|
|
Joined:
April 2005
Posts: 200
Location: Melbourne Fl. | I'm sitting here watching Allison Krause & Union Station and as usual being blown away.One fella is playing a Dobro or a Resonater.My question is........is there a difference,and if so,what? Fro those in the know,pardon my ignorance. Slydog |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | there are tricones and duolians
but dobro is the brand name for a resonator guitar.
the doberya brothers invented the resonator. AFAIK.
National was one of the brothers breaking off on his own.
cwk probably knows more on this subject than I |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | There are basically 2 kinds of resonator guitar, the original "bicuit cone" or National type and the slightly later "Spider cone" sold under the Dobro name. (Nationals came in single cone and triple cone versions) Everything else is a copy of or development of those 2 originals. Any guitar with a spider cone is usually referred to as a Dobro, regardless of manufacturer and Dobro became a generic term for this type of guitar in the same way as the terms "Hoover and "Bic" became generic. However Gibson through their aquisition of OMI now own the rights to the Dobro name and have stated their intent to aggresively protect the trademark. No surprise there. Respected dobro builders such as Tim Sheerhorn, Paul Beard, Tut Taylor/Crafters of Tennesee etc, no longer refer to their instruments as Dobros but as resonophonic or resonator guitars. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if they'd stood up to old Hank J. It worked for Paul Reed Smith. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | ... and that feller you were watching play the "Dobro" was Jerry Douglas.... you'd be hard-pressed to find a better player on the planet.
AKUS is just incredibly tight, period. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by alpep:
the doberya brothers invented the resonator. AFAIK.
National was one of the brothers breaking off on his own. So, his name was National Doberya? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | National/Dobro history is pretty convoluted. There were 5 Dopyera brothers involved, Emile, John and Rudy, I forget the other 2. George Beauchamp was also involved in the early days. If memory serves it was Beauchamp (who along with Paul Barth went on to develop the "Frying Pan" electric Lap Steel for Rickenbacker) who wanted a louder guitar and approached the Dopyeras. They originally made metal-bodied tricone and then single cone guitars under the brandname National. The brothers fell out, John left, redesigned the cone assembly and produced wooden-bodied guitars under the Dobro name (a conraction of DOpyera BROthers) They eventally got back together and both wooden and metal guitars were made at various times over the years. They were involved in several companies (and the Dobro name was bought and sold a few times) including National, Dobro, Supro, Airline, Valco, Mosrite, HoundDog, OMI and most recently the Big "G". Interesting to note that National had some success with Fibreglass electric guitars and piezo bridge pickups in the early 60's. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 2178
Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
... and that feller you were watching play the "Dobro" was Jerry Douglas.... you'd be hard-pressed to find a better player on the planet. Skip, Hop, Wobble? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | SKWOBBLE
(you should get it tomorrow I'd imagine) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Paul, You're doing a real good job with the history. Keep it up
Dobro started when John got his knickers in a twist and left the company in 29, they started in 27. Emile went with him and they called the new company Dobro for Dopera Brothers. They all got back together in the early 30's and threw Beauchamp out. A real soap opera stary.
Anyone really interested in the rest should get a copy orf Bob Brozman's book, the Art and History of National Guitars. It's a good place for all the background. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Not that this is related, but in a couple of slavic languages, and I believe the dopeyra brothers were czech(?), DOBRO means GOOD. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2005
Posts: 200
Location: Melbourne Fl. | Thanks for all the input,Wow!The knowledge available here never ceases to amaze me....ask and ye shall recieve. slydog |
|
| |
Difference?
