steel) in different platings: antique silver, antique copper, gold
- Versoul Rattlenator, for acoustic fuzz effect