Yanuziello Resonator (1995)

Description

There are pros and cons to being a small shop, the biggest being that sometimes things will sell before we have a chance to post them on our site! Case in point, this gorgeous 1995 Yanuziello resonator. Some instruments are just too cool not to share...

We asked Joe to tell the backstory. In his own words...

"I built this round neck resonator in 1995 for the Nashville NAMM show. It was my first round neck build, prior to this one I had built quite a number of square neck Hawaiian style instruments. In the early 90's, there weren't too many builders making resophonic guitars. Aside from Dobro, which was always a production company, there were only a handful of custom reso builders. 

Back then, I was buying all the metal parts, cones, spiders, tailpieces, directly from Tut Taylor, including the parts for this guitar. I'd phone him up....he worked out of his home, we'd chat for a bit and I'd place an order. He was a really down to earth guy, I got to meet him in Nashville at the NAMM show, he showed up at my booth for a visit. 

This guitar is built in the tradition of the 30's Dobro. It has a soundwell which houses the cone, and the neck has an integral neck pole which extends into the soundwell. The body is cold molded using forms and layers of veneer under pressure. The layers are all mahogany, including the soundwell, and the outside book matched layers, back, sides and top are pommele mahogany. The metal parts are nickel plated brass, and the spider is a traditional sand cast aluminum #14. 

The scale length is 25" and the ebony fingerboard has a 20" radius. I made the fingerboard inlay out of Corian. The neck is mahogany carved to a medium V profile.

The purfling around the top is made here in my shop. I still use that pattern, I call it "stitch purfling" or "cowboy purfling". I sandwich parallelograms of holly and ebony between lines of black veneer."

TME regulars know we love Joe's instruments. His eye for design and the chops he possesses to bring this vision to life are truly amazing. One overarching quality that has surfaced after being privileged to play so many of his instruments is a totally immersive, always musical and inspiring, feel. It is a common experience to hand someone a Yanuziello in the shop and watch them play, fully engaged, for at least 20-30 mins before looking up. There's just something to these guitars that makes you want to play - again, feel. Soul. It's what we're all looking for. 

Now apply that to a resonator. This stunning instrument played as well as any flattop or solid-body guitar we've played which vastly expanded its potential application. You could simply play this as you would any other flattop - an extremely cool, rewarding, and inspiring experience to be sure! 

We're going to kindly ask Mr. Yanuziello to make one for us. Fingers crossed....but we make no promises.