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NEWS from NATIONAL RESO-PHONICThanks for checking in on us again! Finally, 2002 has arrived and we are looking forward to a more balanced year. The NAMM Show in January 2002 was in Anaheim, California. This is our annual trade show where we get to exhibit our new models and meet with our dealers and other friends in the industry. It was wonderful to see all the folks. We, like most, were affected by the calamity of September 11, 2001, and we were grateful to be able to spend time together reaffirming our associations both business and personal. Our dealers are the greatest! Last year was Blues Revue Magazine’s 10th Anniversary and to help in the celebrating, we made a custom Style 3 single resonator guitar with BR’s logo engraved in it for their raffle. The lucky winner of that guitar was Jim Shelor of Virginia. Congratulations, Jim! Our most popular guitars still remain the Style "O" single cone and the Style "1" Tricone, closely followed by the Delphi and the Polychrome Tricone. We have had a record number of orders for personalized custom instruments. Some arcane and some adventurous designs have found their way onto our guitar bodies. Additionally, we are expanding fretboard inlay possibilities. One custom job we did had the fellow’s name across the length of the fretboard in white and gold mother-of-pearl. We are also providing the classic "Arrowhead" pattern and created a "Moon & Stars" pattern for another custom order. We also have a standard diamond inlay, diamonds with an arrowhead at the 12th fret; block, and block with roman numerals. The options continue to grow. We turned around a record number of repairs in the last year. These were primarily older Nationals that needed neck adjustments, repairs or replacements as well as bodies that needed dings and dents removed, seams re-soldered and plating repaired. We definitely are National Repair Headquarters. We have the best technicians, tools and expertise. Last year we embarked on providing parts for other musical instrument manufacturers, made possible by our second CNC machine and the technical expertise of our staff. We are now making necks, fretboards, headstock overlays and inlays as well as structural parts for several other companies (whose names will remain confidential). Did you see? We added a Frequently Asked Questions page to our website and are upgrading the site in earnest. Our Repairs page has before-and-after photos with text. The Customize page has some examples of possible upgrades to our instruments.
NEW MODELS
We have taken the long step into the world of bass guitars. It was on our agenda for some time, but it was the enthusiasm and inspiration of our Metal Dept. supervisor, Jason Workman, that made it happen. Jason, as you may have guessed, is a bass player. They all use standard guitar bodies with a 32" scale neck. So far we have made a standard maple body, the WB Bass; a Radio-Tone Bendaway model, the RTB Bass; and, a Style "N" nickel-plated brass body model, the Style "N" Bass. They are available fretless or with frets. The Highlander IP-1X pickup is an add-on.
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EVENTSThe weekend of June 21 —22, 2002 is going to be a busy one. In Minneapolis-St. Paul will be the third (now annual) RESOPHONIC NIGHT OUT, headlining Mike Auldridge and Bob Brozman. Huzzah, huzzah! For more information visit their website at www.iResoNation.com. Also, on the same weekend of June 21 — 22, 2002 as part of their American Roots Music Series, the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas, is hosting a RESOPHONIC GUITAR WEEKEND including concerts by National Reso-Phonic musicians Catfish Keith, Mike Dowling and Robert B. Jones, to name a few. See their website for more information about how to get there and where to stay www.ozarkfolkcenter.com or call them at 1-800-264-3655 Another event that we sponsor is the INTERNATIONAL GUITAR SEMINARS put together by Woody Mann and Bob Brozman. Known as "IGS Acoustic Blues and Slide Guitar Workshops", their 2002 dates are: New York — June 15 to 21; San Diego, CA — August 3 to 9. These are exciting and unique week-long seminars for guitarists of all levels who are ready for breakthroughs in developing new sounds and repertoire in their playing. Aside from the two organizers, Woody and Bob, other teachers include: Mary Flower, John Renbourn, Orville Johnson, John Cephas, Robert Tilling, Pat Donohue and Mike Dowling. Find out more at the IGS website: www.guitarseminars.com . FACTORY NOTESWe said goodbye to one of our "metal men", JB, who’d been with us since high school, graduated from our local university, Cal Poly, and is now in Ghana, West Africa in the Peace Corps. Way to go, JB! Some of his former co-workers are thinking of visiting him there this summer. Another departure was Cyrus who was in our Shipping-Whatever-You-Need Dept. He started his Junior year at San Francisco State University which is much too long a commute. And, we do want to acknowledge Jason Workman one more time for his effort and expertise in bringing about our Bass guitars. Our instruments are fully engineered and manufactured here in our factory in San Luis Obispo, California. We believe in providing jobs and a supportive work environment for the people in our community. We spend much more on labor, benefits and materials than we would if we were to go offshore, but we are pleased to be able to say that National Reso-Phonic instruments are handcrafted here in the U.S.A.
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