MusicRadar Verdict
Vintage can't seem to decide who this is for. The strings don't match the pickup and what for many is a slide guitar is set up as a standard electric. Nicely made though…
Pros
- +
Good build; acoustic sound/playability.
Cons
- -
Uneven output; action's too low for slide.
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Vintage already has three acoustic resonators and one National-style biscuit-bridge cutaway electro resonator in its range.
But the company has recently added this good-looking Dobro-style spider-bridge electro resonator with 12-frets-to-the-body neck joint, 626mm (24.6-inch) scale length, Telecaster-style covered neck single-coil and knurled-knobbed volume and tone controls.
The maple laminate body has some strong flaming, especially on the back, enhanced by the satin amber finish. With a maple neck that's not over wide (42.6mm at the nut with 54mm string spacing at the bridge) it feels good, quite electric solidbody-like and only the mismatched heel stack points to its cost-effective origins.
Sounds
Unplugged, the 800 certainly captures a resonator's honk. It's not over loud for the style and a little more refined than many metal-bodied National-styles. Plugged in however, the bronze wound strings are not suited to a magnetic pickup designed for nickel wounds.
The output is very unbalanced, the wound strings much quieter than the plain treble B and E and the Tele pickup sits some way from them. Then there's the electric set-up, which negates all but the very lightest of slide techniques.
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