Good Vibrations:Resonator Guitars and American Life

Unrivaled catalogue of classic American resonator guitars.

In 1927, a small Los Angeles company created a startlingly new kind of guitar. Featuring three aluminium cones inside a shiny metal body, the 'tricone' made by the National String Instrument Company sounded and looked like no other guitar. For a short period, until amplified electric guitars became viable in the late 1930s, resonator guitars were at the vital center of American popular music, a legacy that has fascinated musicians and fans ever since. Featuring essays by two musical instrument experts, color plates documenting these guitars as no other publication has, and additional illustrations that link these guitars to broader themes in American history and culture, this book provides a rich account of an iconic American object. | Darcy Kuronen is former Curator of Musical Instruments at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is author of Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar (2000) and Musical Instruments: MFA Highlights (2004).

John Troutman is Curator of Music and Musical Instruments at the National Museum of American History. He is author of Indian Blues: American Indians and the Politics of Music, 1879-1934 (2009) and Kīkā Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music (2016).