1995 Dobro USA Resonator

1995 Dobro (USA) Resonator

"Thomas"

d2 079 95

Right then. So. A resonator huh?

Well, despite the fact that my woman didn't leave me, that my boss is entirely affable, and that I have enough money to get the things that I need, I will admit that I DO like a little old-school Blues from time to time. Odd for a middle-class white-boy from Sunderland? Perhaps, yes.

Regardless, this fits the bill very nicely. Look around the 'Sold' section and you'll see that I briefly owned a steel-bodied resonator for a while. However, that was a cheaper knock-off, so I suppose that it was destined to be jettisoned at some point. And so it was. In the write-up for that guitar, I said that it was a test-bed to see whether I clicked with the resonator 'thing' before dumping a bunch of money on a "proper National or Dobro".

Well, despite dumping that guitar after only a couple of months, it became clear that I missed it rather a lot. So, I kept looking out for a "proper" resonator, and missed out on a few (they're more expensive than I imagined ...) before snapping this one up.

The term "Dobro" is used generally to describe a wooden-bodied resonator (and to describe ALL resonators in my experience), so I wanted a Dobro, not something LIKE a Dobro. Unfortunately, Gibson bought the Dobro brand a while back, then shifted production to the Far East, under the watchful eye of Epiphone. So, given that I've been trying to restrict myself to high-end (or at least higher-end) gear for a while, it was an older USA-made model that I wanted. And here it is.

Some history. Dobros date back to 1928, when John and Emil Dopyera (the DOpyera BROthers ... see what they did?!) formed the Dobro Manufacturing Company. John designed (invented, actually) a bunch of resonator guitars, including a wooden-bodied variant with a single, inverted resonator cone. The strings sat on a bridge assembly, which sat on a 'spider' bridge, with arms reaching outwards from the bridge to the circumference of the resonator cone. The history is long-winded and really quite dull, but John was a major shareholder in National (who still make resonators) and the brothers eventually gained control of National AND Dobro, and they merged the companies to form the National-Dobro Corporation. After lots more complicated and dull shit, Rudy and Emil Dopyera formed 'Original Musical Instruments' (OMI) in '67, and eventually branded their resonators as Dobro. Still with me?

All was well until Gibson bought OMI (and the rights to the Dobro name) in 1993. They moved production to Nashville, but the guitars were still made using the same materials and processes (and by lots of the same staff) until after '95. Eventually, Gibson took a shit on the history and mojo of Dobros, and started sticking Dobro decals on cheap imports. I've played some. And ... yeah.

Anyway, as this one is from '95, it is from the period when these were still made properly (and in USA), and has the 'proper' stamped serial on the headstock tip.

I got this from Thomas Ford (not his real name), who is a UK-based blues player described in the music press as "THE rising star of British Blues" and "a one-man Blues cyclone". He really is extremely good. Like ... seriously good (see the link of him playing this guitar). He played the living shite out of this before selling it on, and was very apologetic about its beaten condition. I found that very odd (and quite charming), especially given that weeks before buying this I'd just paid a fortune for a relic strat ... at least all the wear on this is honest and original.

At this point, I'd normally write a load of drivel about detailed specification, materials, hardware and stuff. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no bloody idea what this is made from, or what the hardware is, other than that it was fitted with an aftermarket German 'Continental' cone., and that the pickuo is a 'Custom made' Kent Armstrong. So I'll save you the bother of reading my missing drivel, and just tell you that it is GOOD. It's DAMN good actually.

The neck is chunky, the fretwork is great, and the hardware all appears to do exactly what it should. It is also bloody loud if you hit it hard ... it's uncomfortably loud (by my standards) for most of the situations where I'd want to use a regular acoustic.

Now, with my old cheap resonator, I wimped out and put some weedy strings on it ... and why not, given that it sounded ok whether it was wearing weedy strings or wearing scaffold poles. THIS, however, sounds good with weedy strings, but sounds STUNNING with a set of proper bronze 'slack-gauge' resonator 13s. Yes, the resonator boys consider 13's to be 'slack'! It's not unusual to see these puppies loaded with 16-gauge strings. Whoa. That said, I will admit that this has been wearing bronze 10's for most of its time here.

Maybe it is the fact that the resonator cone in this is inverted (with the big spider-arrangement on top of it) that makes it sing when there's some serious string-mass moving around?Whatever the reason, it's a cool, raucous, raspy, full tone ... not like the clangy, zingy response from the metal-bodied versions (which I think tend to sound pretty harsh, like you're banging a metal saucepan with a metal spoon). I suppose that the timber body warms up the frequencies that it puts out over those of the metal-bodied ones.

The result is that this sounds wonderful with a metal slide, whereas I found myself only ever using a glass slide previously (to warm things up a little).

So. Yes. I like it very much, and can see this staying here for a LONG time. Now if you'll excuse me ... I'm just off to dust my broom ... whatever that means.