Adding an 8 string dobro to the mix

[Carey Hofer]

I play on an 8 string lap steel. How much of a stretch would it be to play on an acoustic dobro. Maybe like switching from electric to acoustic guitar?

[K Maul]

It can depend somewhat on tuning. Dobros generally work best with heavier strings. A high G C6, for example, might sound thin. I don’t put anything less than a .014 on the high string. But don’t go TOO heavy because the extra string pressure can dampen the sound.

[Robert Murphy]

I went from a G tuned 6 string dobro to a G6 8 string dobro to C6 lap steel and then settled on G6 6 string dobro tuned to the same intervals. The journey is not over but I can switch between acoustic and electric steel guitar.

[Bob Watson]

I have a Beard Gold Tone 8 string Dobro tuned to G6 and I like it a lot. It's hard to find a p/u but I have used it on gigs that didn't have a drummer and a mic worked fine. It's really fun for acoustic jams too. I also play 8 string lap steel and I use a C6 high G tuning and a McAuliffe E13 on a D8 Stringmaster. I think a C6 tuning on the Dobro would sound too thin, but it wasn't hard to get used to using the G6 tuning, which is, low to high, E,G,B,D,E,G,B,D, the same intervals as a high G C6 tuning. I'll tune the G to G# sometimes to get a G6/E7 tuning sometimes, and you can get the Noel Boggs/Jules Ah See E13 tuning on the Dobro without changing strings. This tuning is E,G#,B,D,F#,G#,C#,E. 8 string Dobro's are fun to play.

[Mark Eaton]

In 2010 I attended Rob Ickes’ ResoSummit in Nashville, this was the final Summit where the legendary Mike Auldridge taught some classes along with performing at The Station Inn.

I took a team taught class on Swing dobro from Mike and Cindy Cashdollar. Mike was playing his signature model Beard 8 string while Cindy was on her 6 string version of the same model guitar. The biggest takeaway for me was how Mike could play licks and passages in close proximity to each other because of the two additional strings whereas Cindy’s bar hand was flying up and down the neck in order to keep up, though keep up she did.

Fast forward to a couple years ago, I was able to order from Beard’s Resophonic Outfitters Mike’s DVD entitled An Introduction to the Eight String Resophonic Steel Guitar. The good news is that it’s a very good short course - the bad news is that you can’t get it from Beard anymore unless they still have a few lying around. They have discontinued all of the Auldridge teaching materials. If you can find a used copy it’s well worth having.

[Mark Eaton]

This is Part 2 of my earlier post. I am sharing some screen shots of the tunings Mike Auldridge used in his Eight String teaching DVD. I would normally never share commercial screen shots, but since Beard no longer offers the DVD it is highly unlikely it will ever again be for sale.

These are the three tunings Mike goes through in the video. One that he also used is not included, I want to say it was D9. When Howard Parker sees this thread he might be able to fill us in.

I do recall asking Mike what he thought about C6 on dobro since many people don’t think it “loads” the cone enough to get optimum tone. His answer didn’t surprise me - he said that in his opinion C6 can sound “kind of wimpy.” But I like the first string in his version of C6, a D on a .016 string.

A great thing Mike did in listing these tunings is that he also included string gauges which is a bonus, rather than having to go to one of the websites and have to do the math.

[Carey Hofer]

Great info guys Thanks.

[Paul Seager]

Last May, I flew to the US for the Red Hot Strings workshop at Centrum, Port Townsend. (Highly recommended if you like swing music!)

The trainer for steelers was Mikiya Matsuda, a great player and gregarious person. Mikiya wrote an intro mail before the workshop and mentioned that he uses an:

"...8 string tricone tuned to A6/F#9, which is basically just a standard A6th with some kinky stuff on the bottom strings. (low to high) g# (plain) A# C# E F# A C# E."

I neither own an 8-str. acoustic nor have not tried this tuning myself but it sounded great live and lent itself very well to the music.

[Adam Tracksler]

https://dobrojoe.com/dobro_school.html

A lot of great free info..

[Guy Cundell]

I am playing a Stringmaster triple regularly and have each of my tunings (A6, E13 & C#m/F#9) on a dobro for rehearsal, practice and fun. The Clinesmith's dimensions are very close to to the Stringmaster, the Beard's string spacings are slightly wider but not problematic. I have no problem going back and forward.

[Mark Eaton]

Hey Guy - I didn’t realize (or I’m just not remembering) that you have an 8 string Clinesmith - that’s a beauty! And of course you can’t go wrong with the tuxedo black & white Beard MAS.

In all these posts we have been discussing tunings, and I’m as guilty as everyone else - but to Carey’s original question, yeah - going to dobro from lap steel does have some similarities going from electric guitar to acoustic.

I have come across it more with pedal steel players rather than lap steelers, but have found that some folks who are mainly pedal players with little or no dobro experience tend to pick too softly. The attack of the right hand is different. To get the best tone you have to pluck the string with some force in order to “load” the cone, and an 8 string dobro is distributing that pressure or force across two more strings than the typical six string version. I remember Jerry Douglas saying years ago that he can always tell when someone is mainly a pedal steel player who doesn’t spend much time on a dobro.

The dynamics on dobro comes from varying the pick attack, whereas on electric steel, particularly on pedal steel the dynamics are mostly provided by the volume pedal.