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Eric O’Hara, Billy Samford, and the RQ Jones resophonic guitars

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In an earlier article, John Lawless detailed the relationship between Rudy Jones and Billy Samford, and Billy keeping the Rudy Jones resophonic guitar line active following Rudy’s death in 2015. A few months ago I had a chance to meet Billy and check out his guitars.

On Friday morning of the Jekyll Island Bluegrass Festival over New Years weekend, I heard some jamming, so I went exploring and met Billy. He requested that I take some pictures of his new resophonic guitar.

We agreed on Saturday morning, and he knocked on the camper door mid-morning. He had another gentleman with him who turned out to be Eric O’Hara. Who is Eric O’Hara, you might ask? He is the pedal steel player for the Gibson Brothers country band configuration. Eric Gibson said that O’Hara enjoyed playing out so much that he got a reso guitar, and now plays with the bluegrass band as well. That is only a small part of who he is.

O’Hara told me “the rest of the story.” Shortly after graduating from school, Eric went to work for a store near where the Gibsons lived in upstate New York. He described the store as one that sold the 4 Gs – gas, groceries, guns, and guitars. He said they still do. One day Eric and Leigh’s dad came into the store with the 12 and 11 year old brothers, bought a banjo and a guitar, and told them each to pick one. That would be what they were going to learn to play. Eric O’Hara became their teacher, which developed into a lifelong relationship.

Eric is the latest endorsee of RQ Jones guitars. He was picking up his new guitar from Billy. If you see Eric with the Gibson Brothers, you will know that he is the guy that taught them to play.

Billy is working on a new project. He has acquired an early Rudy Jones guitar made completely of walnut. He is going to build a series of these walnut guitars. Every inch of this guitar is being measured and detailed to make the new ones as identical to the old one as possible. He has even sourced walnut from the same area as the vintage guitar.

Keep an eye out for these special guitars. See them all on the RQ Jones web site.

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RQ Retrofit keeps the legacy of RQ Jones reso-guitars alive

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Folks in the bluegrass community in Florida, and those who closely follow the world of resonator guitars, know the work of Rudy Jones. His RQ Jones guitars are highly prized for the detailed workmanship he put into them, and for the old school sound they delivered.

Sadly, Rudy passed away in 2015 after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s Disease, but before he left us, he developed a method for retrofitting square neck bodies made overseas into highly playable and fine sounding instruments at a fraction of the price of his hand made masterpieces. With his health failing, Jones had been looking for a way to complete guitars without all the time consuming wood construction involved in building bodies.

Before he had to give up luthiery completely, Rudy passed on his system for retrofitting these guitars to Billy Samford, who had learned at his side in the RQ Jones shop in Bristol, FL. Jones passed along not only his knowledge, but his name and logo to Samford, with the hope that money from the sale of these retrofit guitars could benefit research into Parkinson’s Disease.

And so, RQ Retrofit guitars were born. Billy has started his venture with a pledge to build 10 new squarenecks using the secrets he learned from the master, and is donating at least 30% of the net profit from each sale to Parkinson’s research. Using imported bodies and necks, he can offer a traditional style reso-guitar, with solid tone, volume, and projection, for only $1500 with case.

Samford is also offering a 5 day satisfaction guarantee, and a 10% discount to young players 18 and under. The new retrofit resos are being offered through Banjo Ben’s online store, and Gordons String Music.

So far, the response has been quite positive. No less a bluegrass legend than Rodney Dillard has endorsed these guitars, as has Troy Boone with the Amanda Cook Band. Further details can be found on the RQ Retrofit web site.

The Jones retrofit technique is also being applied to a new, small shop handbuilt guitar project. Working with Tallahassee luthier Danny Goddard of Jett Instrument Company, Billy will be installing hardware into new, American made bodies as well. They expect to debut their first build within a fe weeks. We’ll be sure to report on that when it is ready.