Steel & Gravel Craft Resophonic Coverplates
Western North Carolina musician turns his passion, experience and expertise into a very rare and extremely unique small business.
Custom “Temptation” Coverplate. Designed and crafted by Steel and Gravel - Photo by Roberto Coronado - 2024
Madison, Wisconsin based musician, Roberto Coronado, unsatisfied and unimpressed with the drinking and drug culture that he found himself surrounded by in his twenties, left home and hit the open road (…and rails). He would ride trains or one of his vintage motorcycles across the country, traveling to his heart’s desire, meeting inspiring new friends, fellow travelers and musicians all over the states for months at a time, busking on the city streets for extra cash. Before winter would settle in, he’d return home to his reliable jobs in the service industry to replenish his bank account until he could set out for more adventures in the Spring.
Montana, heading into Glacier National Park via Highline, 2006 — Photo by Roberto Coronado
In 2015, Roberto (Rob) moved to Asheville, North Carolina via Austin, Texas, where he continued to play music for a living, and of course, traveling in between. During one trip back to downtown Madison, Rob heard the familiar sound of a slide guitar, lofting from a street corner. Having been captivated by the music of Blind Willie Johnson, Charley Patton, Furry Lewis and Peg Leg Howell (to name a few) some years prior, he followed the sound trail until it led him face to face with Catfish Stephenson, an older gentleman who looked like he’d walked straight out of an old Country Western. Catfish was playing slide on a Dobro DM90 Delta steel bodied resonator guitar, displaying an eye catching swamp and gator scene etched into the brass body of the guitar. Beside him sat Todd Cambio (of now Fraulini Guitars), accompanying him on harmonica. Rob, Todd and Catfish would develop a deep friendship that still continues to this day; a friendship that inspired Rob in so many ways, especially furthering his love of riding both motorcycles and trains, and igniting his passion for resonator guitars.
Catfish Stephens and Roberto Coronado, 2023 — Photo by Roberto Coronado
Rob’s motorcycle during a visit to Dockery’s Plantation, where Charley Patton used to play. Sunflower County, Mississippi — Photo by Roberto Coronado, early 2000s
With a background heavy in the punk subculture, Rob combined his love for early American Roots music and played out under the name “Nosedive,” frequently playing popular dive bars and more intimate Asheville venues such as the Crow & Quill, Fleetwoods, Oscar Blues, The Odd, Town Pump Tavern in Black Mountain, and the old Burgar Bar down by the French Broad River.
After an unfortunate accident in 2018, which affected his hands and vocal cords, Rob found himself faced with the grave reality of no longer being able to play music for a living. Still wanting to stay close to the music and his undying relationship with rails, resonators and roots music, Rob began designing custom coverplates to fit all types of resonator guitars.
Naming his business ‘Steel and Gravel,’ a fond nod to the rails and open roads of his traveling days, Rob works through a series of several steps along the process of creating and shipping out a custom plate. “First, we need to determine what make, model, size and mounting pattern your resonator features,” Rob starts off. “I want to make the plate that best fits you and your guitar.” Once that preliminary information is gathered, a client can choose one of the eight motifs Rob has already designed, which can be found on the Steel and Gravel website, or the client can work with Rob to have a custom motif designed. Motifs are the cut-out patterns/designs that become the sound holes on the coverplate. As with all the motifs that Steel and Gravel offers, Rob has drawn each individual one in CAD, adjusting the patterns accordingly, meticulously spacing out each cut (design pattern) evenly and thoroughly evaluating the layout before sending the final design to the CNC (a computerized manufacturing method used to cut the steel). “Coverplates have been widely overlooked and under appreciated as an integral component of the resonator guitars’ balance that lends itself to your guitar’s voice,” Rob explains. “The sound holes must be balanced to get the most projections and tone out of your resonator. If the sound holes are too big, the projection and tone become chaotic and allow the cone to be susceptible to more particles, dust and possible damage, due to debris falling in through the holes, all of which can cause the sound to be unfocused and distorted.” He continues, “If the sound holes are too small, the projection and tone become muffled. The resonator doesn’t have room to breathe and loses a big part of its voice; it cannot sing to its full potential.”
