2005 Beltona Southerner Fiberglass Resonator Guitar

Update 2022: I've added a new video, taken new photos, and updated the blog post where needed.

Beltonas re English-made (and, previously, New Zealand-made), hot-to-trot resonator guitars (and ukuleles) made from, basically, fiberglass. Sometimes aluminum and/or carbon fiber is thrown into the mix for various parts, too -- the coverplate here is carbon fiber with '20s-style "screen" holes. Because they're unconventional, they're just as light in the lap as a normal acoustic and that makes them entirely practical and just fun to play. My main complaint with average metal resonators is that they're too heavy for me to enjoy for more than an hour. My main complaint with average wood-bodied resonators is that they sound a bit too woody and mellow. It's a hard battle to win but the design of these goes a long way to getting there.

Unfortunately, the guitar hadn't been taken care-of at some point in its life, so I needed to do a neck reset back in 2018 when it first came in. I followed that up with glorified setup work and it was good to go after that and has been stable in service since I last saw it. My only work this time around was to give it a fresh setup and restring.

Let's also not forget to mention all sorts of cool details! There's the faded-edges blue-sparkle/metallic finish, a mahogany neck with plenty of curvy figure to it (and that glows in light), the "screens" coverplate style, the (intentionally/by-design) "string-under" tailpiece setup, and the big old truss rod cover that looks so deco-cool.

Repairs included: resetting the neck and fitting a new stabilizer "mushroom" and new screw-mounts for the fretboard extension, new posts for the mushrooms under the dowel near the cone, compensation for the saddle, fret seating and then a heavy-handed fret level/dress, and setup. It's currently setup for "normal" playing -- if you need slide action height, let me know and I will shim the action up a hair.

Body material: fiberglass

Cone type: ribbed '30s-style

Bridge: maple (compensated saddle)

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany (pretty stuff, too!)

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights

Neck shape: medium-to-bigger

Board radius: ~10-12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 25"

Nut width: 1 13/16"

Body width: 14 1/8"

Body depth: 3 3/8"

Weight: 4 lbs 10 oz

Condition notes: it's almost as-new save the most minor scuffs/scratches here and there on the body. The fretboard dots have been all replaced with pearl, though. I would say, "lightly-used" is the qualifier here...

It comes with: a good hard case.