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Permalink Reply by c# merle on March 27, 2012 at 8:57pm

well. they say that the reso soundboard should be quite rigid and its the cone that resonates, hence the soundholes.

with the resos ive built, it all depends on how thin the cone or tin is. in a nutshell, yeah to the holes and thinner the cone/tin then better(and louder)  it will sound.

good luck

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on March 27, 2012 at 9:49pm

theres a difference between what your classing as a reso - on a regular bought kind of reso you have the resonator cone and a coverplate - it's the coverplate that has the decorative holes not the reso cone - i have seen in the past that people have used a paint tin/can lid for the reso cone and have added decorative designs / holes to them i'm not so sure this is the best move for optimum sound output - maybe so if you dont have any soundholes in the box this would be ok

i think of a resonator guitar in a very similar way to a speaker cabinate where the reso cone is the speaker (it moves air ) the speaker cabinate is the cigar box - air moved by the reso cone is compressed in the cigar box and is forced out of the sound holes as sound - so if you were to put holes in the reso cone this would cut down the amount of air compression and reduction in sound - this is only my take on the subject but i have made a few resonators now and all sounded great and loud also as C#Merle said the construction on a resonator body are much more ridgid than a regular acoustic guitar because it's the resonator cone thats producing the sound rather than a soundboard on a acoustic guitar

hope that helps - btw your build is looking sharp :)

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Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on March 28, 2012 at 5:32am

Lots of help, thank you. This is my first reso build besides taking a childs acoustic and putting a dog bowl in it to make a pobro, any and all insight is very helpful. I knew that on traditional resos the coverplate has the attractive hole patterns and the cone is solid. With mine not having a cover plate, I didn't know if adding holes would hurt or help. Actually, the more I gaze at it, I kinda like the "full moon" look. Thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on March 28, 2012 at 8:05am

The sound comes out of two places on a resonator guitar. The cone and the soundports. If there are no holes, the sound waves created inside the box cannot come out. Enjoy, Keni Lee

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Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on March 28, 2012 at 12:25pm

So with the six small soundholes and the solid reso "cone" using a dual piezo bridge, I should be headed down the right path?

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 28, 2012 at 10:30pm

The path to World Domination? Mmm. Debatable.

The path to Tone Addiction? Ayuh.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Eight Spades CBG on March 28, 2012 at 2:31pm

I'd say keep it whole.  The soundholes on the box should be enough.  But on the next build........;)

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on March 29, 2012 at 1:21am

If you have another paint can lid or whatever it is you have used for the reso cone try one whole and another with a drilled design that way you can just swap the cones and compare the sound using the same guitar - it will give you a much better idea doing it this way than just building another guitar to compare it with :)

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