Song Rig
Death Letter
Son House · Father of Folk Blues · 1965
Tone Overview
What Makes This Sound Unique
The most emotionally devastating blues performance ever recorded — Son House's 1965 rediscovery recording uses a National Triolian resonator guitar in open G tuning with a bottleneck slide. The tone is raw, metallic, and penetrating: the National's resonator cone amplifies the slide contact with a physical, almost violent quality absent from conventional acoustic guitars.
Signal Chain
- 1National Triolian resonator guitar (steel body, open G tuning)
- 2Glass or Pyrex bottleneck slide
- 3No amplification — pure acoustic resonator
Amp Settings
Acoustic resonator — the National Triolian's metal body and resonator cone create a loud, penetrating tone without amplification. The steel body produces more metallic sustain than wood-body guitars.
Technique
How to Play It
Delta slide with a bottleneck — Son House holds a glass bottleneck on his little finger and drags it across strings in open G tuning. The technique is raw and percussive, with the slide slapping string against fret creating an intentional percussive click alongside the melodic slide.
Budget Alternative
Achievable With
National resonator guitar (or Dobro) in open G tuning (DGDGBD) → glass or Pyrex bottleneck → acoustic recording → the tone is the resonator, not an amp. A standard acoustic guitar in open G with a slide approximates it but lacks the metallic resonator character.
Your Gear
Adapt to My Amp
More from Son House
Other Song Rigs
Preachin' Blues
Son House & The Great Delta Blues Singers · 1930
Son House's 1930 Paramount Records session — the earliest recording in the ToneS…
View rig →My Black Mama
Son House & The Great Delta Blues Singers · 1930
The track that directly influenced Robert Johnson — Johnson absorbed Son House's…
View rig →Levee Camp Moan
The Legendary Son House — Father of Folk Blues · 1965
Anguished and raw — Son House's slide on an acoustic resonator produces a tone t…
View rig →Walking Blues
Father of Folk Blues · 1965
Deeply blues and heavy with emotion — House's version of this Robert Johnson son…
View rig →Grinnin' in Your Face
Father of Folk Blues · 1965
Completely unaccompanied voice — no guitar at all on this track. House claps his…
View rig →