The Steel Guitar Forum

Seems everyone wants to call all these acoustic guitars " DOBROS" .I`m sure gibson guitars likes that. My first steel guitar was an old hawllan steel. This was 1940 . These guitars are called "STEEL" guitars because you play them with a steel bar . Thats the way it started and it hasn`t changed. Nothing against dobros , it just so happen that i play a Benoit. If it looks like a duck , quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. I would like to see these guitars that are played with a steel bar be called steel guitars ,be it a lap steel electric, peddle steel ,or acoustic . What say steel players

You know, when Gibson bought the "Dobro" brand name, they got in touch with the bluegrass crowd(since that's where the instrument's found, mostly)and made sure that we didn't call a Benoit, or a Scheerhorn, or a Guernsey, or a Beard, or anybody else's instrument, a "Dobro." Never mind all the free advertising, Gibson didn't want the name to end up like, say, FORMICA!
So, a lot of people bought inferior instruments, because of the name on the peghead(I DID NOT SAY "DOBRO"), and a lot of custom builders got a lot of new customers, thanks to Mssrs. Douglas, Auldridge, Wooten, and antbody else who placed quality over brand name. So call it what you want to, but don't call it a Dobro, unless it is.

DOBRO is a brand name NOT the name of a style of playing. Further, I personally dislike the term "lap" guitar. (lap dancing?) The guitar which sits upon your lap originated in Hawai'i and should be referred to as the Hawaiian Steel Guitar just as the Spaniards make claim to the Spanish Guitar. You don't hear it referred to as a "chest" guitar simply because it's held against your chest!

Hey guys Ilike the way you think. I just get tired of hearing thats a pretty dobro , and having to say , no , it`s a Benoit, . I guess in time the knower s will overcome the un knowers. I`ve always called them steels.
You are right, lap steel dont get it done I dont know when that started, The first one I saw ,1941, they called it an electric steel. I just never did like them.

George,

You are 100% correct. But sadly, if you lined up all the people in this world who are familiar with the sound that a steel makes in a blue grass band, they WOULD say. "He's playing Dobro".

Further, and sadly also, that type of playing is so associated with the term Dobro that it has stuck like the term let's go get a "coke", when we may end up getting a Pepsi or a Sprite! It does not matter who made it either. If they pick that sound, the world calls it "Dobro".

I always called a "lap steel" a Hawaiian guitar. Still do. That is what I learned, that is how I feel. But just like few ever say "I play a Spanish guitar", rather saying "I play lead or rhythm guitar", labels change. And unfortunately for us dear friend, there is not one single thing we can do about it.

God bless you and everyone else,

carl

OK guys, I can understand being irritated by someone calling your Benoit, Beard or Scheerhorn a 'Dobro' But at least they look like them. Just imagine the sheer ignominity of having your tricone or vintage National called a Dobro!

Another brand name that stuck with people is "Kleenex" for tissue. And as Carl mentioned, "coke" for soft drink. The vast majority of people do, refer to this guitar as a "Dobro".

One other interesting thing I've noticed is that most people, as well as myself, refer to thier auto. as "my car". But Mercedes owners, that I know, refer to their car as, "my Mercedes".

Rick

Like I said, Gibson doesn't want anybody to call it a Dobro, 'less it is. Now I'm off to the frigidaire, to get a coke, then I'll go out in the yard and shoot my Winchester 30-30(made by Marlin). Hope I don't trip on the linoleum.

I need a Xerox copy of this thread.

Like it or not, Resophonic Guitars will be called Dobros.

I never thought of the term "Lap Steel" as offensive. However I find it odd that some "lap steels" have legs.

I hate to admit it...but to me....Dobro is pretty much a generic term.."sorry Gibson"...but it's a heck of a lot eaisier to say than resophonic guitar....and I'm too old to change...so a single cone spider bridge resophonic guitar will always be a Dobro type instrument to me, sorry everone who makes one...at least I would say it's a Beard Dobro, Gurnsey, whatever...I pretty much do the same with Weissenborn copies...just call 'em Weiss'....(Gosh, I do the same w/ q-tips and Band-Aids and Jello!!!)
Mike

Hey fellows, I`m an old steelguitar player, a very new computer whatever, but i can see I am going to enjoy all you guy`s on this forum thing. All my kids are grown, My grandson Leaves in July ,going to the Airfofce. Our house keeps getting bigger, my wife and I have lots of time on our hands.
Thank you for letting me visit.

