dobro guitars

[daryle_ackerman]

Newbie question here: what makes a guitar a dobro guitar?

Is what The Edge plays at the start of `Running to Stand Still' (from "The Joshua Tree" album) a dobro guitar? (I'm refering to the sliding guitar part).

Daryle

 

[Track Rat]

Dobro is a brand name but I know what you mean. You're refering to a Resonator guitar. It's an acoustic type guitar with a metal resonator in the middle of the top that looks almost like a hub cap. The bridge is at its center. This setup was designed back in the 30's to amplify the guitar. There's also all steel bodied resonators (Nationals) that are favored by blues guys. I have a steel bodied resonator but it's not a National unfortunatly (a mear Dean ). They're VERY cool.

 

[bongolation]

The Dobro name is now owned by Gibson. The Dobro has a particular kind of resonator characterized by a deep wooden sound well that distinguishes it from other resophonic designs, and there are quite a few. In the days before electrics, there was quite a little tech race between designers trying to get more volume from acoustic guitars.

They often sound quite different from each other.

I have a biscuit resonator that sounds not only very loud, but very interesting and different from any other resophonic design I've tried.

 

[Fusioninspace]

I've got a Jay Turser resonator "solid body" electric. It's an interesting approach to put the resonator on a solid body (or any guitar for that matter). I can play it without an amp and get a decent amount of volume out of it - That was the original intention of the resonator... Basically, a louder guitar before the age of amps.

I'm surprized that someone hasn't tried to put different cones on these things and played with the sound. I personnaly think they sound best with a slide, but i have recorded it with just normal fingering as well....

 

[bongolation]

It's an interesting approach to put the resonator on a solid body (or any guitar for that matter).

Supro had some weird examples of this back in the old days.

I'm surprized that someone hasn't tried to put different cones on these things and played with the sound. I personnaly think they sound best with a slide, but i have recorded it with just normal fingering as well....

There have been a lot of experiments done with them.

I think it's sort of unfortunate that people only associate resophonics with slide. They were originally intended for general guitar use. I can't remember his name, but there was a famous prewar European jazz guitarist mentioned in the recent Django biography who played on a metal-bodied National Tri-Cone.

Late last year, I was at a Guitar Center sale and they had a remarkable Gibson "California Girl" bell brass Dobro, new, for $799.99 (MSRP is around three grand!). I was going to buy it, but I was almost unable to pick it up off the stand. It was that heavy. Sorry, I don't need another guitar that's too heavy for me to enjoy playing.

I have a couple of resophonics that I play like normal axes. The single-cone biscuit has the strangest, most haunting guitar sound I think I've ever heard.

 

[lpdeluxe]

There are 3 basic designs. In chronological order, the first is the tri-cone, which had 3 small cones with a T-shaped bridge support attached to the centers of the cones (these were all metal bodied, and have been reissued the last few years, as the necessary tooling became affordable in Asian countries). Next came the National biscuit bridge, which has a single resonator about 9-1/2" diameter sitting in a hole in the middle of the top, with its edges rested on the rim of the hole (these were all metal originally, because the guys who developed it were basically metal workers and didn't have the woodworking chops for bending sides, etc). "Biscuit bridge" derives from the fact that the bridge is mounted on a round "biscuit" that sits in the center of the resonator. The third one is the Dobro spider bridge, where the 10-1/2" resonator sits on top of a round "soundwell" of laminated maple that extends from the top to the back. The bridge is mounted on a "spider", the legs of which rest on the lip of the resonator. These have been made in metal and wood, and later, when Dobro and National joined forces, wood-bodied Nationals became available.

I haven't played a tricone, but I have played many Dobros and biscuit bridges, and I own a wood-body Dobro and an Epiphone Biscuit.

A good biscuit bridge sounds almost like an electric, with a strong midrange. It won't sustain as well as a spider bridge, but it is excellent for blues. A bad biscuit bridge sounds like a banjo, so it's important to try them before you buy.

A spider bridge is sweeter, with good sustain, and a twangy tone. Another one that you have to try first, because a bad sounding spider bridge is useless: trebly, thin and rattly.

One thing about resonators: don't string 'em with slinkies! They need fat strings to come to life. Those resonators need some punch driving them. A set of Dobro strings runs .056W-.016, low to high. I put a set of acoustic mediums (.056W-.013) on my Epi, and as soon as I change strings I'm going to the Dobro set.