Guitar: National Resonator Electric Guitar

[Mike Buckley]

My friend has loaned me his second guitar to photograph and I'm having a great time doing it. I only know that it's an electric resonator guitar made by the National company. Once he provides some more details, I'll add them to this post.

Once I make some detail shots of the guitar, I'll post them together in a separate thread.

Please click the image to display it at its largest size in the Lytebox to examine the details.

NOTES ABOUT THE GUITAR: The official name of the model is National Reso-phonic Style "0" Delphi. It is a single-cone resonator. It recreates the look and feel of the single-cone guitars first made in the 1930s. The neck is made of mahogany and the fret board is rosewood. The cross-grained binding is a made of ivory. The dark part of the body is steel covered with a highly textured black, baked finish.

This guitar was purchased new in 2002 but is no longer being manufactured. The style was popular in the early 2000s among blues bands. My friend replaced the original resonator and cover plate (the shiny area of the body) with a nickel finish electronic version called a "Hot Plate." That modification allowed him to electronically amplify the sound and to alter the tone to be more like traditional blues styles.

Setup
The background and tabletop are a single sheet of high quality black velvet.

First capture: The color of the velvet beneath the guitar was changed during post-processing. Medium continuous-light lamps on the left and right sides of the guitar's body rake light across it to define the dark metal texture. They also brightly light the body's exterior curves and the edges of the F holes. The lamp on the right was flagged to prevent the front of the body from being too brightly lit. A small continuous-light lamp above and to the right of the top of the guitar lights mostly the head and the top of the neck. A polarizer eliminates glare that otherwise would have appeared at the top of the neck. A white piece of foam core beneath the guitar held at about a 45-degree angle is reflected in the round chrome area of the body. Doing so makes the chrome appear mostly bright and shiny and helps define its shape.

Second capture: Everything looked as I wanted using the above lighting setup except that it was not possible to see the two strings on the right side along the neck. So, I had no choice in the confines of my makeshift studio but to light paint them along the neck with a small continuous-light lamp while I made a second exposure. The two captures were merged.

[plugsnpixels]

That's a tricky shot well done overall! Black and chrome in the same shot, both handled properly. Works even against the black background, with minimal loss along the body (but a bit more on the tuning pegs; try some rim lighting there).

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[mugge]

Mike, a superb image. The subtle shading on the metal plate is just about perfect. The lesser defined tuning pegs is because they are on an angle? Thank you for the detailed account of how it was done.
Cheers Ole

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

I'll probably do a detail shot of the tuning pegs. Once you see them, perhaps you'll realize they are displayed reasonably well here considering their position relative to the rest of the head. Almost all parts of the pegs are actually hidden from view when photographed at this angle. We are looking at the end of the screws that crank the metal rods (parallel to the frets) that tighten and loosen the strings. Only small parts of the handles the musician turns are barely visible on the camera-left side and not at all on the other side when viewed at this angle.

[Mike Buckley]

This is the head from the first photo displayed at 100% of the original file size.

[madcrow]

Awesome images, if I had to take images like this, would know where to start. Great work and PP skills.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice image Mike

[Dave Humphries]

Excellent result and informative thread Mike,

Not being a musician and hence not overly familiar with guitars and other strung/stringed instruments, I am often struck, when I do see one up close, by the wide variation of string thickness, so I understand the issue with the two thin strings.

Thanks, Dave

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone!

I understand the issue with the two thin strings.

Those two strings continue to drive me nuts in the detail shots I'm making.

[xpatUSA]

Continued thanks to everyone!

Those two strings continue to drive me nuts in the detail shots I'm making.

Speaking as a guitarist, the 'top' strings look tarnished in the shot rather than bright and shiny - hence no specular reflection. A couple of new ones would fix that.

Or, since they are probably 0.010 and maybe 0.013 thick, it wouldn't take much processing (NR, etc.) to make them disappear.

Or so I thought until I went to show you how it's done:



Just overhead lighting (warehouse lamps w/ CFLs and white reflectors).

You'll see that the nice shiny strings show up good when there is light to be reflected but, over to right, almost disappear just like in your shots. How you get more light on those two skinny strings is of course up to you . . I'm no lighting expert.

Come to think of it, I've had the same difficulty with coins and watches in the past . . .

[Mike Buckley]

Ted,

It's all a matter of using the family of angles. The strings provide mostly a direct reflection, so if the light source that is lighting them is within the family of angles, they will be brightly lit. If not, they won't.

The problem I have is that the total shooting area of my makeshift studio is only 4 feet by 6 feet. (That explains why I had to use a 22 mm focal length on a camera with a 1.5 crop factor to include the entire guitar in the scene.) Such a small space does not allow enough room to set the guitar, tabletop and background in place and also allow enough room for the light stands required to light the entire surface of all the strings in one shot. Indeed, I had to hand hold the white reflector about 18" x 24" because there was physically no way to fix it in place due to the limited space.

That explains why I used light painting to light the two troublesome strings. They aren't perfectly evenly lit but the results will have to do considering the constraints of working within my tiny makeshift studio. The uneven brightness is caused by not light painting all areas of the strings the same amount of time.

These guitars I'm photographing are more than twice the size of the next largest subjects I have photographed in the space; their size most definitely taxes the limitations of such a small working space.

By the way, if you take a look at the photos at the National Guitars website you'll notice that the strings in their photos are not evenly lit. The two smallest strings are often lit unacceptably in my opinion considering that the photos were surely professionally made in ideal shooting situations for use at the company's website and in their brochures.

[Mike Buckley]

I have added this thread to display close-ups of the guitar.

[Mike Buckley]

My friend who owns the guitar has now provided information about it that I added to the first post in the thread.

[Dave Gould]

A couple of points about the guitar.

It has been strung "incorrectly" on the lower three strings deliberately or otherwise.

Regarding the first and second strings, i think it would probably help (photographically) if they were changed for new/fresh strings.

Nice shots Mike!

DG

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Dave, and welcome to CiC!

It has been strung "incorrectly" on the lower three strings deliberately or otherwise.

What is incorrect about the stringing? I assume you mean the three lower-pitched strings. EDIT: I see that Ted thinks you might be referring to his photo of his guitar.

Regarding the first and second strings, i think it would probably help (photographically) if they were changed for new/fresh strings.

Ted thought the same thing but that actually wouldn't help. If you scroll up in this thread you'll see a discussion about that. If you take a look at the close-up images of the same guitar in this thread, you'll see that the strings are brightly lit. You'll also see another discussion about the topic in that thread.

[xpatUSA]

A couple of points about the guitar.

It has been strung "incorrectly" on the lower three strings deliberately or otherwise.

Welcome to CiC.

If you're talking about my guitar, it's a left-handed model.

Regarding the first and second strings, i think it would probably help (photographically) if they were changed for new/fresh strings.

Again, not sure whose guitar is being referred to but my photo was posted as an illustration - not for comment . . .

. . . I only change strings if they break . . .

A bit like my cameras . .

[Dave Gould]

Hi Mike,

No, i was refering to your photo. The three lower strings have been wound "under" the barrels instead of over them. Makes no difference to your super pic but any guitarist trying to tune it would be a little confused

DG

p.s. it just doesn't look right to a guitarist

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks for that tip, Dave. I'll pass it along to my friend.

[Dave Gould]

Mike,

It is difficult o see - not enough light in that area. Apologies if I am wrong.

DG