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Topic: First post, long sorry |
Brian Evans
From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Posted 25 Apr 2015 3:16 am |
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Good morning, new member just joined but have been reading the forum for a year or more. I have a Gold Tone Paul Beard cutaway round neck, a National Dynamic lap steel and I just got a 1936/37 Dobro Model 25 in very mint condition. It's is a 14 fret round-neck F-hole, bound with a single binding top and bottom, unbound neck.
This pre-war Model 25 has an old, familiar story. Bought new by a young man, it went to war with him in 1940, and came back alone. His brother did not play but kept the dobro in it's case for probably 65 years. It was left upon his passing to a woman who cared for him in his final years, who happened to be a Professor of Music at a university. She did not play either (Pianist) so it aside from slacking the strings it stayed in it's case until a week ago. She is moving, downsizing, and so got in touch with a mutual friend for advice, and I found out she had it, only 3 miles down the road from my house in a very rural town. I brought the strings up to tune, and that was the first time she had heard it played. What a wonderful sweet and mellow tone it had!
It's about what you would expect from a guitar that was around 5 years old and well cared for. Essentially no finish degradation beyond a very mild hazing of the varnish, a little wear on the corners of the headstock, one tiny chip on the back and some rubbing on the back of the neck, it was probably played lap style. It has the original case in almost perfect condition, an original raised nut attachment and two steels. which were probably purchased with the guitar. A real time capsule.
I took it apart to clean and inspect. It has, true to the model and year, no soundwell and no sound posts. Neck is attached with a simple block, no extension inside. Neck joint is perfect but the neck is bowed - action is around 1/4" at the 14th fret, and relief is around .100". Makes it impossible to fret beyond 3rd position, but makes playing bottleneck incredibly easy and natural - my Gold Tone has quite low action and it was pretty hard to get the feel without fretting out. tone is mellow and sweet, crystal clear but not as forward as the Gold Tone. Some funny quirks - the cover plate was installed rotated around 5 degrees counter-clockwise from square, you can just notice that it doesn't line up. Stamped cone and the original spider, as you would expect. I was the first person to take it apart, the cone still had two tiny brads holding it in place, and was stuck on with the finish, which I assume is nitro. Tuning peg buttons are disintegrating, so I will need to decide what to do with that.
Long first post, sorry...
Brian |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 25 Apr 2015 7:09 am
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you might consider just playing the old one lap style with a bar. 1/4" of action is quite a lot!
other wise, you will need to determine how much the neck is bowed. press down at the first fret...better still, just put a capo on it at fret one and then press down at the fret right at the body. look under the straight string all up and down the neck and see how much bow there is. then release all the tension on the strings and use only one string tuned up a little just to get a good straight line and see what the difference is up to pitch and not. then you can look at the thickness of the fretboard and see where to plane the wood for your best effect in straightening the neck out. its a process for a luthier for sure, but you get the picture. your call as to whether you want to go to the expense of playing both ways. good luck. post a pic here. be nice to see that instrument. |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 25 Apr 2015 8:41 pm
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I'd like to chip in that besides setup issues which are often common with older, rarely-played instruments, your story shows a goldmine of history and background. i would suggest, before you forget to, that you write down all of this and print it out and stick it in the neck pocket of the case. if you could track down a photo of the original soldier owner, it would be wonderful. Down the road people will wonder about just this kind of history.
Good luck getting it perfectly playable for you, congratulations on ending up with such a find, and being custodian of it… and welcome to the forum. Best wishes.
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Brian Evans
From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Posted 26 Apr 2015 5:38 am
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I was playing it lap/slide style yesterday for a while. Aside from not having any instinct for where the notes are (odd, that) it sure sounded good with the cone facing right up at my face. Dramatic difference. I don't have a modern steel, I was using my hollow glass side, and I didn't have the raised nut in place. To be honest, it's still a bit intimidating to be even playing the guitar, I want to treat it like a fragile flower, and the history of the story is deep in my mind, a lot of WWII history in our family.
Sorry the pic's are so poor, I don't seem to be able to take a picture of a shiny guitar without the glare and the smeary fingerprints. |
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