Dobro 33D

[uatru]

I have just bought a Dobro 33D on eBay. It is brass bodied, and a round neck. It dates from about 1971 and has small f holes.

It arrived today. To my surprise it appears to have no spider, and possibly a wooden biscuit bridge. It has light strings and sounds a bit weedy.

Poking around in the archives on here and on the net, it looks as though some of these guitars cake without a spider and had a biscuit. Perhaps this is one of those - but how can I find out?

I’ve mentioned this to the seller but he said int he advert that this is (or was) his father’s guitar so he may not know too much.

Presumably it could have a spider even if it didn’t have one originally, or should I leave well alone as it is now 50 years old.

Best wishes
Andrew.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Andrew

Most of these instruments were originally sold with 10" biscuit bridge cones. These cones are quite heavy and have their own sound, but should not sound weedy. It should actually be quite a loud guitar.

I don't normally recommend opening up resonator guitars, but you might need to look inside to see what is going on. If you do that and are not sure, post some photos on here.

Are you sure it's a "D" model? If it is it will have a lovely abstract sandblasted design that incorporates the D in it.

Shine On
Michael

[uatru]

Thanks Michael - yes it has the D on the back. I’ll put some pictures up. The seller has told me that a friend of his looked it over and put some strings on. Electric guitar strings! I’ll string it properly and see how it sounds then.

Best wishes
Andrew.

[leeophonic]

If it's the Dobro that finished on UK Ebay it was a nice looking guitar, medium strings should bring it to life, they have a good tone biscuit or spider set up.

Regards

Lee

[uatru]

Yes, it is that one.
A

[uatru]

Hopefully here are a couple of pictures. Now that it is restrung it. Is really loud!

[uatru]

[bonzo]

A real beauty, well done, enjoy! 😊🎸👍