My Old Johnson Underwent Surgery Tonight

A few days ago I ordered some strings for my heavy metal guitar. A 10+ lb. nickel plated brass Johnson Tricone resonator. Plain steel .017 and .020", nickel plated steel wound .028, .038, .052 and .070". For Open D and Open G tunings, primarily for slide. Wouldn't tune 'em any higher. They'll work great on the lap steel, too. Wouldn't put 'em on a guitar with a little skinny neck, even in these slack key tunings. This is something I've been giving thought to for a couple of years, looking at the D'Addario string tension chart and figuring the heaviest gauges I'd feel safe with at the higher pitch each would be in in either Open D or Open G.

Now I've got my .017-.070" string set installed. So far my Johnson hasn't folded in half, the action didn't even rise noticeably, and the cones are holding up just fine.

Before installing the strings I checked every nut slot for string clearance. The slots for the .070" sixth string and the .052" fifth string had to be opened just a tad, which I quickly accomplished by "sawing" the new strings back and forth in the bone nut's slots for a minute. The rest all fit fine. Didn't have any problem sliding the .070" through the hole in the tuning machine post. Having finally learned a thing or two about how to do this stuff, I got a really nice neat wind on all the strings. Olive-oiled the strings and fretboard as usual. I've got it tuned in Open D, and it really sounds great! Of course, y'all have doubtless heard it by now. It is capable of projecting very well, but even more than increasing the volume, it has increased the sustain enormously. I'd hypothesized that'd happen, as the more massive and tightly strung fat strings are still moving through about the same distance at the same speed as the lighter, slacker strings plucked to the same displacement, so the cones can't be driven too much harder and will move about the same amount of air at each cycle. But there's more kinetic energy in the fat, tight vibrating strings, so they'll keep driving the cones longer. In fact, they ARE very noticeably louder, but they just keep on and on and on... Very nice tone. I can still get a wonderful string-snapping pop, with ALL of the strings, and believe me, it's not a bit hard to hear! There's a good balance of the strings' volumes to my taste, and they all feel nice and taut. This is definitely a keeper mod.

Ye of little faith may want to wait a while and see if my Johnson blows up after a time, but I don't think it's going to happen.
8)

"...I really thought the Tricone sounded pretty good with the Quarterman cones in it, but it sure sounds a LOT better with the Continentals. ...Playing bare fingered, it's a lot brighter on the treble, not as boomy in the bass, and man alive, it's got that hollow trashcanny sound of a National! I was missing that. ...I got my Continental cones from a friend who splurged whole-hog and put National Resophonic cones in his Johnson."

So, how do Continentals (and Quartermans) compare to the Nationals?

Are those the same that would come stock in a recent-make National Tri-Cone guitar?
"My wife, running around upstairs shuffling stuff in the closets, hollered downstairs that it really sounded good, with a "richer, fuller sound.

I figure if she can hear a difference (and from upstairs, at that!), this mod is a keeper!"

Just the fact that its sound and tonal-qualities projected and carried intact up a narrow flight of stairs and around numerous corners, well, speaks volumes...

As for the heavier strings, naaa, it's made for strings like that. Putting the light gauges people use for electrics or even some acoustics on a reso' is just plain silly, particularly if you're never gonna fret but only slide. Especially in a tuning where some strings are tuned down.

Now, izzatta 25" scale-length, or what?

Twelve frets (to the body)?

If either or (especially) both of those, it'll easily handle those strings in Open-D and Open-G.

What about that High-G/"Dobro"-tuning? You ever use that?

Are you playing lap-style, with a steel, or upright/"bottleneck"? Do you fret much on this guitar, or strictly glide along?

Hell, for years I used a .014" through .059" set of either Martin Marquis or D'Addarios, tuned to standard/concert-pich, on a cedar-topped, 25.4" scale-lengthed Alvarez-Yairi flat-top acoustic. Sounds great, plays easier than you'd expect, and you can get away with a lower action as the strings hold a tighter excursion pattern when they vibrate.

"It is fun to have something you're not afraid to tinker with. Pity the poor guys who only have flattops, they don't get to dig around inside 'em."
8)

Hahh! :lol: 8)

I haven't put National cones in it, so I can't compare. But the guy I got the Continental cones from took them out to put in the National cones he bought, and he said that he couldn't tell the difference after he'd done it. The Continental cones are said by Johnson to have been in some of the 2004 Johnson Tricones and in all of them since January 1, 2005. National Resophonics have their own National cones.

The Johnson Tricone's scale length is 25.5", 12 frets to the body. It's got a big beefy neck with a 1 15/16" nut width and a fat, round, slightly V-shaped profile.

IMO it sounds even better with the fat strings AND the new cones.

Haven't tried high bass G. The .016-.056" Martin Resonator Guitar strings are made for that tuning, and the total string tension would be similar to what I've got with these strings in Open D or G. Wouldn't hurt the guitar. I wouldn't do it with the .017-.070" set, though!

I am just loving how this thing sounds with the new cones and big strings! I'll have to record something. I've cleared off a bit of space on my hard drive again.