2022 Royall Cutaway Woodbody Tricone Resonator Guitar

October 30, 2024

2022 Royall Cutaway Woodbody Tricone Resonator Guitar

Overview: There have been a number of Royall resonator guitars in this year and I can see why -- at their price points they are pretty great instruments, though all of them have needed some heavy-handed work on frets and setup to get them playing spot-on. Once dialed-in, though, they become killer instruments. This is the most interesting variation of the ones so far and has ply koa through the body, a cutaway, tricone cone configuration, and a "vented" upper bout soundhole design that recalls National's own design -- but done in wood. I like!

Tone: It's clean, full, balanced, and has great sustain. Tricones are pretty different from single cones in this way -- they sacrifice just a hair of initial bite/bark to the sound and replace it with a more "musical" sustain and presence. It's no wonder the Hawaiian players took to them..

Feel: Compared to current roundneck Nationals, this guitar has a faster neck profile that feels rather Gibson-like save for the flatter board radius.

Interesting features: The flamed koa veneer for the body is the standout one and, of course, the National-style coverplate design and styling cues taken from old metal-body tricones are pretty great.

Repairs included: Ancel leveled/dressed the frets and then gave it a good setup. These almost always ship from the factory with the cones and T-bridge misaligned for good intonation, so there's always tweaking to the cone layout inside to get them to work as they should. It's now playing perfectly and is ready to roll.