The Steel Guitar Forum

The turnip truck I was on must have gotten lost somewhere along the way to the delta. I just wanted to be a decent "Parking Lot Picker" not necessarily bluegrass. I bought a Dobro that didn't sound so good. I think I paid $375 used with case, The Spider? had been upgraded and I added a bone nut. It still is not good parking lot quality, so I have been told. I know it is partly my playing ability.

In searching for something pretty good I found the price jumps from $3-4 hundred to $1500 to way on up. In fact I can buy a very nice double neck pedal steel for what some dobro's cost. Why?

I would like to own a decent good sounding dobro. Any one know what may be best bang for the buck?

Thanks

Billy-- I am certainly not an expert, but was kind of in your same situation a few months ago. I bought one of the regal dobros and am very happy with it. New, I think the RD45 goes for about $300-350.

Good luck!

Dan Farrell
'97 Carter D-10
Nashville 1000
Regal RD-45

Billy, I think you're on to something! The oriental instruments may be low-priced, but they sound TERRIBLE. And putting in Quarterman cones, bone nuts, maple bridges, and a partridge in a pear tree, don't help much. And then the next step up, is a huge one, to one of the Gibson or custom builders' boxes. The market should be wide open for a resonator guitar in the 800-1200 dollar range. Anybody listening?

I bought an epiphone spider for about 400$ a few years back Made in Korea by Samik that had a good sound. Gibson owns that brand as well as Dobro . But if you`re looking for something better You should be sure It has the quarterman cone, as well as solid wood as opposed to layered or ply. I found a beautiful birds eye maple trimmed in walnut finished natural,top of the line,guitar from Bemoit Guitars. It has the quarterman cone, and has the most beautifulsound. Now when it comes to guitars, sound is what its all about. Check E mail benoitguitars.com If youre going to play , try the best

jonesgtrmn

The oriental instruments may be low-priced, but they sound TERRIBLE. And putting in Quarterman cones, bone nuts, maple bridges, and a partridge in a pear tree, don't help much.

Boy I'll have to disagree here. I wouldn't put a modded Johnson against a Beard or Sheerhorn but doing the mods and (especially) setting it up right can make a huge improvement at a substantial cost savings.
Shoot even Paul Beard sells modded Korean-made guitars.

My suggestion about Quarterman cones, solid woods etc. seems to be misunderstood. My meaning is to shoot a little higher, dont buy an inferior guitar. Buy one that is built with these amenities in them. There are a lot of choices. Dont buy a sheerhorn, a Beard , RQ Jones,etc unless it has the best woods ,cones, etc and youwill have a guitar that you will want to keep for life

jonesgtrmn

I guess what I was trying to say is that good dobros appear to be too "pricey" compared to other guitars. Emmons steels are cheaper that a lot of dobros. What makes them so high?

'Cause we'll pay that much for them, Billy!

Hey man I know how you feel. I live way down south, the music stores here dont carry
acoustic steel guitars,dobros and the likes.I had to order the one I bought, and you cant try them out before you buy it. I tried every where to find one. Itried buying one from people that had two, some who`d quit playing, No luck . Then one night over in Mauriceville Tex. Carrol Benoit Wanted to show me one he`d just finished. I went by his house on my way home, boy what a surprise ,it was absolutely the most beautiful guitar I`d ever seen. When I played it I just fell in lovewith it. But the price, wow, . On the way home I told my wife I1ll find some way to rake up the money well about two or three monthslater I called to see if he still had it, he did, now I do. end of story. I never thought I`d give 2400.00$ for any guitar I ever saw.
Been there, done that, Hey man I feel for you

Hi Billy,
Just wanted to give you just one more
man's opinion as I have owned and played
both a DOBRO 60-D and currently a WOLFE
CUSTOM guitar built by Bobby Wolfe from
Davidson N.C.I believe with maybe an exception here and there you get what you
pay for.The DOBRO was a nice guitar with a
Quarterman cone.It had great tone and
playability but not the volume I was looking.
I think if love to play Dobro you owe it to
yourself to at least consider a custom built
instrument.Whether you are playing in the
bedroom,parking lot or a festival stage you
will enjoy it more and I believe with a
solid instrument.The biggest difference is
as most custom builders will tell you is
with my Dobro it will get to a certain volume
level and thats it no matter how hard you
play it.With the Wolfe the harder I play the
louder it gets,which is good as long as you
continue to play clean as well.Another factor
of course the kind of music you play.If you
jam much in the parking lot with a 5-string
you'll see what I mean.Of course if you're
always gonna mike it then some of the cheaper
models are fine.I will never want or need
anything other than my Wolfe and yes I am
a bluegrass player.
Best Regards,
Tim Tyner

Well said, Hey Billy look around, find something to sell, hold a garage sale, find a few more bucks. Make a gig treat for Billy, . I too am parking lot player, but my guitar will play in any setting. Maybe we could all send you adollar toget you a custom built. I would recomend a Benoit, why, he builds them, he sells them, no middle man, You get it like cost, look at his website " benoitguitars.com .

