Hello, and thanks in advance for any advice you give :)
My friend has his heart set on a DEAN RESONATOR... because of the look and style.
its this one exactly... 
He loves the antique, rustic, vintage look of it. I have called around to several places.. and seen lots of things online saying how bad the quality of instrument and sound is... and im trying to give him other options, but honestly I have no idea where to even compare these things.
I know he will be playing it like a guitar.. not on his lap.. (cause apprently that makes a difference in style)
Does anyone here have some knowledge or suggestion of others that I can suggest to him, of a better quality but still what hes looking for?
I would like to stick around the $500 range.
ugh -- not that. I've picked one up out of curiosity. it is incredibly heavy, and doesn't sound very good as delivered. the latter might be fixed with the application of some $$ and knowhow, but the weight is not going away.
also avoid Fender's resos -- poor construction and quality.
sorry I don't have any positive suggestions. others will.
-=tension & release=-
Sticking in your price range, you might want to check out Liberty guitars:
http://www.libertyguitars.com/
They make a very good instrument for the price range. And the customer service is excellent.
I'm hardly the expert on resonators, though. Wait for Riccochet to chime it. Also inquire with the folks at Big Road Blues:
http://www.bigroadblues.com/forum
They have some very friendly and knowledgeable people there, too.
Hope this helps.
Peace
I've been well pleased on the super-cheap end by Musicians Friend's Rogue resos. They're reputed to be somewhat variable, but I have a Rogue Spider and a Rogue Classic Metal Bodied Biscuit that are both well made. The biscuit would gain some bark if I coughed up the $80 for a National cone/biscuit set and put in the work to cut & notch the saddle, but I'm happy with it for now. If you want to spend a bit more, the Republics have a good reputation with my reso picking friends. I agree about the Fender resos. They've gotten better than they were at first, but I don't much like their sound.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
