|
Post by mirrormist on Sept 16, 2007 0:12:29 GMT
…where this factory is in the far east…the one that has reputedly churned out almost every oriental resonator that exists on the planet…the one that only employs unskilled labour? I would be interested to know if anyone can supply that information.
best wishes
|
|
|
Post by robn on Sept 16, 2007 0:43:01 GMT
...You've just got back from the pub haven't you Robin
|
|
|
Post by mirrormist on Sept 16, 2007 10:54:03 GMT
hi Robn...thanks for the laugh ... best wishes
|
|
|
Post by davey on Sept 18, 2007 10:39:33 GMT
I guess everyone at National Resophonic has a degree in Engineering and gets paid $50k a year including the cleaner.
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Sept 18, 2007 20:08:47 GMT
But the man who thought up the NR bit got paid more..
|
|
|
Post by mirrormist on Sept 18, 2007 20:56:09 GMT
Hello Davey..saw your comments earlier…didn’t think you’d get much change from them though, what with them referring to the pretend national brand (hey I am just being ironic as we all are) Hello Richard…how’s it going…NRP have been very successful I should think…and I know a few comments from some on this and other forums have suggested their success has been on the back of the original National brand…which may or not be true…anyway this little bit of banter got me wondering.
Why do you guys think NRP were successful where Dobro failed (or appeared to) in popularising the metal bodied reso. Was it down to difference in disposable incomes of the varying decades perhaps? Maybe the marketing as some suggest?...perhaps the quality of workmanship?
I would be interested to hear anyone’s take or knowledge
Best wishes
|
|
|
Post by davey on Sept 19, 2007 13:10:06 GMT
Maybe electric guitars wiped them out the first time around.
It would be interesting to know the ratio between the cost of, say a Duolian in the 1930's and an average wage at the time. One weeks wages, two, three ?
I might do some research on that one.
My 1934 Duolian cost me a months wages ! (when I had a job )
|
|
|
Post by davey on Sept 19, 2007 13:35:13 GMT
Here's the answer to my own question: (found at www.thepeoplehistory.com/1934.html)An average months wages in 1934 in the USA was $133 so a Duolian would cost one weeks wages ($32.50)
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2007 17:30:37 GMT
Hi Davey,
Assuming 1930… $32.50 then would cost $1267.55 now. This is my personal and educated calculation and not some government BS numbers. It’s for the latter that this is even the case. I do claim and can defend having a brain on this one and it is one of my most passionate and closely followed topics in the world today… confiscation of value.
This figure comes out to 2.6 cents on the dollar. The dollar has lost 97.4 cents of its value… really since 1913 if you were to come up with a “start” date. Many independent thinkers that closely follow this stuff have figured this out and the number is well accepted by those who are not part of or influenced by the club.
Sorry for the rant! But here is your real answer (in dollars, not wages)
|
|
|
Post by mirrormist on Sept 19, 2007 17:50:39 GMT
Hello Davey…hey you must have been on top money or you got yourself an absolute bargain…either way a months wages is a lot of dosh. I bought my NRP when my job was made redundant in 1997…would never have been able to have afforded it otherwise. Even so I think it must have been close to ten times my weekly take home pay at the time. I was really thinking more of the seventies Dobros and the nineties NRP’s rather than a comparison with old Nationals and Dobros. Hopefully some of the guys will chip in and offer their thoughts on why NRP appear to have succeeded with metal bodied guitars as opposed to the earlier Dobro from around the seventies. Your link was very interesting indeed btw. Best wishes
|
|
|
Post by mirrormist on Sept 19, 2007 18:05:39 GMT
Hello Ebner101 Hey now that is a lot of money…can’t imagine working guys being able to afford these guitars back then…but hey someone must have bought them. As I said to Davey I am more interested in thoughts on newer variety of metal bodied guitars. Thanks for your contribution all the same…if you have any thoughts feel free to continue to join in Best wishes
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2007 18:24:35 GMT
