1980's Dobros

[davey]

I have a 1989 Dobro Mandolin. I was wondering who was actually making the OMI Instruments at this time ? Had all the Dopyera gone by then ?

[Mark Makin]

Hi Davey
The brothers Ed and Rudy Dopyera had died by 1977 and 1978 respectively and the company was run by their nephew Ron Lazar. He died of a heart attack in 1984 and so Gabriella, one of the five sisters of the Dopyera Brothers was in sole control of the company. By 1985, this was becoming too great a struggle for her and the company was sold to Chester and Mary Lizak who were for many years, the company accountants. By 1988, The Gibson company was regularly making attempts to intimidate Dobro into selling. OMI struggled on in Huntinton Beach for another five years until Chester's death in 1993. Gibson could not now be kept at bay and the company was finally sold to Gibson by September 1993. Production stayed in the same factory for another four years until 1997 even though most people had left and Gibson had to run it with newly recruited staff. By 1997, they finally closed the facility down and transferred all production to Nashville in early 1998.

They renamed the company OAI (Original Acoustic instruments). None of the staff were retained!!! Gibson 'videoed' the last days of OMI production in California to use for "training purposes" in Nashville!!!!!!

[bonzo]

Interesting stuff, what does OMI stand for please? (I hope I'm not missing something obvious!)
Best wishes to you all, John

[davey]

Thanks Mark, so my Dobro Mandolin is from the "Lizak" era ! Is it known why Gibson were so determined to get Dobro ?? They didn't do much with it & I think the 90's were a pretty good era for Gibson.

[davey]

OMI is Original Musical Instruments, just a Company name the Dopyeras thought up when they needed one. I guess it means "Oh my !" but it's only a guess.

[Mark Makin]

Hi Davey, I believe the original attempts to buy into the National /Dobro success happened even back in the 20s but the Dopyears determinedly resisted. I believe it just became a thorn in Gibson's side so that when they finally got their hands on it, they virtually destroyed it.

[Mark Makin]

Hi Davey/Bonzo.
The first name that the brothers were going to call the company in 1967 was RMI (Replica Musical Instrument Company). They had logos designed in June 1967. At the last minute, Ed Dopyera changed his mind and decided on 'Original' Musical Instruments (OMI) because, they had already built a small reputation with their wood and metal instruments called 'Dopyera Originals' between 1962 and 1967. Remember, that they could not use 'Dobro' because it was, at that time, owned by the Mosrite company. They didn't get it back until Mosrite's bankruptcy in 1970.

[davey]

The Gibson story is full of intrigue, it seems like the "investors" actually paid Orville Gibson to stay away from the Factory so they could get on with creating a big business, and that was all before 1910.

This is a good read: drive.google.com/file/d/1PLZfbJsnf6ITi8KZxL5g3K2XL0JM4vgD/view?usp=sharing

[Michael Messer]

The Gibson story and the Dobro/National story is interesting and full of twists and turns.

As Mark has said, it went back a long time with Gibson & Dobro and when they bought the Dobro brand they intentionally destroyed it. Whenever I see that the Gibson company are in some kind of trouble and struggling to survive, I do something that is not usually in my nature when people or companies are in trouble, I smile and think of how they treated the Dopyera family and their brand over fifty or more years. It went on in John E. Dopyera's life (John Dopyera's son) until he died a few years ago.

That's why I love using the D word whenever I can and never use the © alongside it as Gibson seem to think they can insist on. DOBRO DOBRO DOBRO ....see that, I got away with it again!

Shine On
Michael

[davey]

We're just talking Slovenian here, Michael & the little c thing is silent. Dobro !

[Michael Messer]

Davey, the Dopyera family are Slovakian, not Slovenian

Dobro Dobro Dobro

Shine On
Michael

[davey]

Same word in both languages ! Dobro.

[leeophonic]

Dobro the sleeping giant of back catalogue models,

if the new ceo of Gibson had any idea he would consider raising the Poseidon !!!!

I,ll have another Zephyr as sold my last one....

Lee

[Brad Bechtel]

I will say the one good thing about Gibson's shabby mistreatment of the Dobro brand is that it allowed other luthiers to build and sell much better resophonic guitars. There are more high quality resophonic guitars (at all price ranges) being made today than at any time in our past.

[Michael Messer]

Brad, you make a good point. We are living in a golden age of luthiery right across the board.

To me, the mention of Gibson & Dobro in the same sentence is like showing a red rag to a bull. I just can't hold back!

Shine On
Michael