1935 National Duolian
So this is my vintage National Duolian, the cheapest of the vintage metalbodied Nationals, with a sales price starting at $32.50 in the 1930s. This example is grayish green duco, duco being the name of a thin painted finish with crystalline pattern which only came on the Duolians.
Features: 9
14 frets to the body, steel body, frosted duco, V-shaped basswood neck. 10" radiused unbound fretboard with bar frets. The classic, budget National in all it's glory. No binding, no etching, no engraving, no nothing. But it got all it needs, and I love the look of the plain Jane Duolians.
Action, Fit & Finish: 9
Man, does the old duco look good. Of all the National finishes, I love the red/yellow polychrome with stenciled sunset and the duco best. The heavy engraved, nickel plated can be a bit questionable in the taste department. And the green and greys are the best looking ones of all the ducos. However, the 1935 duco didn't adhere for sh*t, so it will rub off if not taken good care of.
This guitar has also been restored by the main man Marc Schoenberger, set up with slightly high action for slide playing. This does not mean banana neck with five inches of clearing between the frets and the strings. It's still playable up the neck, and it's still low enough to do bends up around the body joint. This setup allows me to dig in a bit more with the slide then the Style 0 previously reviewed. So string height is OK.
However, what is instantly noticeable when you pick up this guitar to play, and which might be unfamiliar for the average player, is the V-shaped neck. We're talking real, boat-shaped V here, not some soft hint of an edge around the first five frets. First time I touched this guitar, it felt really weird, now I'm not even aware of the shape. It's actually very comfortable, and the neck isn't among the fattest of vintage Nationals. Love this neck, even though it has some wear on it.
Sounds: 10
Although people in the know say that 12 fretters sound better then 14 fretters, I love the sound of my Duolian. It's just so responsive, even a soft touch on the treble stings produces a great tone. And this is a loud sucker: Playing seated, you really notice how the body vibrates. And that's frigging steel that vibrates! It may not be the most versatile guitar in the world (although it's not as limited as many people think), but it has THE sound that count. Many people believe that the Duolian is the greatest guitars ever built, especially slide guitarist, and tend to agree with them. In short: This is the dogs b*llocks.
Reliability/Durability: 10
70 years old, still all original (even the frets!) and has only been restored once. As long as the cone isn't crushed, this guitar will live another 70 years. What more can you ask for?
Overall rating (ranting?): 10
I admit it, a Duolian is probably my all-time dream guitar. I will never part with this one!
Posts
15 comments:
So; I still don't get the difference between the style O and the Duolian. 'Cause to me, they look the same, save for the color. Is it one of those Broadcaster/Nocaster/Telecaster thingys where you basically just have to take someones word for them being different?
This is yet another shining example of how freakin' different guitars and styles we prefer. I seriously doubt I'd be able to play "Proud Mary" on that thing without lots of unwanted noise.
Btw; $32.50 back in the 1930's probably wasn't cheap - I reckon' you could get a car and a house and still have some change for a lemon ice if you strolled around with that kind of green in your pants.
So; I still don't get the difference between the style O and the Duolian
Steel (Duolian) and brass (Style 0) body. Sort of like singelcoils and humbuckers on electric guitars. Funny thing, you can get , and one would expect woodbodied Nationals to sound very different from the metal ones. Not so, a woodbodied ones sounds pretty similar to steel; brass are in a class of it's own.
I seriously doubt I'd be able to play "Proud Mary" on that thing without lots of unwanted nois
You call it noise, I call it mojo/music/ whatever. ;-)
Btw; $32.50 back in the 1930's probably wasn't cheap
Not cheap, but cheapest. Style 0 would be $65 and a top of the line Style 4 $195.
...so no class like brass if you wanna kick ass, eh?
$195 back in the 1930's? So besides Rockefeller and Henry Ford, who owned one?
...so no class like brass if you wanna kick ass, eh?
No, steel is the deal, if you wanna keep it real. ;-)
$195 back in the 1930's? So besides Rockefeller and Henry Ford, who owned one?
Sol Hoopii,Bukka White, Peetie Wheatstraw ("The High Sheriff Of Hell", not only Robert Johnson did the deal with the devil thingy, you know), Tampa Red, Black Ace and so forth. You had to be pretty successful to afford a tricone.
Anyway, to compare, a Martin D-18 would set you back 55 bucks, and a top of the line D-45 200 bucks (about the same as the tricone). So the Duolian doesn't come out that bad. But it was the budget singlecones like the Duolian that saved the National company through the depression.
So, when do we exchange guitar to do second opinion reviews?
But it was the budget singlecones like the Duolian that saved the National company through the depression.
...and in the mother of all ironies, blues actually got someone through a depression rather than plummet them into it.
Fat lot of good the blues has done Gary Moore.
So, when do we exchange guitar to do second opinion reviews?
That would've been da bomb fo' sho'. Ideally, the second party would have to record something with those guitars (could be tricky for the two blatantly non-electric guitars you've got).
ideally, the second party would have to record something with those guitars
Of course without changing string gauges or do major neck surgery... Retuning is allowed, though. ;-)
We should have lived in the same town; then this would have been doable.
...the two blatantly non-electric guitars you've got.
Somehow you made this sound awful close to an insult...
...and in the mother of all ironies, blues actually got someone through a depression rather than plummet them into it.
Fat lot of good the blues has done Gary Moore.
That just reminds me of this joke:
Q:What's the difference between a blues and jazz musician?
A: A blues musician plays 3 chords in front of 150 people and a jazz musician plays 150 chords in front of 3 people.
Somehow you made this sound awful close to an insult...
Naah...that sounds so unlike me.
Cool joke, btw.
BUT; I'd strongly suspect that if you tried retuning the 'lock or the signature - you bet your ass SIGNATURE Steve Vai guitar they'd garrote you with the strings or strangle you with the cord or strap.
Well, you only live once anyway, so why not try?
;-)
But seriously, sometimes I'm not even sure what tuning my Nationals are in, so I thought that you might wanted to turn those white knobs a bit before playing. ;-)
So you've got tuners on it? You forgot to list those as features...
Yeah, sure I got tuners. But they are purely decorative.
I guess it sucks using regular picks on that thing, eh?
Not really. Chris Whitley, Roy Rogers and Rory Gallagher are among those who used a regular pick on their National guitars. Here's a clip of Rory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1zsRRt1FWE
Only thing, the string spacing at the bridge my be more suitable to fingerstyle then flatpicking. But a nylonstringed guitar is even wider, and there are a bunch of folks playing with a pick on a classical guitar (Santana and mr Malmsteen, comes to my mind)
Post a Comment