Regal RD-52 Black Lightning and RC-1 Polychrome Duolian.(Editors' Guitar Player Pick)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Publication: Guitar Player

Publication Date: 01-AUG-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Miller Freeman Publications

Invented in the 1920s by the Dopyera brothers--Czechs who immigrated to the United States in 1908--the mechanically amplified resonator guitar has survived decades of shifting musical trends to become an iconic sound in American music. Three companies--Dobro, National, and Regal--produced most of the early resonator guitars. The history of these outfits is intertwined and convoluted, but here's what matters: The concept of adding an aluminum speaker cone to an acoustic to increase its volume and projection was embraced by two groups of musicians. First were the Delta bluesmen, who favored roundneck, metal-bodied guitars they held in the traditional "Spanish" playing position. Like Son House and Bukka White, these guitarists mixed bottleneck slide with fretted riffs. The second group comprised bluegrass musicians who followed the trailblazing Brother Oswald and Josh Graves--pickers who used horizontally held instruments with wood bodies and square necks. On such acoustic steel guitars, the strings are jacked high off the neck, and players use a tone bar--never fingers--to create different pitches.

Saga Musical Instruments, who now owns the Regal brand, has for some years offered imported reso guitars in both styles. I tested one of each: the RD-52 Black Lightning, a sexy wooden squareneck, and the RC-1...

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