I agree that Carroll Benoit's guitars are the best bang for the buck out there ... fantastic tone and workmanship and a wonderful man to do business with. If you can't ante up for a Benoit, a Regal or Flinthill with Paul Beard's setup will take you pretty far. The quarterman cone makes a huge difference but sooner or later, your ears are gonna crave better tone.

I personally like the Samick guitars: Regal, Fender, Flinthill, etc. A little work on mine and it sounds great. The next step up would be Ted Smith's Melobro and either Dick DeNeve or Greg McKenna at about $1200. These are all great custom instruments for bargain prices. You will pay more than this for a factory made Martin D-18. I have a DeNeve in solid maple with rosewood binding, 2 octave fretboard with pre-War Martin snowflake style inlay and McIntyre pickup to be delivered in the next couple months for $1400! I have a professional woodworking friend who makes guitars as a hobby. It takes about 40 hours to make a guitar and the materials cost about $700 including the pickup. Take out the cost of the the hardshell case and Dick is making about $15 per hour. That's a bargain to me!

Robert -

I can understand what you mean about not getting to try one out before you buy. I've mail ordered a couple of guitars that if I could have tried them out beforehand, I wouldn't have purchased. It's great that you got to try the Benoit guitar before buying...I've always wanted to hear one of those! Even for that price, I'd rather pay 2500.00 and know exactly what I'm getting, than pay a lower price and be disappointed when opening the box. "Buyer Beware" can bite hard!

I find the same problem with local music stores, most of them totally lacking even any knowledge of steel guitars. I love to go in and ask, "Do you have any steel guitars?" The response I usually get is, "You mean guitars made of steel?" It's not until I demonstrate with my hands how a steel is played, that they sometimes get a clue of what I'm talking about! Oh well, it's not thier fault. Most of them have unfortunately, never been exposed to one.

I bought a "Flinthill"(a Regal upgraded by Paul Beard)...I think it was under $600...sounds better than my 70's Dobro model 60...If I needed another, I'd buy another no question
Mike

There's a Flinthill on eBay right now, starting at $350. I'll bet he might get some bids if he had a photo and a description ... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=881346698 I've sent him a note suggesting that he fix his ad. (Oops -- must have been my browser! I knew I should have checked it on my Mac before posting -- darn Windows.)<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Russ Young on 11 June 2002 at 10:03 PM.]</p></FONT>

Tim, you hit the nail on the head! And I apologize to Bobby Wolfe, for not mentioning him in my original post. I got my Guernsey, and our(then)banjo player had to get rid of his Stelling, and get an old Gibson RB-3, just to be heard. And, although prices are expensive, compare Wolfe, Beard, Guernsey, even Scheerhorn prices, to those of boutique acoustic guitar builders. And besides, what does cost matter. I've learned that mac'n'cheese is prety good, if there's a new guitar hidden inside the box!

Jeff, about the Benoit guitars, he only buys the best exotic woods, the best tuners, he showed me the invoice for the tunerson my guitar, $300. He uses only Quarterman, Cones, the cover costs $100, . the depth ofthe guitars is over 4 inches, it really gives out with the sound.
I`m really pleased. Oh yes in my 70 plus years I`ve seen some pretty guitars.
Didnt mean to sound off , but I`m really proud of my Guitar, I told the wife When I die, dont sell my guitar, just hang it on the wall, If she`d listen carefully, she`d hear me play it once in awhile
jonesgtrmn

"I told the wife When I die, dont sell my guitar, just hang it on the wall, If she`d listen carefully, she`d hear me play it once in awhile"
You know Robert, I told my wife, cremate me w/ my Weissenborn in my arms....so the ashes mix(Just have to watch them put BOTH of us in the oven!!!)but I like your idea better,That would work w/ my old Tri-Cone...
Mike

Billy , I`m sure that by now we have totally confused you, and frustrated. I`m sorry , that was not the real intention, but to let you know the pitfalls we`ve encountered, trying to get to the sound and satisfaction we are all looking for. There`s a guy that comes to my home every Thursday night to jam with us. He has an old 79, dobro, he liked it fine, til I handed him mine to play, now I have a hard time playing mine he wants it. Oh well, what are nice guys good for anyway. He says he will have one of his own, maybe he`ll let me play his sometime.

Has anyone tried playing any of the Johnson roundneck metal bodied guitars lap or dobro style ?
Before our band's slide guitarist bought his vintage National for his bottleneck acoustic playing he went up to Elderly Instruments and was impressed with the Johnson guitars . He was unimpressed with the Gibson resonators. I know when I put a nut lifter on my acoustic Washburn for lap style the mechanics just don't work so great for me. I don't know if it's the curved fingerboard, scale , neck joint or roundneck, but my Regal dobro is very comfortable in the mechanics of playing it