1937 National Trojan Resonator Guitar
2008-12-23 []This is a special one.
National only made wooden Resonator Guitars for 14 years, between 1928 and 1942. The Trojan was introduced in 1934 and discontinued in 1942.
This Guitar was made in 1937, and its original owner bought it new.
From what I understand, it was much loved went every where with him. He was a Radio Operator during the 2nd World War, and it even went with him when he was posted to New Guinea. He was obviously a player, as it’s been really well played, look at the lower Frets and the scalloped out Fingerboard .....
I bet it could tell a few stories and sing a few songs .... probably The Blues.
After his death, it was sort of forgotten about, and then sat under a bed for the next 30 years or so until Mick heard about it, and decided he had to become it’s second owner.
Mick’s a bit of a player too! So I’m going to bring it back to life for him.
It was missing it’s Resonator Cone Cover, and the Bridge. The Fingerboard was lifting off the Neck, and the Neck itself needs to be reset to the Body. Some of the internal Kerfing and bracing need regluing too.
A few close ups of the state it was in when it arrived. It was sort of like, as it came apart, the more it wanted to come apart!
I removed the Fingerboard and the upper part of the Neck, as well as the Headstock overlay. The upper part of the Fingerboard was screwed down as well as glued to the Soundboard, the screws being hidden under the Mother of Pearl Dot Markers. You can see what the original colour of the Guitar was like
After removing the binding, which literally just crumbled apart, I found that the Top and Back were coming apart in places too.
After cleaning every thing it up, I reglued the Sides to the End Block, as well as the Top and Back to the Side.
I then reset the Neck, minus the Fingerboard. I’ll rebind and refret the Fingerboard separately from the Guitar,and reattach it at a later stage. It’s easier to do it like that, than when it’s attached to the Neck, especially on an Acoustic.
Every thing set well. I then applied a sealer....the old Maple just soaked it up like you wouldn’t believe.
Meanwhile, while I was waiting for the glue to set, I cleaned up the Headstock Overlay and repaired a small crack in the Fingerboard. I used some 100% white acrylic paint to highlight the National engraving, then some 1200 wet and dry paper to clean it up and cut out the marks and scratches.
I then set to work on Binding the old Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard. First I glued it to another piece of wood with a few drops of glue, this holds it in place while I glue the Binding to the edges, as well as giving it some body to do the Frets. Once the binding is on, It’s scraped down flush to the top of the Board.
Now for the Frets. Each one has to be measured, and a little taken off the underside of each end of the Tang, so it sits in It’s slot, but with enough over to reach the edge of the neck over the Binding. The edge of the Frets are then bevelled, but the final levelling and crowning won’t be done until the Fingerboard is glued back on the neck.
After sealing it, I couldn’t help myself, I rubbed it down and applied some stain. I wanted to see what the general colour was going to be like, this was getting a bit ahead of myself as I hadn’t yet Bound the Body. Part of the process requires the binding to be scraped back flush to the surface of the Body, so of course all my Staining was basically a waste of time.
Once the Binding was completed on the Top and the Back, I started the staining process again. Applying stain by hand can be a bit tricky. I wanted a dark, almost black edge, bursting into a deep red. This, or a Tobacco Burst, is a traditional colour scheme for these old Trojans.
Part of the reason for applying a sealer coat earlier, before any stain, was to slow the uptake of the stain into the wood. The Top was done in the correct order, black first followed by the red. The back was done with the red first, then the black. Both ways involved getting the stain on quickly, and a lot of careful rubbing to blend the colours. Of course, the way I did it on the Top is easier, as it’s better to put red over black, than black over red. In the end the desired result was achieved. The Binding was carefully scraped to remove the excess stain.
Next I applied a couple of coats of clear to seal every thing up. I then prepared up the Neck and soundboard for the Fingerboard to be reattached. This involved roughing up the surface of the soundboard a little, and putting a couple of small pins in the neck so that nothing moved while it was clamped. Once it was set, the back of the Neck was cleaned up ready for staining.
I surfaced the Headstock as there was a slight cup in it, then Glued the National Overlay back on to the Headstock, using a couple of dowels to line up the holes for the Tuning Pegs
Now I have to apply several coats of clear, rubbing the whole thing down between coats. This is going to take a little while, and is a bit dependant on the weather and humidity. Once that’s done I’ll be able to set up the Resonator Cone with it’s Biscuit Bridge. Here’s a couple of images of the old and new Cones, as well as the Sieve style Cover, and also the old Kluson Tuners.
Finally got enough coats on to protect it while I set up the Cone and Bridge. I’ll rub it back and do the final finish once it’s all set up.
The Beard Cone is a little taller than the original, 8 mm’s to be exact, not sure how that is going to affect the actual set up.
I’m not happy with the amount that I’ve got to take off the top of the Biscuit to compensate. The action is still a bit on the high side too, and the way everything sits together is just a bit too close, I’m not happy about it....I’m going to have to look into the Cone Specs I think.
Ok, after a bit of research, it appears that we got the wrong Cone!
Not to worry. I guess we were a bit too enthusiastic to get the parts, and get restoring.
There’s another one, as well as a new Biscuit, on the way, should be here very soon.
So, the new Cone has arrived.
The box it came in was a little worse for wear, but on inspection it looks good, and more importantly, it’s measurements are nicely within the specs.
Did a quick set up to confirm that everything sits where it should ... and for the first time in 30 odd years this old Trojan spoke.
Questions, comments or suggestions .... email me via the Contact page.
Source: daintreedesign.com.au