I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for a resophonic banjo — ideally the Rickard… But at a minimum, something that has the expected sweet harpsichord-like tonality and good sustain when played acoustically (I’m fine with sacrificing volume compared to traditional banjo)… and magnetic (guitar-like) pickup(s)… and bonus points if the electronics are passive.
The Rickard mostly hits that sweet spot — active electronics, but I could sort that out myself in the worst case scenario.
The Capek looks nice too — I don’t believe it has any pickup system, but perhaps the EMG magnetic system would work (active though).
I haven’t gone too deep down the tariff rabbit hole, but I fear importing either of these into the US may be an expensive nightmare nowadays…
I’ve seen newer Gold Tone 5-string resophonics (the ones that look like a dobro), but not really what I’m looking for in terms that of tone.
I know there were also some earlier attempts at this sort of thing made by Rayco (they’re behind the Rickard design) and the “ResNick” — but all rare on the secondary market…
Obviously this sort of thing never caught on with the masses, but would be curious to hear from anyone who had/has one… what are your thoughts regarding tone and usage after having lived with it? I’m interested because:
—I’d like to experiment with banjo through my guitar rig (with some impedance-sensitive pedals, hence the passive electronics)…
—I’d like to have this option in the tonal palette (in terms of the unamplified tone)… and the extra sustain would be nice when playing with a slide.
—the lower overall volume could come in handy here and there…
Edited by - TimFoster on 10/06/2026 08:05:05
…..or you could just buy one of those metal mutes
cheap experiment and you’ll like the sound
quote:
Originally posted by lapsteel…..or you could just buy one of those metal mutes
cheap experiment and you’ll like the sound
Yeah -- I do practice with a "Mike's Mute" and it does indeed yield some of those tonal qualities, but not quite what I'm looking for...
I have a 4string with a 6" cone that's fun to play around with, but I've never played on one with that diameter.
It has an active neck pickup, which is okay. I have found putting a passive onto the underside of the cone gets a better sound.
Edited by - ACastle on 10/06/2026 12:28:57
Not really helpful regarding the original questions, but I did build one myself -- as pictured. The unamplified sound is sweet but remarkably wimpy, at least compared to a banjo. I suspect that's true even with a resonator back. In demo videos online, you don't really know how far they cranked up the recording mic to get the sound they're sending you.
The actual sound of the thing is included in https://www.its.caltech.edu/~politzer/resonator/resonator.pdf.
It took a while, but step-by-step I think I figured out what our ears identify as the identifying characteristic sound common to all resonator guitars and what is responsible in the physics. (That's the sort of thing I like doing.) The whole saga is stretched out between October 2022 and May 2024 at https://www.its.caltech.edu/~politzer/. Along the way, I claim to have identified what makes banjos ring. (It's very closely related.)
I bought this Chinese made resonator from Thomman in Germany for small money. It’s their own brand Harley Benton. It packs a lot of punch with a humbuker and a piezo. All passive. It was easy to rasp down the neck to banjo setup. Good fun instrument. The only thing is that it has a 25.5” scale length.
Thanks for the thoughts/suggestions all!
I enjoyed your write-up davidppp (and will likely poke around some of the other related info you’ve published!) But you raise a good point regarding volume. The Mike’s Mute idea, while it has some commonality with Resophonic tone, is too quiet for what I'd like… I was hoping for an acoustic volume at least similar to a typical national style guitar — but maybe that’s unrealistic considering the higher note timbers and smaller air cavity/resonator.
And to ACastle ’s point… the magnetic pickup would capture the vibration of the string — but I guess at that point it’s mostly sounding like an electric guitar… would probably need some other pickup assembly to capture the “Resophonic” aspect of the tone.
In the one video I found online of a Resophonic banjo playing along with other instruments -- in this case the Capek and a washboard player -- the banjo was indeed hard to hear on the merit of it's acoustic volume alone.
Ehhh… I dunno…
Edited by - TimFoster on 10/06/2026 13:36:45
quote:
Originally posted by TimFosterThanks for the thoughts/suggestions all!
I enjoyed your write-up davidppp (and will likely poke around some of the other related info you’ve published!) But you raise a good point regarding volume. The Mike’s Mute idea, while it has some commonality with Resophonic tone, is too quiet for what I'd like… I was hoping for an acoustic volume at least similar to a typical national style guitar — but maybe that’s unrealistic considering the higher note timbers and smaller air cavity/resonator.
And to ACastle ’s point… the magnetic pickup would capture the vibration of the string — but I guess at that point it’s mostly sounding like an electric guitar… would probably need some other pickup assembly to capture the “Resophonic” aspect of the tone.
Ehhh… I dunno…
When I started listening carefully and thought hard about how things work, I was surprised by how much of the whole body sound is captured by magnetic string pick-ups. They're commonly used on resonator guitars, and the Kavanjo (https://kavanjo.com/) is used on banjos. While strings drive the soundboards, the soundboards also drive the strings. Sustain is the simplest but not the only shared quality. Banjo ring and reso twang, as described in my linked stuff above, also are directly shared. I can't believe that there aren't more subtle things that are just hard to name.
I have a reso pese shaped Tenor guitar (same as the tenor banjo) from Amistar (great instruments from the czeck republic) love to play it!
I doesn’t have a pick up installed
Edited by - banjopaolo on 10/06/2026 13:55:32
Wonderful banjopaolo — I can tell plenty of volume on that one…
Makes me think maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to write off the Gold Tone dobro-styled offerings — those seem easy enough to get ahold of in the US… in the clips I’ve heard the full body seemed to lose some banjo character, and perhaps not as “sweet” as the Capek/Rickard in isolation… but I guess ya can’t have it all if chasing volume too
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