Banjo review
Recording King RM-991 review
The affordable square-neck resonator that gets you into real bluegrass lap-style Dobro — the crying, vocal tone that fills the space between solos. Played flat on the lap with a steel tone bar, exactly the way it is meant to be.
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Sound & tone
The RM-991 gets its voice from a spider cone, and that is what gives it the classic Dobro sound: crying, vocal, and sliding, with good volume and sustain. It is the tone that fills the space between solos in a bluegrass band — the instrument answering the singer. Slide the tone bar and the notes bend and weep in a way no fretted guitar can, which is the entire reason to own one.
Playability & how it’s played
This is the part people need to understand before buying: the RM-991 is a square-neck resonator, so it is played flat on your lap, not held against your body. The action is very high by design, and you cannot fret it like a normal guitar. Instead you fret the notes by sliding a steel tone bar along the strings and pluck with fingerpicks. It is lap-style only — that is not a flaw, it is what the instrument is for.
Build & hardware
The body is mahogany, and the whole package is built to hit the classic Dobro voice at a price that gets real players started rather than priced out. The spider cone does the heavy lifting on tone, and the square neck holds the high action that lap-style playing needs. Nothing here is flashy — it is an honest, functional resonator aimed squarely at bluegrass Dobro, and it does that job well for the money.
The RM-991 is a lap instrument, so budget for a steel tone bar and a set of fingerpicks (a thumbpick and two or three finger picks). Neither usually comes in the box, and you need both to get the real crying Dobro sound out of it.
Who it’s for — and who should skip it
Buy it if you specifically want to play bluegrass lap-style Dobro — the crying, sliding tone fretted with a tone bar — and you want the affordable way in. Skip it if you want to play a resonator in your hands like a normal or slide guitar: the square neck will not let you, because it is lap-style only by design. In that case you want a round-neck resonator such as the Gretsch G9210 Boxcar instead.
How it compares
Against the round-neck Gretsch G9210 Boxcar, the choice is really about how you want to play: the Boxcar can be held and fretted in your hands like a normal or slide guitar, while the RM-991 commits fully to lap-style bluegrass Dobro. Against the budget Regal RD-40, another square-neck option, the RM-991 is the one we point most players to for the classic spider-cone voice. See the full field in our best resonator guitars guide.