The National Guitars website now contains this bit in its description of the Triolian:
"But our Triolian is all new and boasts something the vintage versions lack — rock-solid reliability. The maple neck now includes an essential adjustable truss rod under the ivoroid-bound ebony fretboard, which is detailed with inlaid mother-of-pearl position markers."
Anders Halvorson - an ATCW group member who knows a thing or thousand about vintage guitars - refuted our identification of one of Chris' Regals because of its "white truss rod cover (that discussion was in an essay about Chris' acoustic guitars - not yet transferred to Substack). Anywho, can any guitarists out there explain what the deal is about "an essential adjustable truss rod"? Something to do with stabilizing the fretboard/neck doo-hickey to the guitar body?
Yes. A guitar neck is wood, and when you tune up the strings to pitch, they put a lot of pressure on the neck. This means, there is a risk for the neck to bow. So to counter this, modern guitars has a steel rod inside the neck. The "bow" of this steel rod can be adjusted by a screw to counter the bow in the neck caused by the tension of the strings. Thus the "adjustable truss rod" name. But you have to access this screw and very often this is done by a hole from the peghead of the guitar.
You can see the hole in this fender peghead where the screw is:
Some manufacturer cover this hole with a little piece of plastic, just pure aesthetic. Google a Gibson Les Paul to see the plastic truss rod cover just below the "Les Paul" signature on it. The modern National Resophonic guitar company use both: Most have truss rod covers, but some (like replicon models) have the screw hole exposed like the fender.
Since some vintage guitars, including all National resonators do not have a truss rod, they do not have a truss rod cover, nor do they have a whole for the truss rod like the Fender I linked to above.
Side note: Vintage Nationals often have bowed necks since they have no truss rod. What they sometimes/often do to fix this, is to heat press and straighten the neck. And to make sure that the neck stays straight, the put some carbon fiber rods in the neck. This would be a "non-adjustable truss rod". You can see the installation of carbon fiber rods on Andi's Style O. I suspect that Mustard have truss rods, since the fretboard is replaced.
Vintage National resonators were all manufactured with all wood necks (apart from some Triolians, but I've written more about National necks then your every want to know).
Thanks, Anders! I would have committed hari-kari if not for all your help as I wrote about CW's guitars. Never has anyone as unfit as I taken on the task of writing about this 'guitar stuff'!
I got to see Mustard in person at Dan's home studio in Forked River NJ. We visited for his first daughter's baby shower and while the ladies did their thing I got to play his studio drum kit for a little jam! He probably played a les Paul but being in Mustard's presence was enough. Pretty sure Jeff Lang played it at Bocelli's for the 2nd CW tribute.
You were "in the presence of the divine"! And you're right - Jeff Lang did play Mustard at Boccelli's; Hiroshi Suda posted photos on the ATCW FB group.
I should have known!! I saw Hiroshi's wonderful performance at a separate gathering for that tribute year. We have exchanged a few small gifts since. I am not a Facebook'er though but accessed some ATCW posts as you know Katie. And the wealth of CW youtube vids. 62drumr loves Chris forever
I know how 'engaged' you were with my WordPress blog, Bob, so I'm very glad you followed me here. And clearly we share our love for Chris and his music, even if I never saw/met him whereas you're a friend of the family!
I am fortunate my wife went to high school with Chris for his short time in Vermont. I posted a yearbook photo of Chris's sophomore or junior year on Dust Forums awhile ago. Their sister Bridget is a lovely Vermonter I was lucky enough to meet a few times.
Your endeavor to pay tribute to the spirit of Chris is so appreciated!!!
Only vaguely relevant but I was watching a British show on telly, Salvage Hunters, and they were in a very stately manor, looking at furniture and the like.
In the background was a guitar that looked identical to Mustard, except it was a light green colour.
I was yelling at the TV ‘Ignore the bloody furniture and look at the guitar!’
Sadly, the antique dealer and his offsider didn’t even notice the beautiful instrument.
More evidence of the old saying: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Re that light green color (colour), when someone at the ATCW group posted a photo of their National of that hue, I suggested s/he might dub the guitar "Salsa Verde". A quick search of National Guitar's website suggests that maybe a green Triolian is no longer an option.
The modern polychrome Triolian from National Resophonic is a replica of one spesific colour. The vintage ones did vary a lot, different shades of green (from a slightly hue to the salsa verde), and the same with yellow, red, blue and even brown. Just saw one that was almost the colour of chocolate.
I don't feel like National Resophonic guitars have nailed the colour of any og their Triolian reissues.
They weren't colour options as much as production batches. The options were the polychrome or the brown-yellow "walnut" sunburst. The colour of the latter ones also varied, from almost blackish dark brown to a more latte colour.
