Upgrading My Honey Dipper's Cone. Does it make a difference?

Upgrading my new Gretsch Honey Dipper with a National Resophonic cone. Is it worth the money? Does it make a big difference? Let's find out together.

00:00 Intro
00:08 Unboxing the New Cone
00:41 Gretsch: Premium Course Example
01:36 Cone Surgery
07:21 National: Premium Course Example
08:15 AB Comparison
09:05 My Thoughts (for now)

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[ignqpck]

The "crazy, wild reverb" is exactly why I like the stock guitar. As a studio owner, I want one resonator that will give me something QUITE different from any other guitar I have. That means I'd keep the original cone. Great video; great job!

[UrbanGarden-rfop]

You were wise to upgrade.
I bought a limited edition green Honey Dipper
about ten years ago and used it in standard E tuning.
After a while it started to develop fret buzz,
which got worse and worse, despite me getting a new, taller, bridge.
Eventually I realised that the "high quality" aluminium cone 
was slowly caving in under the pressure of the strings.
I got a National cone, which solved the problem
and added some guitar heritage to the equation.
Searching the internet confirmed that Gretsch
had made a questionable business decision
and used low quality material in the cones,
despite the promise in the ads.

Otherwise a great guitar, but you'll have to
consider the possible extra cost of a high quality cone.

Nice playing.
✌✌

[davidgunter]

Nice comparison video! I’m a National Tricone player and I came at this from a different direction. Got into resos when a buddy let me borrow his Duolian a few years back and never got that single cone, biscuit bridge sound out of my head.
Bought a Honey Dipper a couple months ago and really dig it.
I agree in the more pronounced fundamental with the National cone, but, to my subjective ear, the Gretsch cone has more growl and delicious swampiness goin’ down. So much so, that I’m now wondering if I can get Tricone cones from the same manufacturer that spins cones for Gretsch!
Thanks for your generosity and good works.
✌️❤️🎵

[denbodg]

To my ears the change is negligible, & as you said down to personal preference, which for me is the Gretsch. I think construction and body material makes the biggest difference. For e.g. I have a steel body MM Blues and a brass body Icarus Duolian. I love them both, but the MM sounds more “Vintage”. The Icarus more mellow but louder. The cones/strings are virtually identical.

[kenairockband]

I saved a regal steel body resonator from a dirty hippie in Boulder a few years back. I used the hot rod cone and love it.

[TheBladepolisher]

Exactly . . . . . the National cone has brought out the true resonator sound. You nailed it and for just $80 dollars. Good job pal ! !

[TylerSpicer]

Definitely dig the clearer tone of the national for my tastes. Food for thought! Great video! T

[cjm]

Absolutely. Cleaner, crisper. It's like it takes more sound out of the body and brings it into the room. Nice move.

[daveyponderosa]

Great Post Sir!
Honestly with the bean sized speaker in my iPad the National cone seemed a little mellower and perhaps clearer too. That said, I do indeed love the sound of the original Gretsch cone.
Hey man, whatever floats your boat I say. In an ideal world I’d have BOTH a National & a Gretsch…best of both worlds. Haha
You and your loved ones stay healthy and safe during this time of Global Covid Craziness.

Cheers

[danbgt]

Really, really hard to tell anything from a sound clip. Would have to be in person to really tell. But for me, listening to the recorded sound, I like the Gretsch cone better. It seemed to have a “grittier” sound and more sustain. I personally think a metal body resonator should be gritty. It might be interesting to try that experiment on my Gretsch Boxcar. Not sure I want to spend 80 bucks on a guitar that I gave less than 300 bucks for!

[DLawrenceMarketing]

Great video, I learned what the actual cone and biscuit are and what they do for producing sound. I am awaiting delivery of my first resonator guitar, it's a used Johnson and it's something I hope I can play and enjoy with slide.

[TenWilder]

Great video, definitely keeping the stock Gretsch cone in my Honey Dipper.

[Blue_rd]

Thanks for the video. It was so hard to tell the difference, they both sounded good. I haven’t changed my Alligator cone, as the guitar was quite cheap anyway. I think I could hear a little of what you said though - less ‘noise’ around the notes with the new cone. Cheers!

[jimheath]

I don't hear much difference in my speakers but no matter (maybe I just had to be there). I just got a Honey Dipper last week. I love it! I sat down in the music store and played BPB. My wife's response was, "Get that one!" No argument here! I was actually shopping for an arch top but, hey, the world changes! I haven't gotten tired of what I am hearing so far but there's still lots of exploring to do! Thanks John, this was fun! (and, yes, the arch top is still on the list :))

[andrewmerrifield]

I did a similar thing with the Dean Resonator - I hear a mellower tone on my guitar (and yours)... I like that - although that Gretsch cone had an interesting sound... upgrading the Dean was worth it however - it totally changed the guitar... I also have a National Style N and both guitars sound similar so I can only assume that the cone is responsible for most of the sound quality (the metal composition and body size of both guitars is quite different)...

[jimgraham]

I bought a Republic Highway 61. Coming from a Paul Beard spider reso the biscuit sound caught me off guard. I have a National cone coming for the biscuit bridge in a few days. I think I liked the way your Honey Dipper sounded with the stock cone. I hope the $80 National cone does more for my Republic guitar. Thanks for the great content!!

[RJVB]

I am not convinced either that I prefer the sound of the "upgraded" cone over the original, but maybe you could do a follow-up after the new one has broken in?
Also, I saw that Beard sell a very interesting replacement cone. Without the ribs (which they claim degrade sound quality), and with a special ceramic coating that they claim has only benefits too. I always thought that the Gretsch cones were just of a non-standard size but if a National cone works as a drop-in replacement, maybe the Beard one will too.
Maybe we could do a crowd-funding thingy for you to test this out on video? ;)

[jameslifetimelearner]

I’m surprised but there was a difference. I heard better attack and sizzle from the new cone that I assumed was identical. Thanks for the demo

[fordsrestorations]

I'd keep the Gretsch cone . What I did learn is, the ceramic coating is also vital. I suspected that when I had to work on my resonator the other I also think that the manufacturers have means of setting the cone at the correct angle and adjustment like setting the soundpost in a violin. If we have a lot of time we can keep adjusting the cone slightly to get it to resonate better . But a professional can set those in and turn it just right to maximize the entirety of the resonation.

[tag]

As usual, this is up to personal taste. My view would be that Gretsch built that reso the way they did for a reason. Great demo by the way but YT compression does the sound no favors.
You really want to make a difference? Put your $ in the Fishman bridge pup and partner it with the JD AURA pedal (look for the pedal on ebay, I saved quite a bit there). When you hear all of the sounds that can be produced through your favorite acoustic amp you won't want to go back. You will still have a killer acoustic reso and you can pump it when you need some volume where your sound gets lost in large settings. Sorry John, I didn't mean to hi-jack your video but I love the JD pedal for reso.