Help: Which Dobro?

Subject: Which Dobro?
From: GUEST,Howard in Florida
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 04:16 PM

Can you experienced dobro'ists recommend a *good* dobro for an acoustic guitarist?

What is the price range for a new instrument - is 700 US Dollars too low? The instrument should be well playable.

thanks

Howard

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: GUEST,truckerdave
Date: 02 Mar 02 - 03:58 AM

Well, squareneck or roundneck? I assume you want one with spider bridge? Some good cheap ones are Regals(pretty good sound, fair quality) or if you really want a cheap one, a Johnson. Hit a few licks on a squareneck Johnson recently and it sounded surprisingly good. My next guitar purchase will be a squareneck Regal. They're all over the place on ebay. My experience with import resonators has been that you can get better sound by replacing the cone with quarterman and then setting it up yourself. $700 is too much for a cheap one and too little for a really good one.

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: Anahootz
Date: 02 Mar 02 - 04:18 AM

Seconding the Regal. I got mine for $250 used, and I am pretty happy with it for the moment.

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: M.Ted
Date: 02 Mar 02 - 12:51 PM

Check with Elderly to see what currently available new, and what it costs, and what used instruments tend to cost--Elderly.com will get you there--stay away from instruments on E-Bay--not that you couldn't find a good deal there, but there are a lot of wolves among the sheep--

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: Tweed
Date: 02 Mar 02 - 01:04 PM

I'll go a third on that Regal. I got mine new off Ebay for under 400 bucks with a gig bag. It's chromed steel with a round neck, it stays in tune, plays well and like truckerdave says, you can get a quarterman cone to hotrod it a little. (I ain't got my quarterman yet, but I'm not far from it)

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: RocketMan
Date: 02 Mar 02 - 06:58 PM

All of the import models sound 100% better when set up properly with a new cone, spider, and bone nut. There are many respected resonator luthiers around who will perform the service for you. A couple that come to mind are Paul Beard and Tim Scheerhorn, but there are many others. I watched Tim Scheerhorn upgrade a Regal RD75 at a workshop in Nashville last month. The difference in volume, tone, and sustain was incredible! The cost for the upgrade is somewhere between $150 and $200 US. Sometimes the luthier can get a better price on the base instrument if he buys it and then does the upgrade.

RMan

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: Bobert
Date: 02 Mar 02 - 07:36 PM

Yeah, like Tweed, I purchased the Regal steel bodied resonator on Ebay and love it. The sound and quality are real good. I tried a Fender dobro in a guitar shop, however, a couple of week agos and would definately pass on the Fender, at least the cheapie. Sounded cheap. No umphh at all.

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: Ned Ludd
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 04:17 AM

I don't usually ask this kind of question but what's a quarterman cone? I've a 1934 national body that was found under a bed in Leeds It's been re-necked and the hardware replaced. Would one of these cones help the sound? I think the last one was from Stewart Macdonald.

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: reggie miles
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 05:03 AM

Quaterman is the guy who spins resonator cones for the Dobro folks. He also makes his own cones and sells them. His are supposed to be made of a better alloy than those he makes for Dobro, and he sells them for slightly more cashola. I'm not aware that he makes National style resonator cones but he may.

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: RocketMan
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 08:18 AM

Ned, look here for a description of Quarterman cones. Click in cones in the menu.

http://www.beardguitars.com/explode/resophonic/beardshop/webshop.cgi?config=config.txt

RMan

Subject: RE: Help: Which Dobro?
From: Tweed
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 08:23 AM

Here's some links to look for quarterman cones.

www.Resound.uk

Paul Beard at FolkoftheWood

The London Resonator Centre (have a look at my buddy Pete's Molinator's while in here!)