A modern Gibson Dobro

Dobro is a trade name now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar. Image File history File links Gibson_Dobro. ... Image File history File links Gibson_Dobro. ... A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the legal name of a business, or the name which a business trades under for commercial purposes. ... This article is about the American musical instrument manufacturer. ... A modern tricone resonator guitar, with electric pickup A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal resonators rather than by a wooden guitar belly. ...

The name has a long and involved history, intimately interwoven with that of the resonator guitar. Originally coined by the Dopyera brothers when they formed the Dobro Manufacturing Company, for a time it came in common language to mean any resonator guitar, or specifically one with a particular design of resonator. The Dobro brand also appeared, quite legitimately, on other instruments, notably electric lap steel guitars and solid body electric guitars, and on other resonator instruments such as Safari mandolins. There are several notable persons named Dopyera (sometimes spelled Dopera): John Dopyera, inventor of the resonator guitar. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing A brand is a collection of images and ideas representing an economic producer; more specifically, it refers to the concrete symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. ... Chandler electric lap steel guitar, a modern solid body with the classic Weissenborn profile. ... A solid body electric instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on its electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... Carved (electric) and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a small, stringed musical instrument which is plucked, strummed or a combination of both. ...

When Gibson acquired the name in 1993, they announced that they would defend their right to its exclusive use.

History

The name originated in 1928 when the Dopyera brothers formed the Dobro Manufacturing Company to manufacture a new resonator guitar design they called the Dobro. Dobro is both a contraction of Dopyera brothers and a word meaning good in their native Slovak language. An early company motto was Dobro means good in any language. There are several notable persons named Dopyera (sometimes spelled Dopera): John Dopyera, inventor of the resonator guitar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The Dobro was the third resonator guitar design by John Dopyera, the inventor of the resonator guitar, but the second to enter production. Unlike his earlier tricone design, the Dobro had a single resonator cone, and it was inverted, with its concave surface up. The Dobro company described this as a bowl shaped resonator. John Dopyera holding one of his hand-constructed violins John Dopyera (1893-1988) was a Slovak-American inventor and entrepreneur, considered by many to be the provider of the crucial bridge between the world of acoustic instruments and that of electric instruments. ... A modern tricone resonator guitar, with electric pickup A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal resonators rather than by a wooden guitar belly. ...

The Dobro was louder than Dopyera's original design, the tricone, and cheaper to produce. Cost of manufacture had in Dopyera's opinion priced the resonator guitar beyond the reach of many players, and his failure to convince his fellow directors at the National String Instrument Corporation to produce a single cone version was part of his motivation for leaving. A modern tricone resonator guitar, with electric pickup A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal resonators rather than by a wooden guitar belly. ... The National String Instrument Corporation was the company formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars. ...

Since National had applied for a patent on the single cone (US patent #1,896,484), Dopyera had to develop an alternative design, which he did by inverting the cone so that rather than having the strings rest on the apex of the cone as per the National method, they rested on a cast aluminum "spider" which had 8 legs sitting on the perimeter of the upside down cone (US patent #1,808,756). Aluminum is a soft and lightweight metal with a dull silvery appearance, due to a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air. ...

In the following years both Dobro and National built a wide variety of metal- and wood-bodied single-cone guitars, while National also continued with the tricone for a time. Both companies sourced many components from National director Adolph Rickenbacher, and John Dopyera continued to be a major shareholder in National. By 1934 the Dopyera brothers had gained control of both National and Dobro, and they merged the companies to form the National Dobro Corporation. See http://en. ...

From the outset, wooden bodies had been sourced from existing guitar manufacturers, particularly the plywood student guitar bodies made by the Regal Musical Instrument Company. Dobro had granted Regal a licence to manufacture resonator instruments, and by 1937 they were the only manufacturer, and the licence was officially made exclusive. Regal-manufactured resonator instruments continued to be sold under many names, including Regal, Dobro, Old Kraftsman, and Ward. However all production of resonator guitars ceased following the US entry into the Second World War in 1941. Toy constructed from plywood. ... The Regal Musical Instrument Company was established in 1908 in Chicago. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Emile Dopyera (also known as Ed Dopera) manufactured Dobros from 1959, before selling the company and name to Semie Moseley, who merged it with his Mosrite guitar company and manufactured Dobros for a time. Meantime, in 1967, Rudy and Emile Dopyera formed the Original Musical Instrument Company (OMI) to manufacture resonator guitars, which were at first branded Hound Dog. However in 1970 they again acquired the Dobro name, Mosrite having gone into temporary liquidation. Semie Moseley (1935-1992) was a guitar maker and the founder of Mosrite guitars. ... Mosrite was an American guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists such as Kurt Cobain, Joe Maphis, Larry Collins, Buck Trent, The Ventures and The Ramones. ... The Original Musical Instrument Company (often known as OMI) was formed in 1967 by two of the original Dopyera brothers, Rudy and Emile, to manufacture resonator guitars. ...