This is my guess... and only a guess! Michael is this close? I seem to recall that Dobro was associated most with the spider bridge set up. National & later NRP with the biscuit and tri-cones. Dobro later added a biscuit to its line sort of as an after thought. Remember that National (proper) went out of business and never came back! At least Dobro was still going. Dobro changed hands many times (this can hurt sales). I assume people here play more biscuits than spiders? TODAY: I don't think Gibson's heart is in it and they own the Dobro name. They only have the name left that is of much value and that has decreased. When the name as a brand dies so will Dobro proper IMO. They also have a LOT of quality competition and have not done a good job differentiating themselves from the pack. Taken all together... spider bridge guitars probably account for a considerable portion of the overall resonator market. The Dobro brand is a very small part of that total if I was to guess. Just my opinion from the stuff I've read, heard, and seen. Dobro never focused on metal guitars (mostly wood) and people like NRP have differentiated themselves and found the right niche for metal
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Sept 19, 2007 19:28:11 GMT
It is an interesting subject. I actually don't think the demise of the Dobro brand is related to the success of NRP. Eric, your comments about the Dobro company and its history are correct. It is sad to see how Gibson have treated that brand name. Considering the popularity of the Dobro (spider bridge) guitar, it seems crazy. And that is not a market that NRP have taken, their Model D spider bridge guitar is not their biggest seller.
NRP has not taken that market, their success has come from the biscuit bridge & Tricone instruments. Their success is well deserved; they make top class instruments and give an excellent personal service to their customers. I think that they probably learnt a lot from the mistakes made by OMI Dobro in the 70s & 80s. Don Young used to work for OMI. I also think that a very clever and calculated business decision was made in the very beginning when they named their company National Reso-Phonic and tagged the heritage of National into their own company. The National guitar has always been an icon in the guitar world.
As with most success stories, timing is also a major factor in the success of NRP. For many reasons including; Mark Knopfler, the boom in acoustic blues, the availability of old music, the baby-boomers all reaching an age where they didn't want electric guitars anymore, the rise in value of vintage 1920s Nationals....and not forgetting NRPs excellent guitars - it all fell together at the right time. There was a lot of syncronicity going on at that time in the resophonic world and NRP was in the middle helping to accelerate that buzz. NRP is now a leading brand in the acoustic guitar market.
None of the above is a critisism of NRP - quite the opposite. They have done a great job and now get treated by dealers & players with the same reverence as the original National company. That's quite an achievement.
Shine On Michael
|
|
|
Post by mirrormist on Sept 19, 2007 21:14:28 GMT
Hello Ebner101 & Michael...thanks for your input I guess there was a lot of instability in the seventies (uk) keeping homes and jobs was probably top of most peoples priorities back then so I guess I can understand timing for both companies on this side of the pond played a factor in their success or otherwise. I know the first metal guitar I saw in a music shop window in my home town in the early seventies was probably a Dobro though even back then in my mind I thought it to be a National. So I suppose from the little knowledge I at the time National Dobro were one and the same company (of course I know different now)…not so sure though that all but the most knowledgeable wouldn’t have known the difference between a biscuit and spider bridge in that decade though. I don’t think there is a connection between the success of NRP and the seemingly demise of Dobro metal guitars either but as I have said I am very interested in understanding why NRP succeeded in re-popularising metal bodied guitars whereas Dobro weren’t able to do so. I would agree that the name National was a factor also…but that said…Does anyone think that if NRP were around in the early seventies they would have been any more successful than the Dobro of that era? Thanks guys Best wishes
|
|
|
Post by robn on Sept 19, 2007 21:24:51 GMT
Hi Ebner, Loved the "rant" ;D The "official" figure against the US Consumer Price Index, which takes account of cost of living aspects rather than pure fiscal movements is about $480 today equalling $32.50 in the early 30s. Which, to me, sort of makes the Duolian a little more affordable and perhaps reflects the shear number produced and sold. Still there are lies, damm lies and statistics I'm not going to fall on my sword over either figure! Robn Ebner - Would you drop me a PM with your premise (not the detail) - I'm really interested in your take on this - It is a quite important part of the history as I assumed the Duolian really was a "budget" instrument.
|
|