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Topic: Update on old "Dobro brand" lap steel... a sad story :-( |
Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 16 Dec 2000 4:08 pm |
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A couple of weeks ago I posted a request for info about an old metal Dobro lap steel. Someone had called the music store where I teach asking how much it might be worth. The instrument is like the one in the middle shown in the photo below (from Herb Steiner's website):
Today the guy finally called me back and told me that although he knows nothing about guitars, he has taken the instrument apart and he's now having the metal parts replated! Can you believe it? He's cut the value in half. I thought everyone knew that antiques... furniture, toys, musical instruments... are worth more in original condition, even if bruised, than refinished. They should just be cleaned, and never refinished, if one is concerned about value. I hated to ruin the guy's day, but I told him that he made a big mistake.
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www.dougbsteel.com
[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 16 December 2000 at 04:10 PM.] |
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Bill Ford
From:
Graniteville SC Aiken
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Posted 16 Dec 2000 7:45 pm
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Bummer
Bill Ford
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 16 Dec 2000 10:37 pm
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| I was tempted to refinish my old Rick frypan which appears as though whoever owned it years ago must have used it as an outrigger canoe paddle. But I was wisely advised to leave it as-is. It's got to be one of the ugliest guitars I have ever seen, but you remember what they said about the "Ugly Duckling". What a pity that guitar was refinished. I haven't seen one of those models in the past 40 years! |
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Chris DeBarge
From:
Boston, Mass
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Posted 17 Dec 2000 9:43 am
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| Doug, is it too late for him to get the parts back before they replate them? I agree with you - You'd think with Antiques Roadshow, eBay, etc. all around us, that EVERYbody would know not to mess with original condition. So sad. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 17 Dec 2000 5:54 pm
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He seemed determined to have it replated, even after I told him it would be a mistake. He has a relative who does replating and he's going to get a great deal! 
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www.dougbsteel.com
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 17 Dec 2000 7:28 pm
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Well,you know what they say, "where there's a will...there's a relative"!
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Iain
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland
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Posted 18 Dec 2000 2:39 am
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When I was looking for a gig bag for my lap steel, in Chicago, a chap beside me was looking for a case for an identical Dobro steel, which he'd got for FREE, as it had been a prop in the Drama dept of his school: "... I don't even know how to play it"!!!!!
Grrrr .... |
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