OMI together with the Dobro name was acquired by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1993. They renamed the company Original Acoustic Instruments, and moved production to Nashville. Gibson now uses the name Dobro only for models with the inverted-cone design used originally by the Dobro Manufacturing Company. Gibson also manufactures biscuit style single resonator guitars, but sells them under names such as Hound Dog and Epiphone. This article is about the American musical instrument manufacturer. ... For other cities named Nashville, see Nashville (disambiguation). ... Epiphone Emperor Epiphone is the name of a guitar manufacturer. ...

Wider usage of the name

Although Gibson now restrict the use of the name Dobro to their own product range, care should be taken in interpreting documents written before 1993, or sourced from outside the USA. The terms dobro and dobroist may not necessarily refer to a Dobro as currently available.

The name dobro is particularly associated with the single-inverted-cone resonator design, as opposed to the tricone and biscuit designs which are both similarly associated with the National brand. The National String Instrument Corporation was the company formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars. ...

Modern instruments

As of 2006, many different makers including Gibson were manufacturing resonator guitars to the inverted-cone design originally produced by the Dobro Manufacturing company. See resonator guitar. Gibson also manufactures biscuit-style resonator guitars, but reserve the Dobro name for their inverted-cone models. 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A modern tricone resonator guitar, with electric pickup A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal resonators rather than by a wooden guitar belly. ...

Trivia

• Often used in a clichéd manner, a dobro will be heard as soon as the scene in a movie or television show switches to a Southern American landscape, whether wilderness or a run-down town (usually in the summer). When this happens, it's playing a note that lazily slides upward a perfect fourth, generally followed by a few plucked chords descending to the original note.

• When Gibson informed other makers of their intention to reserve exclusive rights to the Dobro name, some players began to refer to their instruments as TIFKAD guitars, meaning The Instrument Formerly Known As Dobro.

• "The Ballad Of Curtis Loew" by Lynyrd Skynyrd on the Second Helping album (1974), features a classic mention of Dobro in the fashion mentioned above.

• Musician Jerry Douglas is a notable Dobro player.

• The song "When Papa Played the Dobro" by Johnny Cash, appeared on his 1960 album Ride this Train.

• There are two distinct variations of the modern day resonator guitar:
  • the so-called round-neck type which has a neck like an ordinary steel string acoustic guitar
  • the square-neck, which as the name suggests has a rectangular shaped neck, the strings being raised above the fretboard by about a half inch. This type is played flat on the lap, or using a strap, the notes being formed by using a bar similar to the technique used in Hawaiian or steel guitar playing.

Cliché (from French, imitative) refers to: an overused phrase or expression, or the idea expressed by it; a situation, theme or characterization which has become common; a thing (as a style of clothing) that has become overly familiar or commonplace. ... Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... The perfect fourth or diatessaron, abbreviated P4, is one of two musical intervals that span four diatonic scale degrees; the other being the augmented fourth, which is one semitone larger. ... Lynyrd Skynyrd (pronounced lĕh-nérd skin-nérd) is a U.S. Southern rock band, described by All Music Guides Stephen Thomas Erlewine as the definitive Southern rock band, fusing the overdriven power of blues-rock with a rebellious, Southern image and a hard rock swagger. ... See also: 1973 in music, other events of 1974, 1975 in music, 1970s in music and the list of years in music // January - The Ramones form. ... Jerry Douglas (born in Warren, Ohio on May 28, 1956) is an American virtuoso Dobro player. ... Johnny Cash (born J.R. Cash, February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an influential American country and rock and roll singer and songwriter. ... See also: 1959 in music, other events of 1960, 1961 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 14 - Elvis Presley is promoted to Sergeant in the U.S. Army February 6 - Songwriter Jesse Belvin dies in an automobile accident in Los Angeles, California. ... Ride This Train is the eighth album by country singer Johnny Cash. ...

External links

• A Brief History of the Resonator Guitar by Phil Leadbetter.
• Dobro page at the Gibson website.
• Fender resonator guitar homepage parallel to the Gibson homepage above.
• 1936 Dobro electric lap steel guitar.
• 1997 Dobro solid body electric guitar.

Custom Luthiers Building dobro Style Guitars: Phil Leadbetter is one of the leading players of the resonator guitar. ... This article is about the American musical instrument manufacturer. ... Chandler electric lap steel guitar, a modern solid body with the classic Weissenborn profile. ... A solid body electric instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on its electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ...

• Paul Beard
• Todd Clinesmith
• Brad Harper
• Tooter Meredith

Related Sites of Interest:

• Notecannons is devoted to early National-Dobro guitars.
• ResoGuit
• Reso-Nation
• Steelguitarzone features articles, books, DVDs and music for Dobro players