I don't have a lap anymore!
Got the Dunlop disease.
My belly done lopped over my belt buckle!

Where am I gonna put my lap resophonic hawaiian 8 string steel guitar non electric?

The trouble, it seems to me, is that the same terms might be used to describe a style of music rather than a type of instrument, per se. For example, guys who play distortion-edged 6-string, nonpedal steel in a rock context would probably be better off calling it a "lap steel" than a "Hawaiian guitar" since "Hawaiian guitar" tends to suggest that one plays "Hawaiian music" on it. Otherwise, they'd have to say, "I play Hawaiian guitar, but I don't play Hawaiian music." or "I play rock music on a Hawaiian guitar." Either way is cumbersome, so "lap steel" seems a convenient way out.

On a separate, but related note, I never cared for the term, "nonpedal steel", since it requires prior knowledge of what a "pedal steel" is to understand the term. And this seems particularly inappropriate, given the fact that the non-pedal instrument came first!! How insulting! It's like a grandfather having to introduce himself to everyone as "not my grandson"! <font size=1>(End of rant.)<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 10 June 2002 at 09:38 PM.]</p></FONT>

It seens that we have a lot of different ideas on what is what. There is concern about calling Resophonic guitars Dobros, and lap steels, Hawaiian guitars. Resophonic is a name that National has patent on for their resonator guitars. Any box guitar, with a cone in it, is a Resonator guitar, be it a round or square neck instrument. Hawaiian guitars, originally, were old flat top guitars, the the necks warpped too much to be fretted, and the locals, who did'nt have a lot of money to buy new guitars with, figured out that they could be played on their back with a slide, and developed a style of their own. Lap steels, are just what they say they are, lap steels. Table top and console steels are what they say they are, and pedal steels, the same. Wre can drive the technical stuff into the ground if we want to, but is'nt the whole purpose of communication, to get an idea acrossed? If somebody says that he heard a great Dobro player at the park, there's no doubt in anyboby's mind what he's talking about. Just a thought.

Woooeeee!!! let me in on this one!! I always wondered what to call what.

I know what a pedal steel is. And. . .
An electric steel that we hold in our lap, I call a lap steel.

Now what is correct for a two or three neck steel on legs?

A resophonic squareneck...??

A resophonic played with a bottleneck or metal slide?

I am serious. I really would like to know.
But I never knew which one was Flatt and which one was Scruggs either

You are right Joe, and really who cares. I just like to make the point that any guitar that is played with a " STEEL BAR " , is a steel guitar, it was yhat way in the 40`s it`s that way now. Oh yes and "LAP STEEL" is OK ,

jones gtrmn

a lot of hip groovy with-it people i've played for call it a slide guitar or slide steel 'cause they're very knowledgable ... some even call my pedal steel a keyboard...
hey, a dobro's a dobro...leave me alone

So what did Duane Allman play---vertical steel?

In my terminology, Dwayne played a "Standard Guitar", possibly called an "Electric Guitar" or a "Six String".
(Intresting that I would not call a Dobro or a Lapsteel a "Six String" even if it has six strings. )


When he put a bottle on his finger he was playing "Slide Guitar".

"Slide Guitar" refers to the style, not the instrument.

While we're at it, I don't like the term "Console" for a steel guitar.

I always thought it was CON-SOUL!!!...and Duane played Bottleneck (sometimes)...but I just say I play steel, let them figure it out
mike

While we`re on this Steel thing,what kind of steel do you guy`s use? Seem`s most steels today are bronze or brass, chrome plated. I found a stainless steel one put out by Lebeda, made in Yugoslavia, has good weight to it very dense, it seems to help the sound. It is a little heavy, but it wont wear out in my lifetime.

OK, then what about guys like Lowell George, who played upright non-fretted glissando guitar(ala Duane Allman) with a spaerk plug socket?
I'm glad we've got something important to talk about.....

Hey i have used on old spice bottle to play with.

I agree with you Stephen! As Joe stated
most people nowadays recognize the term
Dobro as the generic name for all acoustic
resonator guitars,as most will call any
facial tissue Kleenex.On Patty Loveless'
new Mountain Soul CD both Rob Ickes and the
late Gene Wooten play resonator guitars.I
know that Rob plays a Sheerhorn and Gene
a Harlow built by Frank Harlow of Ohio.If
you read the credits you will see that both
of them were referred to as Dobro players.
SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL!
Regards, Tim