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Topic: Date a Dobro? |
Kyle Dosskey
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 6:49 pm |
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| Anybody think they can put a date on a Dobro brand squareneck resonator, serial # D 743 8? |
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Kyle Dosskey
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 6:50 pm
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alright fine, here's the listing... but please don't buy it if it turns out to be a gem:
Link to auction on eBay. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 7:03 pm
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I have had some success dating Dobros with the following website:
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/dobro.html
But in the case of this instrument, I didn't see anything on the site that jives with the sequence - or else I missed it because I just got back from the gym, I'm hungry, and I'm not concentrating very well. 
Ballpark guess - it looks to me like a mid to late 70's OMI.
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Mark |
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Kyle Dosskey
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 7:14 pm
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yeah, I concur Mark, that was my guess as well (although I couldn't match the serial with the dating scheme on that site either)
what do you think, good deal? |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 7:38 pm
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It's a fair price, and it has the "modernized" look preferred by some players with the screenless soundholes, and the theory is that it gives you a little more bass - but I don't know how true that really is because a Dobro brand Dobro is typically made with a traditional soundwell, and most of the sound is generated through the center of the top of the guitar.
It also has been upgraded with a newer Beard cone.
The good thing about OMI Dobros as Gregg McKenna (who builds beautiful instruments by the way) can attest is that they are built like a Sherman Tank.
But I have come across some pretty mediocre older Dobros as well.
I think one of the coolest deals going is to buy a Goldtone Beard directly from Beard in Maryland - I think Paul still has the policy that you can trade it in down the line if so desired, and put the trade value toward an actual Beard reso. And you get the Beard final assembly and setup after the guitar has arrived from China - that's worth plenty.
Kyle, since you are in Beserkeley  have you checked out The 5th String? I haven't been in there in some time, but they usually have a few resos around.
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Mark |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 7:59 pm
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Jim Konrad
From:
The Great Black Swamp USA
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 8:00 pm
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| Mark Eaton wrote: |
I have had some success dating Dobros with the following website:
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/dobro.html
But in the case of this instrument, I didn't see anything on the site that jives with the sequence - or else I missed it because I just got back from the gym, I'm hungry, and I'm not concentrating very well.
Ballpark guess - it looks to me like a mid to late 70's OMI. |
I checked there also....nothing found? I would guess 1970s OMI also. Never saw one made without screens? I love mine it is an 81. Quarterman cone + good setup it has a very loud "old style" Dobro sound. Goes great with old bluegrass! In a small way I like to think of OMI as the last real (Dopyera) Dobros made.
If it is all in good order that price is alright. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 3 Nov 2008 8:10 pm
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It wasn't made that way with the screenless rings, that's a more recent "fashion item" to which I alluded on one of Kyle's other topics.
Hey - Kyle - don't mean to lecture you - but you have three different threads going on essentially the same subject - one would have probably sufficed! 
Oh - and pay no attention to HowardR - he's one sick puppy - I'm surprised he's not smoking a cigarette in that photo... 
_________________
Mark |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Posted 4 Nov 2008 1:56 am
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I read somewhere that the numbering worked like this: D = wood (for some reason) XXX = sequential numbering 8 = 1978 (for the 1980s numbers an 8-prefix was added).
The price is fair. I think the brown sunburst ones look better though.
| Mark Eaton wrote: |
| The good thing about OMI Dobros as Gregg McKenna (who builds beautiful instruments by the way) can attest is that they are built like a Sherman Tank. |
Indeed - my 1976 Dobro was shipped from the US to the UK in its hardshell case simply put inside a cardboard box, with no padding whatsoever! It arrived intact and pretty much in tune.
Fred
(Howard -  )
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www.fredrikkinbom.com - New lap steel album out now - listen here: fredrikkinbom.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-lap-steel-and-harmonium |
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Robert Leaman
From:
Murphy, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 5 Nov 2008 6:46 pm
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Here is a 1975 Model 36 OMI Squareneck Dobro with Wild Rose Engraving. The elk hide strap is by Bob Grayson in St. Louis, MO. An Acoustic Feather is installed on the resonator cone. If you want a marvelous authentic Dobro tone, get one of these.
