UNRESERVED. Serial#: 2308G. One of National's Hawaiian steel guitars - the Style 35 - features a seated minstrel plucking a long-necked string instrument underneath a willow tree on its back. Unlike the earlier engraved designs implemented by National on other Styles, this particular instrument's detailing was sandblasted and then airbrushed with colored enamel.

The Tricone has three small cones connected by a "T"-shaped bridge, which are very much like speaker cones both in shape and function. The body of the guitar is made of "German Silver" which is what fret-wire is made of: 65% copper, 10-23% zinc, and 10-20% nickel. The reasoning behind a metal body is that all the energy generated by the strings was intended to be amplified by the cones, and the metal simply allows for the cones to vibrate much more easily than if the guitar were made of traditional wood, resulting in greater volume and sustaining of sound. Another argument made in favor of metal is that a wooden body guitar would have soaked up a fair amount of the energy generated by the cones. Unlike wood, the metal used was guaranteed not to split and of course could not warp.

National guitars were by far the loudest guitars one could buy at the time, and their tone was clearer and more defined than a traditional wooden instrument. The Hawaiian models like this one here was built with a square metal neck specifically for increased sustain while slide playing. The Tricone Style 35 is among the more rare National models on the vintage market; coupled with the fact that this guitar was constructed in the company's final year of metal body instruments makes it all that more unique.

VG; some oxidation on the top, a few rust spots on the top bass side, finish checking on back of headstock, some scratches on back and neck, some dulling of the German Silver where the neck meets the back