What's the Difference?

I have been doing a lot of research lately about the luthiering of a resonator guitar. Im not saying I can now build one from the ground up, but I feel like I actually know whats going on inside. So what makes a reso different than a normal flattop acoustic?

Many things. (These are just a few that are probably the most important):

1) The bracing structure is completely different inside of a resonator for two reasons. One being that I has a resonator and a soundwell inside, and two because the soundwell elevates the bridge more than on a normal flattop. Raising the action of the strings without raising the nut will create a lot more string tension. (A raised nut is only found on a square neck, which is another type of resonator that can only be played with a slide. no fretting involved and it is played like a lap steel.)

2) A lot of resonators have a completely metal body instead of wood in order to allow for the resonant frequencies to carry and amplify.

3) The entire cone and soundwell structure.

How this works is through the use of Resonant frequencies. This diagram shows an average single-cone and biscuit bridge ( there are other types such as the spider bridge and a tri-cone which has three mini cones for longer sustain). The strings rest on top of the bridge which is attached to the cone by a screw. As the string vibrates, it vibrates the cone, which then amplifies the sound throughout the body of the guitar.

There are other differences, but I have found these to be the most important.. Im now getting further into figuring out how I am going to go about making this conversion.