The Delta Snake Review: Musical Gear Review and Music Article Archive: Review: Dean Chrome G Resonator Guitar (Electric)

Review: Dean Chrome G Resonator Guitar (Electric)

Steel or brass-bodied resonator guitars have been a rarity on the music scene for decades. One reason is that it's a specialty guitar especially suited for certain types of slide blues and Hawaiian music. The other reason is that the guitars are very expensive, averaging 1500.00 and up.

A few years ago, inexpensive resonators began to appear on the scene. Most notably the Regal single and tri-cones, and the Johnson Duolians (single cones). Although there was the usual snickering and advice about changing the cones out for “real National Resophonic” ones, these economy models have stuck around.

The primary weakness of these mid-priced models is volume. Some of it is due to overly light factory stringing (12 gauge is the minimum you should use), and cheaper, inferior sound cones inside. The fact that simply changing the cone(s) out with a National Resophonic dramatically improves the sound makes it clear that this type of guitar doesn't have to be priced like a Les Paul. It's all about the cone, as the bodies are basically just metal boxes.

In the middle price range, there are two basic types. The Tricone, best done by Regal, and considered the most sweet and resonant sounding. Or the Johnson, the Duolian, with a single big cone that punches hard and is a true blues machine.

Then there's my resonator, the Dean Chrome G. It looks like a standard Duolian, but with most of the surface engraved. The sound bridge is gold plated, and the mahogany neck and headstock follow the Regal model of lots of inlay and a coconut tree on top.

The engraving is more than just decoration. It reduces the one major annoyance that most resophonic owners hate. The engraving reduces the tendency for the shiny chromed surface to pick up every single fingerprint no matter how clean your hands are (not to mention armpit sweat if you play with a tanktop or less).

One other very nice feature of the G model is that it's only half as thick as the typical resophonic. There's less volume of course, but it makes it much easier to play.

You can get more volume anyway using the piezo and lipstick pickups that are mounted on it. Crank up the distortion and you have a pretty mean-sounding electric guitar, lighten up and you have the soundtrack to a romantic evening in Hawaii or a hot afternoon in the Delta. There’s going to be feedback at higher volume but less so because of the rigid metal top.

It uses a “biscuit” style bridge (a piece of wood) so height adjustment is easy, and the Grover tuners are efficient. The tailpiece does have an odd trapezoid shape that makes stringing the guitar hard (combined with the cool-looking classical-style headstock). Anyone who has strung a classical-style headstock knows, that looks can deceive. Count on five minutes per string when changing.

However, those are small complaints about what is a good package. For 600.00, you would be hard-pressed to find a nicer and cooler-looking guitar. That gold-plated lipstick pickup alone is worth the price of admission. It just says “loud vintage pickup” just looking at it.

I bought this one on sight without even trying it out. Guitars that I've checked out more thoroughly have come and gone, but this one has turned into a keeper. It seems that sometimes, there is such a thing as love at first sight.

- Al Handa

2007

Note: This review first appeared on the ePinions.com site in 2007. This and other reviews were short takes that accompanied the link to a business that sold the guitar. As a rule, the guitar had to be at least examined and played by the reviewer (and ideally owned). In my case, a severe case of GAS made it possible to have at least owned the reviewed instrument for a short while. I'm reprinting these as having another source on a guitar never hurts, even if the reviews aren't definitive. Other than minor corrections, these short takes are unchanged from the original text. I figure that it might be helpful to keep the older perspective.

The Quitturz by Al Handa