It’s obvious that resonators have something no other guitar has - cones. What’s less obvious is that those cones have to be supported by something. That something is the sound well. This is a large piece of wood glued to the top of the guitar. 

Woods job in a guitar is to transfer the energy you put into it as efficiently as possible and to shape the sound it makes. I don’t think of the things you do to an instrument as adding to the energy, I see it as sculpting and filtering the sound it creates. 

Instead of seeing the sound well as a structural piece historically made from maple, we are experimenting with different woods and combinations of woods. Because this area of the guitar receives the most string energies because it’s closest to the saddle little changes make a big difference.

Matt