FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Dobro Guitar Vintage

Question:
I just acquired a Dobro. It has laminated maple top/sides/back with the round resonator. Also has F-holes. I was told it is a Gibson Dobro reissue, but what I don't understand is 1. No Gibson written anywhere on the guitar 2. Just has Dobro on the guitar 3. Did Dobro make laminated resonator guitars? Or, where they only solid wood? 4. I read somewhere on the web that Gibson brought out Dobro, but does this mean Dobro makes the guitars? Or is it Gibson building them? 5. I saw one fancy looking Gibson Dobro reissue with brown raised kind of wood pattern and it sounded entirely different than my Dobro. So, I wonder if I really have a Gibson. Color is solid brown and black. No red in the color, so not sunburst. Black a few inches around the guitar with brown in the middle. No binding or at least I can't see any. On headstock, has Dobro label and truss rod cover has the Dobro. Tuning pegs are not great, but functional - white plastic. Action is 3.00mm, 2.78mm for 12th fret 6th string and 1st string, respectively (holding down the 1st fret). Thanks for any information on this resonator guitar, since I am curious to when it might have been made

Answer:
Gibson bought the name, and these days it's under their OAI subsidiary, but you'll only see the Dobro name on the headstock. If it's a bit older, it could be an OMI Dobro, formed by members of the original Dopyera family in 1970 (I think?). Gibson bought that company (and the name) in 1993, and moved the production to Nashville in 1998. So if it's later than 1993, it's basically a Gibson-built guitar. As far as I know, the Dobro-branded wood body instruments have always been laminated, including the early pre-war models that everything else is based on. I have one from 1937 and it's definitely laminated. There are high-end Dobro copy builders now using solid woods, like Beard and Allen, and they're fine instruments. But I think it's still a somewhat controversial question; whether you really need solid wood or not in this type of instrument. It's basically a speaker box with a neck on it. So don't feel like it's a lesser instrument if it's laminated. My cheap little 1937 roundneck laminated Dobro sounds great. A huge amount of the sound is in the cone, and the way the internal baffling is set up. There are some things you can do to upgrade the instrument, like installing a new cone. But first it would be a good idea to identify just what you have, and what year it is.