The slotted headstock follows the traditional early style (versus the last 14-fret guitars with their solid heads) and is identified by a stamped-in headstock logo. The neck is made of mahogany and topped by an ebony fretboard. The Dueco is available in the traditional gray-green crystalline frosted Duco and the rare golden finish, which is stunning.
![national duolian guitar case national duolian guitar case](https://thumbs.static-thomann.de/thumb/thumb600x600/pics/bdb/276776/6427275_800.jpg)
That steel body houses National’s 9.5″ hand-spun resonator – a new resonator that sounds so lovely many players insist on swapping them into their old guitars (and keeping the vintage piece in their case for originality). The Dueco comes in both the early 12-fret, large-body and the later 14-fret, small-body versions of the originals. And if it does get out of true – say you’re consistently using an A or E open tuning – you can simply realign it with an Allen wrench rather than going through the expense and agony of removing the neck and resetting it in a heat press.
![national duolian guitar case national duolian guitar case](https://guitarpoint.de/app/uploads/products/1937-national-duolian-wood-finish/National31DuoC2374_8.jpg)
The new Dueco boasts a truss-rod-supported neck that won’t bow like your favorite archery equipment. While it retails for about the price of a prime vintage Duolian, it comes with something the old guitars don’t – rock-solid reliability. The guitars – like the players – led hard lives, and most that survive today need a repair regimen, if not a complete resurrection. Duolians of the early 1930s were National’s budget guitars, and, as such, often the model of choice for blues men wanting to be heard above the sound and fury of a juke joint. Since its founding in 1989, National Reso-Phonic Guitar has re-created many great vintage models – and remedied their shortcomings along the way. Blues man Charlie Parr recently philosophized in VG that National resonator guitars are as much mechanical creation as musical instrument, which is why maintaining the function of vintage Nationals comes with a special set of worries and woes.