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Topic: Question re Model 27 Dobro |
George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 16 Nov 2005 2:10 pm |
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A friend of mine in Nova Scotia who doesn't have a computer was asking me if I could date his Model 27 Dobro. It's serial No. 8964, has an open head stock, does NOT have the 3 small holes commonly seen in the body top at the end of the neck, has a "sunburs" top and on the back in the shape of a drop. It has binding on the top and not the back.
I've done a bit of looking but am not sure if it's a 1936 model.
Is there somebody who can comment on this for me please? Thanks folks. George R. |
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Russ Young
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 16 Nov 2005 2:22 pm
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The serial number is from 1936 or 1937.
Dobro made Model 27s in California from 1933 to 1937; Regal made them in Chicago between 1933 and 1939. I'm not aware of any way of telling them apart -- neither had the holes in the top -- maybe someone else does? |
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Russ Young
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 16 Nov 2005 2:38 pm
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George -- I just recalled Randy Getz's "History of the Pre-War Dobro" and this section:
"In 1966, Tut Taylor, who at the time was heavily involved in the vintage instrument trade, found an instrument which defied all printed advertisements. This instrument looked like a Model 27 but the colors weren’t as specified in early advertisements. The body dimensions matched those of the other California-built guitars of the time, but this was a squareneck and the coloration was different. All Tut knew was that it was the best sounding guitar he had ever found and it became the standard from which he produced his famed Tennessee line of resonator guitars.
"The front of this instrument had a double sunburst with the dark shading filling in the area between the screen hole and the coverplate. The back of the guitar had a sunburst in the shape of a teardrop, and there were sunbursts on the peghead as well as the back of its neck. The heel of the neck on this guitar is full-width, indicating it was California-built. The slots on the peghead were unusually long and the bottom half of the logo was actually situated between the slots. The neck has since been seen on National instruments of the period (Remember the swapping of parts?) and this guitar has been traced back to the McKinley Avenue plant in Los Angeles.
"So, in effect, what we have here is a Model 27 that is not described in any known literature. This particular color pattern has shown up on 14-fret roundneck and squareneck instruments, but not on any 12-fret roundnecks as of this writing (March, 2005). Since Tut’s initial discovery, twenty more of these instruments have surfaced, bringing the total number of known instruments to twenty-one, Due to their unique nature, builder/historian Bobby Wolfe maintains an up-to-date list of these instruments."
Is your friend's guitar 12 or 14 frets?
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George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 17 Nov 2005 10:15 am
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| Thanks Russ for all the detail..... He's not at home at them moment, I'll get back to this thread as soon as he calls. Geo |
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George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 17 Nov 2005 6:11 pm
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Hello Russ (Young)again. His instrument is a 12 fret and has diamond-shaped holes in the soundwell. It's good that you quoted that section "The front of this instrument...........actually situated between the slots" because that accurately describes his guitar. As a matter of fact, he bought it from Bobby Wolfe quite a number of years ago. Thank you muchly for the link to Getz's data. What we're saying I guess that it's a 1936-37 instrument, made in California. Any other comments that you or folks have would be appreciated. My friend is most happy with the "sound" of his 27.
George |
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