The first[clarification needed] company was formed by George Beauchamp, a vaudeville steel guitar player and house painter, and inventor John Dopyera, a violinist and luthier.

Brother Rudolph Dopyera, who previously worked with Weissenborne, hand built the original tri-cone models with diamond holes, prior to the second production stamped metal bodies by engineer Adolph Rickenbacher.

They built metal resophonic mandolins, tenor guitars and ukuleles, some of which were ornately engraved with rose, lily of the valley and chrysanthemum designs.

Wooden-bodied Triolian and Trojan single resonator models eventually followed once the Dopyera brothers departed, based on inexpensive plywood student guitar bodies supplied by Kay, Harmony, and other established instrument manufacturers.

In their 1930 catalog, National list eight key associates, including Adolph Rickenbacker, George Beauchamp, Harry Watson, Paul Barth, and Jack Levy.