National D8......Major Surgery!

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

I've been wanting a National Dynamic and in the process of looking for one found a D8 on ebay that was within my budget. It arrived today (yesterday for those of you on the east coast) and was as described except for one issue. Ever wonder what holds those multi-piece bodies together? I found out.....1/2 inch wooden dowels and good old glue.

The guitar arrived for lack of a better term "loose". I stripped it, cleaned out the holes, cleaned off the dowels and stuck her back together. Check out this pick.

While I had the necks seperated and all the electronics on the bench I cleaned everything up. This seperation gave me easy access to the tuner covers that need polished and made cleaning the body parts quite easy as well. Here she is put back together in all her glory. Still needed are peg head covers, pickup covers and an original amphenol connector.

The guitar looks better in person than in the pics. It does have a couple of cracks in the fretboards and is missing a little paint around her tail feathers. The electronics work great and got a good DeOxit cleaning while on the bench.

It is raining in Southern California. We need it!

Later,

Rich

Jonathan Lam · From: Brooklyn, NY

I love the way those look, how does it sound?

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Jonathan, these are kinda cool looking. I agree.

This baby is sweet. It has a nice full range of tone. It has great bass response yet the highs are quite crisp as well, nice and balanced. The tone control is unique. Rather than a pot, it uses a three position switch. Brilliant, mellow and bass are the settings. Brilliant is the bypass, mellow rolls off a bit of the trebble and bass is bass. The mellow setting is to die for. A very haunting sound. This is not a twangy guitar like a Fender. It has a much more balanced tone. The necks are equal in output and the PUs have excellent punch. I also like the 23" scale, very comfortable.

Best I can do for now. It was fairly late when I got her strung up and playing last night. I didn't get but about 10 minutes playing time in. Maybe less, just enough to make sure everything worked.

RH

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Rich, that's almost like my old 1952 National D-8. Mine's complete with peghead and pickup covers. The only thing I've done to it is replace the tuner buttons as they'd all crumbled up. I also had a 1/4" phone plug installed so I could use a regular guitar cord. what tuning(s) are you using on yours? Mine is set up with an E7th (E G# B D E G# B E low to high) on the outside neck and a B6th (E G# B D# F# G# B D# low to high) on the inside. I had it set up in E13th and C6th for a while like Don Helms but it wasn't that usable for me. I like the "power chords" and rock slide things available on my E7th tuning.......JH in Va.
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Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Jerry,

Mine is a '48. I have C6 outside and E7 inside. I like the Blues/Rock stuff in E7 too. My tuner buttons are original and look real good, I'm suprised actually. The C6 may become A6 for one song I do that was done with a pedal guitar originally. It has a slide down to an open string A chord and the lead part just works better in A6, oh well.

If you still have the screw on connector from your guitar I would be interested in purchasing it.

Best,

Rich

Michael Lee Allen · From: Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois

DELETED
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Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

I got an email from a forum member asking how I got the guitar apart so I though I would give you National owners the story here as well.

"I removed the strings then the fret boards hoping to find slots to tighten
bolts....like a Fender Multi-neck. Nothing there. Next step was to take all the screws out of the
control plate and then remove the 4 screws that hold the pickup/bridge
assys. in place. Note that you must remove the fret boards to remove the
pickups or they will bind against the fret boards possibly cracking them.
The pickups must come out before and along with the control plate due to the
cover mounting studs and the wiring. Don't forget the two control plate
screws on the bottom below the output jack.

Carefully lift each pickup from the bridge end and slide it slightly to the
rear. There is a tab on the front of each pickup that engages a routed slot
under the fret boards. It is actually the base plate for the pickup. The
wires are short so work carefully here. There is a screw that holds the hot
wire from each pickup to a terminal in from of each pickup. Remove each
screw after bending the terminal up for access. The entire control plate and
both pickups can now be separated from the guitar.

My guitar was quite loose and a bit of space had developed between the necks
and the center control section. Just a note, the center section has some
very thin sections so work carefully in the area of the tone & volume
controls. You should be able to see the dowel locations from my pic on the
SGF thread.

To protect the body from damage I cut up a soda can and made plates so I
didn't damage the finish while prying the necks off the loose dowels. I used
a wide wood chisel and a huge screwdriver to pry the necks outward. Once I
got a little distance they came the rest of the way by hand.

I cleaned up the dowels and holes the reassembled with wood glue. Keep a
damp rag handy to wipe up excess glue. I used large rubber bands to clamp
the guitar together while the glue dried. All the electronics went back
together in the reverse order. All in all It was about a four hour project
including dry time. Sustain definately improved with the re-glue."

Best,

Rich

Tom Pettingill · From: California, USA (deceased)

Love those boat tail Dynamics.
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Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Hey Rich, I hadn't played mine for a while so I took it to a guitar gig yesterday and hooked it up to do some tunes on. I'd forgotten about one characteristic of mine, the fact that the outside neck is considerably brighter than the inside neck. Is yours like that too? It really sounds great but I wish they were more tonally balanced......JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Jerry,

I can't tell a difference in either neck on my guitar. The level or output is the same and so is the tone. I wouldn't call it and overly bright guitar but very well balanced in tone. Maybe you need some pickup or magnet work?

RH

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

The output seems to be the same on both necks but the difference in tone between the necks is similar to what you'd have between a Les Paul and a Telecaster. I wonder what'd happen if I bypassed the three position tone switch. Would that be hard to do?.........JH in Va.
_________________
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Jerry, it would be easy to do but I don't think it will change anything. You might try cleaning the neck selector toggle. It is a funky switch and might be the cause.

The tone switch looked to be wired in the circuit after the neck switch. It is also a master switch that should work the same on both necks. In the brilliant setting both tone caps are bypassed. You can test everything with a jumper lead with an aligator clip on each end. It will be difficult to get under the control plate however without removing the strings and PUs.

RH

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