Good Vibrations: Resonator Guitars and American Life

Unrivaled catalogue of classic American resonator guitars.

In 1927, a small Los Angeles company created a startlingly new kind of guitar. Featuring three aluminium cones inside a shiny metal body, the 'tricone' made by the National String Instrument Company sounded and looked like no other guitar. For a short period, until amplified electric guitars became viable in the late 1930s, resonator guitars were at the vital center of American popular music, a legacy that has fascinated musicians an...