Martin Vazquez
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2020 8:24 am |
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OMI Dobro round neck resonator
Offered for sale is an original Dobro resonator guitar made by the family that invented the genre back in 1928.
As seen in the headstock picture, it is serial number D 106 6, which dates it's creation to 1976.
I can safely say that this is the cleanest, best preserved OMI Dobro round neck offered on the market today. Part of the reason for this, I think, is that for many years, the bow in the neck prevented it from being played - the action was just too high to be fretted with your hand. And so, in the closet it sat. For evidence of this, see how clean the resonator cover is, free from scratches and beautiful. Look at the binding, unchipped, uncracked, not separated from the body. There are no cracks or significant scratches in the body at all! Considering it's age, I'd rate its condition as "excellent".
As for the sound, it's the perfect combination of a warm, woody acoustic guitar together with a funky, blusey, metallic edge that transports you to Mississippi delta blues, New Orleans traditional jazz, and Appalatian string pickin' all at once. A unique voice in a uniquely historical American instrument! You will not easily find another like this!
The restoration
In 2016, I comissioned Robert Stublebine, one of the Boston area's premier guitar restoration luthiers, to re-set the neck on this guitar. Robert did a marvelous job; I defy you to see any evidence that this was even done! But done it was, and the result is spectacular - a guitar that is a joy to play and to fret with ease with a 5/64 inch string height at the 12th fret. Robert also filed the nut slots and bridge, adjusted the cone tension, and did a thorough cleaning inside and out.
A little history on the origin of the Dobro resonator
The dobro was developed by the Dopyera brothers, Czechoslovakian immigrants who came to America in 1908. "Dobro" is an anagram formed from "DO pyera BRO thers." All five of the brothers, John, Robert, Rudolph, Louis, and Emil were involved in the production of these instruments.
The dobro as we know it (woodbodied, with a single resonator and an 8-legged aluminum spider) apparently was first produced in 1928 within the guitar company National (famous for their silver-nickel bodied tri-cone resonator guitars). John Dopyera left National in late 1929 and formed the Dobro company with his brothers. There he developed the single cone resonator guitar known today generically as the dobro. By 1933, the Dobro and National companies merged into National-Dobro. In 1941, the onset of WWII caused the company to cease operations. The patents and rights to the old designs passed through the companies of Valco (1942) and Mosrite (1967). In 1970 the Dopyeras once again acquired the rights to the Dobro name, formed the Original Music Instrument Company (OMI) in Long Beach, California, and began building OMI instruments with the Dobro decal on the headstock, just in time to take advantage of the "folk boom" launched a few years earlier by the Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and many others.
The OMI dobros have a thin body (3-1/4") and often have a sunburst finish with a dark brown opaque finish. There are three small holes between the round screens. The nut is made of synthetic material, the knobs on the tuners are of plastic,. A serial number is stamped on the end of the headstock. OMI dobros were made in square and round neck, solid or slotted headstock models. The resonator is usually spun rather than stamped.
Sources:
The History & Artistry of National Resonator Instruments, by Bob Brozman, 1998
and http://www.resoguit.com/kenbrown.html
Specifications:
- Body: High quality birch laminate top, back & sides, fully bound, sound well design.
- Lower bout width: 14", upper bout 10 3/4 ". Body thickness: 3 1/4"
- Spun aluminum resonator cone suspended on cast spider supported bridge
- Scale length: 24 1/2 inches
- Fretboard: rosewood with perloid dots
- One piece maple neck, low-profile C shape
- Nut width (string center to center) 1 5/8", width at 12th fret 1 7/8"
- TKL Hardshell Case (my pet rabbit damaged this, but perfectly serviceable)
$1500.
Buyer pays s
 hipping from Plymouth NH03264 Paypal preferred. Additional pics available
Money back guaranteed if this guitar is not just as I have described. |
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