RIP Mr.Dusan Papic (Promat guitars)

[Damir Besic]

thanks guys, I’m not sure how he got into building steel guitars, he played lap steel in the band with his brother in his early days, he graduated a college with the degree in engineering, and eventually became a head engeneer in some big corporation, and gain the access to the best people in business... he was also in touch via snail mail with Ron Lashley Sr. and they had exchanged some knowledge and ideas... this man was the real deal, if you had the chance to see look on Bobbe’s face when he saw and played his first Promat, you’d understand what I’m talking about ... I will never forget the first thing that came out of Bobbes mouth after playing the guitar for few minutes was “how does he do that?” .... but unfortunately nobody knows, the secret of the Promat tone is gone with Dusan’ s passing, there is less then 30 guitars built in the entire world, only 7 or 8 are in US, and the last one is being finished by Mr. Lynn Stafford as we speak... I paid over $7,000.00 for my last Promat, Bobbe sold his years ago for the same amount, if you are looking for one Jim Palenscar has a very nice two tone D10 for sale priced more then fairly...

[Ian Rae]

I ask an obvious question and the mystery deepens...

[Dave Diehl]

A lot of it Damir is in that last picture you posted. He did everything by hand and another part of his success was the quality of the materials used in his work. A lot of non-metallic stainless steel.