The real weird move National made, was to go from these colour options to the wood grain colour, where they painted a steel body to look like wood (probably the least cool vintage National in my opinion):
I was hoping you'd do a piece on Mustard! That guitar is easily as iconic as Kurt Cobain's Unplugged acoustic and Hendrix's Woodstock Strat and it's nice to get some more info on it.
It's interesting that it's made of steel, I guess I wasn't aware that they'd ever made them out of that, but it makes sense. The resos I have are both brass and it makes for a surprisingly mellow tone, but when you pair it with some phosphor bronze strings, you get a bit more articulation in addition to the mellowness. And Mustard definitely sounds like a buzzsaw plugged in, that was a good way to describe it lol!
The National bodies from the 1920s to 1940s where made of two types of brass ("bell brass" and "german silver"), steel or wood. The most famous bell brass is the National Style O (like the one CW played), the most famous german silver are the nickle plated, and often highly engraved, tricones, the most famous steel body is the "frosted duco" Duolian (and off course the later Triolians, like Mustard".
But frankly, back in the days they just took what ever parts they had around the shop, so often vintage Nationals have a mix of metals (at least the single cones).
"As shown in the photo below, Nationals feature sand-blasted, typically Hawaiian scenes on the rear of their metal bodies."
Well, it's not so much "typical" for Nationals to have sandblasted Hawaiian scenes on the back, it's more that Style Os that do have that, is so much more famous than the other models (thanks Mark Knopfler). 😊
I have to give a shout out to Mark Makin, mentioned in the post above. He is probably one of the most, if not the most, knowledgeable about vintage Nationals alive. And he has written The Book about Nationals, "Palmtrees, Senoritas and Rocket Ships", if anyone wants to learn more about vintage Nationals. Stunning beautiful book as well (expensive, but worth it)
Mark has an excellent website as well: https://markmakin.co.uk/ Just looking at the slideshow of pages from his book, I can see what a beautiful and valuable resource it is.
Great post !
The National Guitars website now contains this bit in its description of the Triolian:
"But our Triolian is all new and boasts something the vintage versions lack — rock-solid reliability. The maple neck now includes an essential adjustable truss rod under the ivoroid-bound ebony fretboard, which is detailed with inlaid mother-of-pearl position markers."
Anders Halvorson - an ATCW group member who knows a thing or thousand about vintage guitars - refuted our identification of one of Chris' Regals because of its "white truss rod cover (that discussion was in an essay about Chris' acoustic guitars - not yet transferred to Substack). Anywho, can any guitarists out there explain what the deal is about "an essential adjustable truss rod"? Something to do with stabilizing the fretboard/neck doo-hickey to the guitar body?
Yes. A guitar neck is wood, and when you tune up the strings to pitch, they put a lot of pressure on the neck. This means, there is a risk for the neck to bow. So to counter this, modern guitars has a steel rod inside the neck. The "bow" of this steel rod can be adjusted by a screw to counter the bow in the neck caused by the tension of the strings. Thus the "adjustable truss rod" name. But you have to access this screw and very often this is done by a hole from the peghead of the guitar.
You can see the hole in this fender peghead where the screw is:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/R4QAAOSwC1tlFwHL/s-l1200.webp
Some manufacturer cover this hole with a little piece of plastic, just pure aesthetic. Google a Gibson Les Paul to see the plastic truss rod cover just below the "Les Paul" signature on it. The modern National Resophonic guitar company use both: Most have truss rod covers, but some (like replicon models) have the screw hole exposed like the fender.
Since some vintage guitars, including all National resonators do not have a truss rod, they do not have a truss rod cover, nor do they have a whole for the truss rod like the Fender I linked to above.
Side note: Vintage Nationals often have bowed necks since they have no truss rod. What they sometimes/often do to fix this, is to heat press and straighten the neck. And to make sure that the neck stays straight, the put some carbon fiber rods in the neck. This would be a "non-adjustable truss rod". You can see the installation of carbon fiber rods on Andi's Style O. I suspect that Mustard have truss rods, since the fretboard is replaced.
Vintage National resonators were all manufactured with all wood necks (apart from some Triolians, but I've written more about National necks then your every want to know).
Thanks, Anders! I would have committed hari-kari if not for all your help as I wrote about CW's guitars. Never has anyone as unfit as I taken on the task of writing about this 'guitar stuff'!
I got to see Mustard in person at Dan's home studio in Forked River NJ. We visited for his first daughter's baby shower and while the ladies did their thing I got to play his studio drum kit for a little jam! He probably played a les Paul but being in Mustard's presence was enough. Pretty sure Jeff Lang played it at Bocelli's for the 2nd CW tribute.
You were "in the presence of the divine"! And you're right - Jeff Lang did play Mustard at Boccelli's; Hiroshi Suda posted photos on the ATCW FB group.
