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Topic: OMI & Gibson Dobros from the 1990s |
Michael Hogan
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Posted 29 Mar 2013 6:40 pm |
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Some members may find this video interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Lrbr3MpX0
I am not sure if it has appeared here previously.
I recently acquired a 1995 Dobro D1000 Shield which is a beautifully engraved guitar. It also sounds sweet. The same model appears at the end of the video. I have other OMI round and squareneck Dobros and find the build quality and sound fine and wondered why they seem to have such a poor reputation among members. I had been told that once OMI was taken over by Gibson that the quality became worse and that all metal bodied guitars were imports? If the video is correct they were still produced at Huntington Beach in 1995.
Last edited by Michael Hogan on 30 Mar 2013 2:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ben Elder
From:
La Crescenta, California, USA
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Posted 29 Mar 2013 9:16 pm
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If anything, the years leading up to Gibson's acquisition of OMI were the low point (unless it's been the recent era of the move to Nashville, the time in which Gibson squandered any reputation and goodwill the Dobro brand might have had.) The Nashville brain trust's faltering and misdirection enabled legions of import brands and independent makers to gain a foothold in the void of the giant sucking sound coming from Gibson.) I consulted (non-resonator, Weissenborn-esque acoustic steels) with GM Mike Replogle and artist/product rep Richie Owens and I can tell you the emphasis was discovering and reproducing what made the great guitars great.
Mike's experience was with high-end electric builder Valley Arts guitars while Richie worked for years at Sho-Bud on Broadway and had an encyclopedic knowledge of resonator and other instruments. (Pretty hot picker, bandleader and producer too. Part of an ultra-musical family that includes first cousin Dolly Parton.)
Mike and Richie's endeavors were viewed with indifference if not vague contempt by the Nashville poobahs. Among Mike and Richie's ideas was expansion of the brand by looking to use National/Dobro's historic legacy to make modern innovations. Among these were (would have been) a Gibson L-0-inspired acoustic, a Kona Hawaiian (some were made), a resolectric (sp?) and even a solid-body ValPro electric, with the wood body in the shape of the USA-map '60s National Res-O-Glas models. (I have one of these.)
I was told in the years leading up to Gibson's takeover (and we could call these the post-Don Young--later of National Reso-Phonic--years) the OMI owners would raid the trash cans of a nearby illuminated sign company and use the scrap plastic for making nuts.
I'd be warier of late '80s/pre-'93 OMI instruments. I played some very nice Gibson/Huntington Beach-era instruments including a Model 27 Special that was heartbreakingly beautiful and ultimately went to multi-instrumentalist wizard Harvey Reid. And I saw metal guitar bodies in all stages of fabrication and production in the HB factory. No one ever said a word about any Asian nation apropos of these.
After the boom was lowered on HB, the only employee to make the move to Nashville was Larry Flatt, OMI's accounting manager, and only for a few months. All good and earnest efforts at make great resonator and other guitars amounted to no more than a fart in a stiff wind. Sad.
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"Gopher, Everett?" |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 30 Mar 2013 3:25 am
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Great post Ben, very interesting, and thanks Mike for putting up the link to the OMI Dobro story.
Below is a link to another, much shorter video on OMI in Surf City from 1995 which was broadcast on CNN. It again features Mike Replogle, erroneously spelled as "Replogie" on the screen. One of my main men, Paul Barrerre of Little Feat, who is going through a tough time with health issues right now battling Hepatitis C, is in the piece. You'll also see a prototype of the future and oft-maligned Jerry Douglas signature model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjBuqdcqS_4
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 9 Apr 2013 2:52 pm
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I started a similar thread on the Jerry Douglas forum featuring these videos. Jerry really hasn't said much publicly that I've come across about his experience in working with Gibson on his now defunct signature model Dobro, but it was shall we say, a less than successful venture. Some good guitars came out of that relationship, but many were subpar. These are his comments after seeing the shorter CNN piece I linked:
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Yeah, those were the days huh? When I got to the Huntington Beach shop, there wasn't a single guy in there that played a lapstyle dobro anywhere. Mike Replogle did give it the good old college try though. I liked him. What happened after that pi$$es me off to this day.
The spartan mahogany $1700 guitar went to $5300 by the time they were finished with it. And NO two sounded the same. Everytime I taught a fellow to set it up right, they would move him to the Electric division or cleaning toilets or something. Many great guys like Mike, Todd Wright, and Charlie Derrington worked in there where the mando, banjos and Dobros were made. I asked all of them at one time or another if they would let a Loar copy or Mastertone go out like that, and never really got an answer that satisfied me None of them could make the dobro thing work out. It's a real shame too. Tim Scheerhorn and Paul Beard both gave their time to get it all on track for the same reasons I did: to make Dobro a great brand again. Or at least somewhere a beginner or intermediate player could get a decent guitar for a good price to keep them stoked until they could graduate to a Beard, Scheerhorn, Clinesmith, Guernsey, Rayco or other such boutique supercharged resophonic guitar.
I was so bummed out for a solid three years because all I heard was how bad they were. Like I built them. It seemed there was nothing we could do to make it past the first few that were pretty good. I have three that blow trees down. But they were set up by the guys that do that kind of thing. One I have covered with signatures that will go on the kids inheritence pile. I tried but failed on that one. I won't do that again.
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Rockne Riddlebarger
From:
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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Posted 15 Apr 2013 7:13 am
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I have a 2001 Jerry Douglas Model Dobro (unsigned)that I bought new from Elderly Music in Michigan for $1800. I was relly dissappointed when it arrived, not by the sound so much as the sad state of appearance of the cosmetics. Buffing compound was on the body around the neck and glue was slopped from under the frets on the ebony fretboard. Had I not had decades of experience at guitar repair and setup I would have sent it back immediately. I did wonder just how much do you have to spend in order to get quality control at both the factory and the seller. The second day I owned it I took it completely apart, cleaned up all of the crud, restrung and set it up to my liking and found it to be a decent guitar. Since then I have upgraded it with a Quarterman resonator and the Fishman bridge. While it will never be on the level of a Scheerhorn or upper Beard it has been a reliable workhourse guitar for the last 12 years and has performed on countless gigs. At every show people remark about what a great sound it has.
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 15 Apr 2013 9:04 am
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I did some time, in the mid 80's, welding the dobro bodies for OMI. Because the dies that stamped the top and body were worn out, the fit-up wasn't even close and welding brass with SiB requires a very "narrow window" of heat range.
I wasn't getting paid very well and they felt that I was too expensive, so they decided not to pay me for the last half dozen guitar bodies ... and I decided not to give them back. What to do with them...
If you look closely under the round disc...
...and, this one is a bit different. Named, Simese, it's affectionately know as the boob-o-phone....
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