| Author |
Topic: Pre WW2 Walnut Dobro..need builder help, please...Update |
Mike Cass
|
Posted 12 Apr 2015 11:46 pm |
|
approx. 2 years ago I bought a refinished old sq. neck California Dobro from one of our fine Forum brethren. A few months ago I got a wild hair up to have it restored to an original style finish.
Some time after sending it off to be stripped, sanded and prepped by Charlie Jirousek of Arrowhead Music in Safety Harbor, Fl. I received a startling phone call from him, advising me that while he had indeed finished the work in prep for dyeing and finishing both body and neck, there was a development that he needed to discuss with me.....
While the body was constructed of birch, typical and as expected, the neck was of a high grade, Black Walnut, the type reserved for Dobro's higher end Pre-WW2 100 Series models. I always wondered why that little box was so neck heavy 
If not for the following, I would never consider asking for help with what Im about to undertake.
I recently acquired one of the Pre WW2 high end Walnut, Gold Plated and engraved model 156 Dobro's I mentioned earlier....scarcer than hens teeth. Unfortunately, that guitar had been factory retro-fitted, and rather poorly, with a walnut round neck of the type usually seen on the fiddle-edge Regal models, its ser# dating it to '39-40 not long after(and I was told this fact by Rudy Dopyera many years ago)he had shipped off most all wood body Dobro projects in various stages of completion to Regal in Chicago when National-Dobro moved to their McKinley Ave. plant in L.A.
Rudy continued the story that Regal did assemble some of these instruments, rather hastily it seems in order to get stuff out the door before The War, and mine has the ill-modified neck which features a 1/4" scale discrepancy. Try fretting that Spanish or barred.
Now you tell me, when again will I ever find an original Pre WW2 Calif. sq Walnut neck which fits perfectly on a very rare but rather unplayable instrument??
You see where Im going with this. Either guitar, sound or intonation-wise is screwed in their present condition. The first box is dampened with the walnut/birch combo while the walnut is surely frustrating to play(check out the placement of the 12th fret in the pic..)
 . Not to mention that when Mark Taylor and myself carefully removed the 156's round neck to try to affect an intonation cure we saw the unmistakable outline of a previously fitted sq. neck on the end of the body. Theres that. Sorry to be so wordy.
Long story short, Ive decided to have the walnut sq. neck mounted to the walnut body, and have a period-correct style ebony fretboard, bound, w/the correct dbl diamond inlay made and installed by Charlie.
Here's my problem: He is not set up to spray lacquer due to the codes in his county, only can do poly-urethane. I cant have that.
When the neck/fb job is done it will be ready to dye-match to the body, and I need a resophonic luthier to spray me a lacquer finish, rub it out and send the 2 pieces back to me for assembly.
Any takers?
any help will be much appreciated.
On a side note: the birch body has found a perfect mate with a '29 Calif. mahogany round neck which was jury-rigged to a #37 Regal box I picked up(yeah, I hear the Twilight Zone theme playing too)and surely is like the intended part(birch body showed a French heel outline when de-necked, btw). I guess they were out of mahogany that day in Los Angeles and needed a sq neck guitar  That body and neck fit perfectly and have been sanded, prepped and are ready to be dyed and lacquered, btw.
Im not a rich man, but I have $$ set aside for these 2 jobs. Problem is, these cant just go to a regular guitar maker. I need someone who knows how this stuff should look. Im not doing this to re-sell as original, etc. If you know me at all you know that Id sooner let you take my g/f out for dinner before you'd ever get a hounddog like that off of me 
hope to hear from someone.
thanx for your time.
sincerely,
MC
Last edited by Mike Cass on 19 Sep 2019 7:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
 |
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
|
Posted 13 Apr 2015 6:24 am
|
|
I would recommend contacting Paul Beard for a job of this sensitivity and magnitude. Good luck with the project! You should have an excellent instrument when you're done.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
|
|
|
Tom Middleton
From:
Austin, Texas, USA (deceased)
|
Posted 13 Apr 2015 7:08 am
|
|
| Yes, Paul Beard would be your best bet. |
|
|
|
Greg Booth
From:
Anchorage, AK, USA
|
|
|
|
Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
|
Posted 13 Apr 2015 7:24 am
|
|
fwiw Paul does all the reso restoration/repair for George Gruhn.
_________________
Howard Parker
03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
|
|
|
|
Todd Clinesmith
From:
Lone Rock Free State Oregon
|
Posted 13 Apr 2015 8:28 pm
|
|
Great find Mike, You do not see these come up hardly ever. I know of just a few that have been found.
I wish I had time to help you out. If you can't find any body to get right on the job I may be able to help down the line, but I have a list of projects ahead of me at this time.
Good luck,
Todd |
|
|
|
Mike Cass
|
Posted 14 Apr 2015 7:18 pm
|
|
Thanx for all the advice. I did speak w/Paul and as mentioned, setting up for 1 lacquer job isnt going to happen rt now. The fellow in florida sounds promising as the rest of the work is being performed in the Tampa area. I dont fb, but greg, might there be a ph# for damon?
