TIPS  &  TUNING TECHNIQUES

Restored 1936 Dobro - My New Baby!

Since returning to acoustic performance ten years ago I have been looking for a second fiddle edge Dobro- my favourite resonator for blues slide guitar for open D and G tunings. The long sustain and sweet tone just can’t be beaten.

Although the bluegrass boys favour wooden bodied spider bridge guitars, and Dobro used a variety of alloys, none have the bass and warmth of steel.

The commonly held belief is that Dobro type spider bridge guitars are best for Bluegrass players and Nationals are best for Blues.  I would have believed that too had I not shared a flat with Sam Mitchell in the early 70’s where Sam’s Dobro knocked the stuffing out of my National Duolian. He just sounded so much better – not just because he was a great player.

I found this guitar on eBay and arranged to see the guitar before bidding. The vendor was selling it on behalf of his brother and had re-sprayed it with gold metallic auto paint after stripping off black gloss paint and discovering the remains of gold Frosted Duco underneath.

The neck was very warped and not in a playable condition with signs of woodworm. It had replacement machine heads and a very distorted resonator, but the irreplaceable parts, the body and tailpiece, were perfect.

I had to have the guitar so put in a high bid, won the auction and got the guitar for half of what I was prepared to pay.