2010s Republic Duolian Single-Cone Resonator Guitar

Republic is a smaller firm out of Texas specializing in imports of resonator guitars from China. They're built to the specs of the company but are still distinctly mid-grade instruments, though they do talk-up their game on their website quite a lot. Their aesthetic features and neck cuts are a step-up from other import resonator lines but they still have some build quality flaws just like almost every resonator I've worked-on under the sun.

This one had neck joint trauma that damaged its dowel (see end-of-post pics for in-process shots) and so I had to fix that, reset the neck angle, give it a level/dress of the frets, fit a new compensated saddle, and set it all up. This is the sort of work I expect to do on something like a 1930s National -- but not on a resonator guitar made under a decade ago.

Here's the thing, though -- after repairs this plays just as well as any fancy resonator and has, perhaps, 80% or so of the sound of a "proper reso." Icing on the cake would be to swap-out the cone on it for a National Hot Rod cone, but let's be honest -- it sounds pretty dang good as it stands.

Ready for it...?

Above: I was wondering why the heel wouldn't stay put when I was resetting the neck angle. Here's why -- the wild folks at the factory doweled the neck's "dowel" with a butt joint! The glued dowel broke, too, and it looks like the factory repaired it with a small mending plate -- or maybe they just added those anyway when it was built because they expected this might happen.

In any case, it's a terrible design. Most resonators glue a dowel into a slot in the heel and that's also a terrible design but it works better than this one! I am surprised that no factory makes a 3-piece neck with the center strip elongating into a dowel that runs through the whole length of the guitar. It would just make sense on a design like this to remove any structural necessities from the thin steel body and put it on the structure of the neck instead.

Glue and a couple of drywall screws help it much more but after I set the angle I also "locked" the neck in place with some extra blocking near the heel and at the back of the body and then a last drywall screw that runs through the back and into the dowel region that's attached to the neck directly. This has made the whole instrument rock-solid.