Todd, ill keep it in mind , it may come down to that...im not hurrying this project.thanx again. MC |
|
|
|
Greg Booth
From:
Anchorage, AK, USA
|
|
|
|
Chris Walke
From:
St Charles, IL
|
Posted 16 Apr 2015 9:05 am
|
|
| While have no advice to offer regarding your needs with this guitar, I feel I must say....that guitar is indeed beautiful. The rich brown finish & the engraved cover are just killing me. I can only imagine the tone is equally rich & beautiful. I wish you luck in restoring this guitar. |
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 16 Apr 2015 9:29 am
|
|
i guess we all see things differently. i see a somewhat funky corroded old dobro which will probably sound good like most standard dobros. the walnut is cool.
no matter what, it will be old school and different from a modern boutique build. in mike's care it will turn out as good as possible. |
|
|
|
Johnie King
From:
Tennessee, USA
|
Posted 16 Apr 2015 4:04 pm
|
|
| I wonder if Redline Dobro dobro in Hendrsonville Tn. A stone throw from Vic s place could do the work. |
|
|
|
Mike Cass
|
Posted 17 Apr 2015 5:40 pm
|
|
I have talked with Steve, but you know he stays slammed.......
thx Greg, got it 
Chris W., The only reason I haven't tore it down yet is that it DOES sound awesome!! the old cone was nice but pretty nasal, however, a QC-10 & a new #14 spider, inserts and bone nut took care of that. Low end all the way to Chattanooga.
Chris Ivey, oops, you set off the "low pitch" siren.
Im not playing today, sorry |
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 17 Apr 2015 6:02 pm
|
|
mike...i'm not liking myself that much today either!
sorry. those'll be cool !! |
|
|
|
Mike Cass
|
Posted 17 Apr 2015 6:06 pm
|
|
awww it aint no thing bud.
but thanx now for reminding me, I been pi##in myself so much over the walnut I forgot about getting the birch/mahogany job done too. Guess Ill be loading up ol' Damon |
|
|
|
Mike Cass
|
Posted 19 Apr 2015 1:53 am
|
|
to update, I called Damon today and its a go as soon as the present work is done. Probably do the birch/mahogany job first since its about ready to go. Cant thank you enough for his number, Greg. Great guy, and knows his stuff!
sincerely,
MC |
|
|
|
Greg Booth
From:
Anchorage, AK, USA
|
Posted 19 Apr 2015 8:00 am
|
|
Damon IS an amazing guy! His talent runs very deep...instrument builder who also builds and flies aircraft. Very helpful and caring person. I look forward to seeing him this year at the Rob Ickes ResoSummit in Nashville.
_________________
Greg
Kathy Kallick Band
www.youtube.com/user/aksliderdobro |
|
|
|
Chris Walke
From:
St Charles, IL
|
Posted 21 Apr 2015 5:58 am
|
|
| chris ivey wrote: |
i guess we all see things differently. i see a somewhat funky corroded old dobro which will probably sound good like most standard dobros. the walnut is cool.
no matter what, it will be old school and different from a modern boutique build. in mike's care it will turn out as good as possible. |
I've been around a good number of beat up looking guitars that just sound fantastic. My buddy has an old J-45 that looks like someone used to bat gravel at the next door neighbor's annoying dog, one of the sweetest sounding acoustics I've ever heard.
I have an old Oahu acoustic that a friend of mine bought at some flea market - was literally in pieces. He glued it all back together. It's as ugly as can be, but it's solid. I'm sure the intonation would be horrendous if played Spanish style. But he gave it to me - I put a nut extender on it and it sounds fantastic. Big & growly.
I dunno, some people see gunk, I see mojo. |
|
|
|
Michael Kienhofer
From:
Goulais River,Ontario,Canada
|
Posted 21 Apr 2015 11:40 am
|
|
Sweet Dobro,,Just love the engraving !
Work of art. |
|
|
|
Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
|
Posted 21 Apr 2015 12:31 pm
|
|
| Greg Booth wrote: |
| Damon IS an amazing guy! His talent runs very deep...instrument builder who also builds and flies aircraft. Very helpful and caring person. I look forward to seeing him this year at the Rob Ickes ResoSummit in Nashville. |
Damon is a retired commercial airline pilot, and also flew acrobatic aircraft. And he is a fine luthier, a man with a plethora of interesting skills - I would say he qualifies as a Renaissance man.
I'd like to be a Renaissance man myself but I can't retire! 
_________________
Mark |
|
|
|
Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
|
Posted 23 Apr 2015 6:21 am
|
|
| You could always do it yourself. There's a company called "ReRanch," that sells nitro products. I used their stuff to do a Telecaster body--came out looking pretty good. And they sell spray-bombs, so you don't need a compressor and spray gun. You DO need some PPE, though. But it can be done. |
|
|
|
Mike Cass
|
Posted 23 Apr 2015 11:38 pm
|
|
Stephen,
years ago I re-did an old double cyclops dobro w/tongue oil....didn't turn out bad at all. But nitro is a bit out of my league. I believe my interests here would be better served by seeking professional help. I got extremely lucky to score that pre-war walnut square neck...I think I'll lay 'er down right there, take a seat on the porch and patiently allow Damon to his thing. When this project is completed I'll be sure to post pics.
MC |
|
|
|
Mike Cass
|
Posted 19 Sep 2019 7:00 am
|
|
Well....4 yrs later and I have pics.
It took a lot of effort but I think it was worth it.
Turned out better that I could've hoped for. Enjoy!
 |
|
|
|
Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
|
Posted 19 Sep 2019 7:11 am
|
|
| Wow! Love the wood pattern and the metal work. Congratulations! Hope it sounds as good as it looks. You really have something special there. |
|
|
|
Joe Elk
From:
Ohio, USA
|
Posted 19 Sep 2019 7:30 am
|
|
WOW WOW Beautiful!!!!
Joe Elk Central Ohio |
|
|
|
K Maul
From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
|
Posted 19 Sep 2019 11:54 am
|
|
VERY nice, Mike!
_________________
KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Danelectro, Evans, Fender, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing. |
|
|
|
