Mine doesn't. When you press down on the palm levers, which are bolted directly to the spider, the spider takes the weight and transfers it to the bowl that I've inserted.
I anticipated the problem with the cone whilst I was at the design stage, and that's the very reason I built the aluminium bowl into the body.
The bowl rests on braces that are glued to the back of the instrument, so levers impart no force whatsoever on the table(top) of the guitar.
That's why, as I say, you cannot just add a unit to any old resonator guitar. You have to design the resonator guitar with the levers in mind, from the ground up.
Alan, it's not the levers, it's the strings themselves... the spider sits on the cone and transfers the strings' tension to the cone surround. This results in a 'floating' system, like a Strat vibrato. Tune one string sharp, it pulls the others flat. Like on a Strat set up to float, bend one string, the others go flat. The Jacksons do it too... less than I thought they would, just 7-8cents on the worst string... it's an unavoidable consequence of pulling strings on a suspended system like a resonator.
You've misunderstood the function of the bowl, Stephen. The spider rests on the bowl. Around the circumference of the bowl, the spider, the bowl, and the cone, all meet, but the cone is not supported underneath, and so cannot take any of the tension of the strings. The tension of the strings is taken entirely by the body of the instrument. The only thing transmitted to the cone is the vibration of the strings, via the spider, but the cone itself takes no pull of the strings.
Yes, on a regular resonator guitar, it does, but not on my design. My design doesn't have a "floating system", neither does it have a tailpiece. Forget everything you know about a regular resonator guitar. Mine isn't like any of them.
Lee Rider wrote:So Alan, how does it sound in comparison to a standard dobro construction?
It doesn't seem to have the metallic sound that my Dobro has, and that my all-metal Tricone does, which is a bit of a disappointment. The tone sounds a lot richer than I would like. Great for Hawaiian music, or for playing a lead on C&W, but not so much for fast bluegrass numbers, as the notes don't die away so quickly. If anything, the tone is too good.
When I've finished messing around with the tuning and copedant I'll post a sample. I guess I should post a sample of the same tune played on my Dobro too, for comparison.
I drastically reduced the de-tuning issues by using two coverplates. Bought them off Aliexpress for 8 bucks and installed on a gretsch bobtail spider. I think there would be additional improvements if I can get someone to weld the two plates together. Considering adding another but it’s already so heavy. Accordingly, I believe +90% of the de-tuning issues are due to the flexibility of the coverplate, not the cone, although I also suspect a spider provides more stability than a biscuit.
