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Topic: Dobro Questions |
Gus York
From:
Devon, UK
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Posted 22 Feb 2012 11:08 am |
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DOBRO dating questions!
Can anyone help with this squareneck I picked up in Australia around 1980.
The Dobro logo is a transfer type, it says made in USA on the headstock back, but
there is no serial number, which I believe is usually on the end of the headstock.
No numbers appear anywhere else apart from on the sound cone itself ?
I believe the guy who played it in OZ was using it in the fifties.
Doesn't look like the keys are original, as you can see from the marks left by the originals.
I have used it on a few sessions over the years and it sounds sweet.
Would love to know a value for insurance purposes.
Any help would be great, thanks for lookig.
GUS YORK. UK.
em is gus@gusyork.co.uk[img]
Can't figure out how to send more than one pic - sorry! DUUUUH !
 [/img]
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Nice ZUM 12 D9 2 Roland Cubes,+ various effects and bits. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 22 Feb 2012 12:35 pm
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Kind of a weird shape to the headstock. I'm assuming that is not the original coverplate.
No serial number- possibly a Regal-built Dobro from Chicago from mid to late 1930's to just before the beginning of WWII.
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Gus York
From:
Devon, UK
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Posted 22 Feb 2012 1:59 pm Dobro Questions
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Hi Mark, Thanks for some info- when you say headstock is weird! It looks the same as many I have seen, so when you say 'weird' ? There is no Regal mark on the guitar? I believe the cover plate on the sound cone IS original as far as I know?
Here is another shot of the headstock (remember I haven't sussed sending more than one photo at a time).
Strange but my sister used to live in Sonoma County! Now resides in Petaluma.
Gus
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Nice ZUM 12 D9 2 Roland Cubes,+ various effects and bits. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 22 Feb 2012 3:49 pm
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After your comment the coverplate does look sort of smashed in enough to be the original. I googled the Randy Getz Dobro article which I hadn't read in some time, and he pointed out that the Poinsettia coverplate may have started with the Regal-built guitars. According to Getz, if it's a Regal, somewhere on the cover plate (maybe underneath?) it could have the following number: 1,896,484
Regal-built Dobros could bear either the Dobro or Regal logo.
Here is a link to Gruhn in Nashville, a Model 37 that looks a lot like yours, but in better condition. They're asking $2000:
http://www.gruhn.com/photo/RG4766.jpg
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Mark |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 22 Feb 2012 6:10 pm
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| "IM" = "in dem" is German language |
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Gus York
From:
Devon, UK
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Posted 23 Feb 2012 2:55 am Dobro Questions
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Mark- Many thanks for all your help on the Dobro ! Have checked on the cover plate, and you are correct, the number tallies to a Regal (maybe?) It would seem there is some uncertainty exactly when it became Regal? I understood the decoration on the coverplate was called 'Palm' on the Dobros ?
The guitar you sent from the Gruhn article looks identical to mine, and if those are the original key heads on theirs maybe I can track down original replacements
for mine. The marks left by the originals on mine seem to tally withe the ones fitted to Gruhns.
Serial No. evidence enclosed!
Again many thanks for all your help-The SGF comes up trumps agin!
Gus York.
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Nice ZUM 12 D9 2 Roland Cubes,+ various effects and bits. |
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Gus York
From:
Devon, UK
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Posted 23 Feb 2012 2:59 am dobro Questions
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Mark - Sorry pic didn't upload correctly? Hopefully here it is? Gus.
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Nice ZUM 12 D9 2 Roland Cubes,+ various effects and bits. |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 23 Feb 2012 3:59 am
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I agree with Mark. It appears to be a Regal built Model 27 or 37. These are fine guitars and $2k is about right. Does it have a short legged spider bridge and a lugged cone? Mid 30's is about right.
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To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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Tom Gray
From:
Decatur, GA
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Posted 23 Feb 2012 6:55 am
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Here's what I can tell you about this guitar from my Dobro research. The lack of the three small holes under the strings between the screenholes pegs it as what we now call a Model 27. (Dobro model names in the 1930s corresponded with catalog prices and so changed from year to year. The price on this guitar jumped to $32 in 1938, so it became a Model 32 -- confusing since there had previously been a completely different Model 32.) The solid headstock, body shape and lack of serial number are all typical of Regal-built Dobros of the late 1930s. The poinsettia coverplate originated in California in the early 1930s for use on guitars sold through Montgomery-Ward, but after Regal took over all Dobro production in 1937 they mixed and matched hardware freely. Production of these guitars tailed off in 1940 and 1941 and ceased entirely after Pearl Harbor.
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Gus York
From:
Devon, UK
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Posted 23 Feb 2012 2:15 pm Dobro Questions
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First of all I must thank everybody who has helped me place this guitar in the scheme of things. Many confusing avenues led me to seek the forums help.
At the end of the day I had suspicions it was a 30's guitar, but never once thought it was a Regal- but now I know!
Tom W. I have no idea how to tell what a 'short legged spider bridge' is ? or a
'lugged cone' that's way beyond me! I think I'm happy with what everyone has offered.
Once again everyone thanks a lot for your info, and I don't care what they say about you yanks - to me your very nice people!
With my photographers hat on here is a nicer moody shot of the REGAL/DOBRO!
Yours Very Happy, Gus York.
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Nice ZUM 12 D9 2 Roland Cubes,+ various effects and bits. |
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steve takacs
From:
beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)
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Posted 3 Apr 2012 8:27 am
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| I think you took the above photo of the Dobro, Gus. Very artistically done. stevet |
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