I should have known!! I saw Hiroshi's wonderful performance at a separate gathering for that tribute year. We have exchanged a few small gifts since. I am not a Facebook'er though but accessed some ATCW posts as you know Katie. And the wealth of CW youtube vids. 62drumr loves Chris forever
I know how 'engaged' you were with my WordPress blog, Bob, so I'm very glad you followed me here. And clearly we share our love for Chris and his music, even if I never saw/met him whereas you're a friend of the family!
I am fortunate my wife went to high school with Chris for his short time in Vermont. I posted a yearbook photo of Chris's sophomore or junior year on Dust Forums awhile ago. Their sister Bridget is a lovely Vermonter I was lucky enough to meet a few times.
Your endeavor to pay tribute to the spirit of Chris is so appreciated!!!
Only vaguely relevant but I was watching a British show on telly, Salvage Hunters, and they were in a very stately manor, looking at furniture and the like.
In the background was a guitar that looked identical to Mustard, except it was a light green colour.
I was yelling at the TV ‘Ignore the bloody furniture and look at the guitar!’
Sadly, the antique dealer and his offsider didn’t even notice the beautiful instrument.
Philistines! 😀
More evidence of the old saying: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Re that light green color (colour), when someone at the ATCW group posted a photo of their National of that hue, I suggested s/he might dub the guitar "Salsa Verde". A quick search of National Guitar's website suggests that maybe a green Triolian is no longer an option.
The modern polychrome Triolian from National Resophonic is a replica of one spesific colour. The vintage ones did vary a lot, different shades of green (from a slightly hue to the salsa verde), and the same with yellow, red, blue and even brown. Just saw one that was almost the colour of chocolate.
I don't feel like National Resophonic guitars have nailed the colour of any og their Triolian reissues.
Any idea why National discontinued the colors option? I suppose they lacked the demand.
They weren't colour options as much as production batches. The options were the polychrome or the brown-yellow "walnut" sunburst. The colour of the latter ones also varied, from almost blackish dark brown to a more latte colour.
The real weird move National made, was to go from these colour options to the wood grain colour, where they painted a steel body to look like wood (probably the least cool vintage National in my opinion):
https://www.instagram.com/gitwik/p/CxWPZH1sCNH/?img_index=5
(though, all vintage Nationals are wicked cool 😉)
Of course, it goes without saying that "ALL NATIONALS ARE WICKED COOL." Also, of course, some are more wickedly cool than others ....
Yuk, I clicked your link after my first reply. That is one UGLY guitar! But maybe it still sounds "wicked cool" ....
I was hoping you'd do a piece on Mustard! That guitar is easily as iconic as Kurt Cobain's Unplugged acoustic and Hendrix's Woodstock Strat and it's nice to get some more info on it.
It's interesting that it's made of steel, I guess I wasn't aware that they'd ever made them out of that, but it makes sense. The resos I have are both brass and it makes for a surprisingly mellow tone, but when you pair it with some phosphor bronze strings, you get a bit more articulation in addition to the mellowness. And Mustard definitely sounds like a buzzsaw plugged in, that was a good way to describe it lol!
This is an old (2013) post from my ATCW blog on WordPress. I will eventually transfer those dozens of posts to Substack. Glad you enjoyed it!
Yeah I saw the bit about it being older, but given that I'm a relatively new fan, these are all new to me!
The National bodies from the 1920s to 1940s where made of two types of brass ("bell brass" and "german silver"), steel or wood. The most famous bell brass is the National Style O (like the one CW played), the most famous german silver are the nickle plated, and often highly engraved, tricones, the most famous steel body is the "frosted duco" Duolian (and off course the later Triolians, like Mustard".
But frankly, back in the days they just took what ever parts they had around the shop, so often vintage Nationals have a mix of metals (at least the single cones).
Interesting, thanks for that info
"As shown in the photo below, Nationals feature sand-blasted, typically Hawaiian scenes on the rear of their metal bodies."
Well, it's not so much "typical" for Nationals to have sandblasted Hawaiian scenes on the back, it's more that Style Os that do have that, is so much more famous than the other models (thanks Mark Knopfler). 😊
You're right! I see that the new Triolian has a plain back: https://www.nationalguitars.com/triolian
I have to give a shout out to Mark Makin, mentioned in the post above. He is probably one of the most, if not the most, knowledgeable about vintage Nationals alive. And he has written The Book about Nationals, "Palmtrees, Senoritas and Rocket Ships", if anyone wants to learn more about vintage Nationals. Stunning beautiful book as well (expensive, but worth it)
Mark has an excellent website as well: https://markmakin.co.uk/ Just looking at the slideshow of pages from his book, I can see what a beautiful and valuable resource it is.