| Subject: | Re: [RESOGUIT-L] Trying to figure out dates for an old Dobro... | | Date: | , October 12, 2006 23:35:53 (+0200) | | From: | don.hergert <don.hergert @.......net>
|
| In reply to: | Message 4994 (written by Howard Parker) |
Howard Parker <hlpdobro@intr.net> wrote:
>
> ==>We live for old dates!! :)
>
>
Hi Howard, thanks... Ok, here goes...
I've recently acquired an aluminum bodied Dobro that I'm trying to get
approximate production dates for. It has a number of unique features, and it
has
no serial number.
The Gruhn book and the Vintage Guitars Info's Dobro Metal Body Resonator
Vintage Guitar Info. website are pretty good about descriptions, but there are
still some major questions about this particular instrument...
Here is the description:
First, as mentioned, there is no serial number at the top of the peghead, near
the fingerboard or anywhere else on this Dobro that I can find.
This Dobro has a square maple neck, with a big (8 inch long) slotted (routed)
peghead, a fretless rosewood fingerboard with MOP position marker dots, yellow
wood slices mimicking fret positions and 14 frets clear of the body.
The Dobro label appears to be a post war {d b} logo with no lyre and no word
"Original" being present.
It has an aluminum body with *4* 6-segmented F-holes, those being fine segments
similar to National's F-holes, with 2 of these F-holes in each top bout.
The aluminum body has *no* fiddle edges; the top and back appear to have edges
bent at a right angle to the rest of the surface, then fitted into the side
piece
and pinned to it with what appears to be some short 1/32" diameter steel pins.
This wouldn't normally show, except that the body finish has mostly been
agressively scraped off, leaving only a few dark brownish specks of paint on the
back.
The thinly nickle plated brass resonator coverplate with typical Dobro fans
pointing outward covers an orgiginal Dobro-style cast aluminum spyder -- with a
sloped and slotted integral aluminum bridge -- and an original stamped cone.
There is no soundwell in the body, but the neck dowel runs the full length of
the body with three steel "V" supports holding it between the aluminum top and
back.
This particular instrument has been fitted with upturned Grover machine tuners
with white faux-pearl buttons. Old screw holes and pressure markings in the
wood
indicate that the orginal tuners were probably classical guitar style strip
tuners.
With the finish scraped off, it is a pretty ugly duckling, but the good thing
is that it has wonderful tone and fairly good punch when playing, so for me it
is
a keeper.
This instrument does have some interesting quirks, it would not be impossible
to have been made, or partially made by a private builder instead of by whatever
ownership interation Dobro as a company was in during the late '50s and early
'60s. However I have recently learned of another Dobro with many of the same
quirks...
I had another reso player come up to me at a festival that I played at and ask
about my Dobro. He also has a Dobro very much like it, identical neck and
resonator construction, but a wooden body.
The unique features that our Dobros share are:
1) No serial number, big routed-slotted peghead, "{ d b }" label on peghead,
maple square neck with rosewood nut, fretless rosewood fingerboard, 14 frets
clear of the body, with yellow wood inlays for the fret lines and MOP position
markers.
2) Traditional Dobro tailpiece, thin nickle plating on the coverplate, aluminum
spyder with integral aluminum bridge, stamped cone, no soundwell.
Other than the custom machine tuners and aluminum body on mine, our instruments
are nearly identical. The owner of this wooden bodied Dobro indicated he
believed that his had been in his family since 1958, and was new in 1957.
From the best document histories I've been able to research, it looks like
Dobro as a company was either in transition from one parent company to another,
or out of business during some periods, in the 10 years between 1957 and 1967;
afterward it became OMI, later to be owned by Gibson... The { d b } logo as
well
as a number of unique, perhaps experimental, perhaps even some left over pre-war
technologies appear to have been used during this 10 year period. But I'm
saying
this is all simply from research, not experience...
So, has anyone here seen anything like my old Dobro elsewhere? Are there any
recognizable dates or Dobro eras that this instrument fits neatly into? Any
insights about Dobro company history around the time of this instrument would be
very interesting too...
Thanks for your time and/or comments...
Best,
-- Don
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