royall trifonium vs national m1

There is a new version of this video with slightly improved audio here:    • royall trifonium vs national m1 - new audio   Battle of the wooden tricones! I ordered a royall trifonium and compared it to my national m1 resonator guitar. They are very similar in looks, but the internal construction is surprisingly different. Both guitars had light strings - 0.012 gauge - and both were set up fairly low for conventional playing, not slide. The royall had brand new strings on it, while the national had probably month old strings or so. My impressions: aside from the cover plate, the guitars are very similar in terms of appearance and playability. To my ears the trifonium has a bit more metallic sound, while the national is more mellow. The trifonium is slightly heavier than the national. intro: 00:00 tone, playing: 00:32 exterior comparison: 04:26 royall machine screws: 05:45 coverplates off: 06:15 t-bar weight: 06:59 cone weight: 09:25 interior contruction, soundwell: 10:29 cone swap: 12:38