This system was invented by a man named John Dopyera and used in the metal bodied, national brand guitars produced
from the late '20s to WWII. Now, these guitars are being made again, as the value of the originals has skyrocketed.
So it's a Weissonborn-style Resonator guitar, or "The Weissonator"
*Thanks to my buddy, Mike Simpson, for coming up with the name*.

The sides and back are constructed much the same as a regular acoustic guitar.
After being wetted, the sides were bent to shape on a hot iron pipe. Then small strips of mahogany called kerfing is glued to the sides.
Kerfing creates a much larger glue surface to join the pieces together. Here's a picture of my high-tech kerf-clamping system.
Clothes pins are a guitar makers best friend.

Well that's just about it. The cones are removed through an oval hole in the side.
The handguard and tailpiece are made from solid Ebony. The fingerboard is also Ebony with mahogany veneer for "frets".
The inlays in the fingerboard, headstock and tailpiece are Abalone. Here's some shots of the finished guitar.

I think it turned out pretty good, especially for a T-shirt maker.
It sounds great, too. I regularly play it with my [band] and sometimes solo.
It's amazingly loud with a full, rich bass and singing highs.
This guitar was also featured in an article in the ASIA magazine Guitarmaker.
See my links page to order a back issue of that or other Guitarmaker issues. Or join ASIA
If you have any other questions about this guitar please feel free to email me.

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