After the motif has been cut onto a round sheet of steel, Rob forms the piece mechanically, and then by hand when necessary, into a shallow dome with a mounting flange around the circumference of the edge. Making sure that the plate fits in the well of the guitar body, lining up perfectly with the mounting holes, Rob then sets up the palm rest, ensuring the precise amount of string clearance. Each palm rest, unique to each plate, are formed with the same dies used by National Guitars back in the 1920’s and 30’s. Once correctly aligned, the plate and palm rest are then stamped with Steel and Gravel’s trademark stamp, the railroad spike with a sunrise, aiding the client to easily line up the top center hole of the plate with the top mounting hole on the body, ensuring the client a smooth and effortless mounting process.
If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting Roberto Coronado, who can often be seen wearing his culture’s striking mariachi jacket, an old fisherman’s cap and probably waving at a passer-by with a genuine twinkle in his eye, you will understand quite quickly how kindhearted, encouraging and uplifting he is to everyone he encounters. His personality and outlook on life definitely carries through into his business. Rob thoughtfully designed Steel and Gravel’s iconic trademark stamp of the railroad spike and sunrise as a reminder for us to always reach for new horizons; to look towards a new day. “We’ve all been through some tough spots and emerge stronger than before,” he says. “For us, for those before us, for our brothers and sisters, friends and family that we have lost to addiction, suicide and other tragic, untimely deaths; [the railroad spike with a sunrise at the top of its head] signifies new horizons and the strength to overcome.”
'“Killer Sweets” Coverplate. Designed and crafted by Steel and Gravel. Photo by Roberto Coronado, 2023
After lining up the mounting holes and palm rest positioning, it’s time for “the fun part: aging the coverplates,” exclaims Rob. “I offer a number of different finishes: light patinas with shades of grey and blue, an aged nickel finish, raw steel, a downright ‘it came straight from the Titanic’ rust finish and the most popular being the darker patina of rich melancholy shades of browns and reds.”
With the patina complete, it’s on to the treatment process. All plates from Steel and Gravel are made from cold rolled steel, which will rust over time if left untreated. So Rob treats every plate with a rubbed-in wax coating, delaying the natural patina, thus prolonging the life of the steel. He includes a lifetime supply of this wax with every plate to ensure each plate will last for decades to come. “There are steel resonator guitars out there from the 20’s and 30’s that have their fair share of natural patina and are still crankin’ out tunes. So will these plates,” Rob says as he looks over one of his newest custom plates that he just finished waxing and buffing.
Last but not least, is the handcrafted Baltic Birch box that Rob constructs, stains with local black walnut stain which he harvested and made himself, and seals the stain using linseed oil and wax. The inside of the box is then lined with a plush, crushed velvet cushion that he designed to perfectly house the new Steel and Gravel coverplate during its journey to its proud new owner, which in return, can house and store the original coverplate once it is removed from the guitar. “I have made plates for a lot of vintage Nationals and I want to make sure that bit of history (the coverplate original to the guitar) is stored safely while you write your own unique history with your new plate.”
Rob’s aim with Steel and Gravel is to create coverplates that allow all the parts of a resonator guitar to work seamlessly in tandem to achieve the absolute best possible voice, while still respecting and paying homage to those that have come before him in the niche industry and musical genre. “My goal is a connection through confidence, ultimately.” He states. “To instill a very intimate connection; syncopation if you will, between the player and their resonator guitar.”
Rob now splits his time between creating Steel and Gravel’s craft coverplates and building banjos for Pisgah Banjo Co. in Fairview, North Carolina. In the evenings of the warmer months, he can often be found sitting on his back porch in Jupiter, North Carolina, wailing away on one of his four vintage resonator guitars, each sporting a different Steel and Gravel coverplate, and most likely using his old pocket knife as a slide.