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Kyle Dosskey
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Posted 5 Nov 2008 7:05 pm
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| Robert- I'll take it! |
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Jim Konrad
From:
The Great Black Swamp USA
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Posted 5 Nov 2008 7:39 pm
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| Robert Leaman wrote: |
An Acoustic Feather is installed on the resonator cone.
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Robert what is an Acoustic Feather?
Nice Dobro! I might take seconds if Kyle passes on it! Is it for sale? |
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Robert Leaman
From:
Murphy, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 6 Nov 2008 10:21 am Acoustic Feather
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An Acoustic Feather is a piezeo pickup that is manufactured by Carl McIntyre. It looks like a small crow feather. One side is adhesive. It can stuck onto almost any part of the guitar but it is recommended to attach it to the resonator cone. It works well with a Fishman preamp.
They sell for about $125. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 6 Nov 2008 12:50 pm
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And the McIntre Feather pickup sounds almost as bad to my ears as the Fishman "donut" pickup mounted to the cone of my Clinesmith.
The Schertler Basik and the new Fishman Aura unit have left those devices metioned above in the dust.
As far as Robert's steel bodied Dobro above - I didn't think it was for sale. 
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Mark |
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Robert Leaman
From:
Murphy, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 7 Nov 2008 5:20 pm
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| My Dobro is NOT steel. The body is chrome plated bell brass as originally used by the Dopyera brothers. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 7 Nov 2008 5:34 pm
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Sorry - I forgot my Dobro specification manual, and that was sort of a slip of the tongue. Generically I should have referred to it as "metal."
I indeed used to lust after the chrome plated brass Dobros, but I got a really good deal on a circa 1930-31 wood body (Serial #1575)back in the 1970's and that was the only resonator guitar I owned for many years until I had Todd Clinesmith build me a custom instrument four years ago.
So does a 1975 chrome plated bell brass OMI Dobro have a more authentic tone than a wood body Dobro from the early 1930's?
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Mark |
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Jon Zimmerman
From:
California, USA
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Posted 9 Nov 2008 12:03 am Houn-Dawg Matic
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Same here, Mark. The looks of the metal body reso's -'specially when engraved and decorated- are attractive to the eye, but the sound is just too over-the-top for my ears...brash, brazen, and dogmatic!
(Pause... while fluttering dictionary pages turn in cyberspace)
I too prefer the wood body sound--like the "hound dawgs" make. Last year I managed to drag out and revive one I found at a Salvation Army store years ago when my kids were tots. It has no chrome parts except the tuners..everything metal was brown-tone painted; cover, screens and all. With Mike Cass's help I had it re-necked to the square shape with a slotted headstock (original was Spanish vee and banana-bowed, stamped #2171), and it has now become everything I always wanted... not to DATE..(Howard!), but to play it as often as possible. |
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Jim Konrad
From:
The Great Black Swamp USA
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Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Jim Konrad
From:
The Great Black Swamp USA
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Posted 9 Nov 2008 11:27 am
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Other than condition (and mods) that is just like mine. I would like to see the tuners better.
I have a 1981 and in my opinion, for getting an "old bluegrass Dobro", style tone they are second to none, with many equals. I love mine it IS my bluegrass steel guitar. Is is the one I take to the local bluegrass jam hoping to sound like a "Dobro" player. Around here it is Gibson banjos, D28, and a Dobro dobro. Anything else is almost something other than tradition  LOL which can also be welcome at times.
Everyone is different so everybody has something in common! |
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Kyle Dosskey
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Posted 9 Nov 2008 12:52 pm
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Yeah I saw that fancy looking one with the cool binding- like you said I feel like I would need to have somebody play it and tell me their thoughts first. I've been following stuff on eBay and just put in an offer on a wechter/scheerhorn b-stock. Check it out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=120318879638
Also, Fred I'm watching that one but 5 bids with 5 days to go I'm guessing it's going to get up there by the end. |
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Gregg McKenna
From:
South Windsor, Connecticut, USA
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Posted 9 Nov 2008 4:52 pm
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| Most of the OMI Dobros go for around $650-$1000 (at least that's been my experience through the years when I sell a used one). |
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