密歇根新闻广播 制作锥形谐振器

We're downstairs at Elderly Instruments in Lansing. There's a lot of talent inside these walls. (See a previous Artisans of Michigan from Elderly here.)

"This place is like an incubator, really. You can bounce ideas off everybody. It's pretty fertile ground in here and you get to see just the best examples of historic instruments and you get to see what the good stuff is," Steve Olson said.

Under his Cone¹ Tone company, Olson has designed a resonator guitar which can be played acoustically³ or plugged in.

Resonator guitars have been around for a long time. National is the best known brand. The resonating sound is caused by an aluminum⁴ cone. But Olson collaborated⁵ with some of his colleagues at Elderly and came up with a unique way to amplify⁶ the resonator.

"They can, you know, they can be kind of feedback problems live. To put a microphone on it, it's like a parabolic microphone. It just picks up everything and it's kind of squirrely. So, I tried to isolate⁷ the cone inside the guitar. So, I designed the guitar around it. So, it's like a clamshell that protects the cone," he said.

Steve Olson holds the molded polycarbonate top before it's trimmed and finished with a napthalene based lacquer.

"It's probably the easiest, so, I'll give you an example."

Olson launched into a blues⁸ song.

"It's a combination trying to capture the resonator guitar in a solid-body-ish format⁹, I guess, or a package so that people that can play electric guitars and are comfortable with electric guitars can just pick it up and not have to really adjust to a bigger body or the acoustic² sound of the resonator necessarily. I mean, they're harder to amplify," Olson explained.

Part of what makes it all work is what's called a biscuit-bridge pickup¹⁰. Whatever Olson and colleagues have done to theirs, one report says it's caused a minor¹¹ sensation in the resonator world.

The guitar has a flame-maple back and a polycarbonate top. Olson has a special formula he uses for the finish on the top piece.

"The idea originally was to replicate¹² the finish from the ‘30s that National used on the metal-bodied guitars, primarily the Duolean. It's a napthalene-based laquer. So, when you spray it on, it crystalizes as it dries so the patterns form naturally," Olson said.

It's a distinctive¹³ look that sets his guitars apart from other electrics.

Olson holds a National resonator guitar. He was inspired by aspects of earlier resonators.

"Well, I think it evokes¹⁴ the feel of the original guitars, you know, it hints at it I guess. So, it captures some of that, but in an electric guitar format. I've re-done vintage Nationals and then it just kind of evolved out of that. Personally, I just kind of got obsessed¹⁵ with it," he said.

Guitar Player magazine reviewed the Cone Town Reso-Volt a couple of years ago and concluded: "If you're not a resonator player already, this thing is likely to hook you."

1 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

2 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

3 acoustically   

听觉上，声学上

参考例句：

• The hall is excellent acoustically. 这个大厅在传音方面极好。
• Moos Acoustically speaking, what happens before and after mating is most interesting. 默丝从象的叫声判断，交配前后发生的事情最有意思。

4 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

5 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

6 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

7 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

8 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

9 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

10 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

11 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

12 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

13 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

14 evokes   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• Each type evokes antibodies which protect against the homologous. 每一种类型都能产生抗同种病毒的抗体。

15 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。