Strange fret buzz issue on dobro

[bwade913]

Hi All, first time poster. I hope you all don't mind a dobro question here.

I have a beat up old 1934 Regal branded dobro (spider cone) that has a strange fret buzz issue. In general it plays fine and has a nice tone with a cool growl that none of my other guitars have. I can fret any single string on any fret and it plays clean. The only problem is that when I play a barre chord at or above the 7th fret, none of the strings play cleanly. It didn't always do this, it just started happening one day. The only thing I can think of is that the additional tension of fretting all the strings is causing some sort of problem, like maybe the spider is sagging under the load, but I can't see any movement. Any ideas?

Bret

[pete1951]

Hi Bret, welcome to the forum, do you still get the buzz if you put a capo on the 7th/8th frets and play the open strings?

Pete

[Michael Messer]

Hi Bret,

Welcome to our forum.

Pete's question is a good one and will help us to find the problem.

In addition to Pete's question - I think some photos would be helpful, because we have no idea of what condition your beat up Regal is in.

Some questions...

Is the cone is good condition? Photo please, just through the coverplate is fine.

Is the spider tension screw correctly adjusted. Do you know about this adjustment?

What is the string height at the 12th fret? Photo please.

What gauge strings are you using and in what tuning?

Could we hear a short recording of the guitar playing well with its cool growl, and with it buzzing when barre chords are played. Just a phone recording is fine.

The spider won't be sagging under the load, but it may be putting uneven pressure on the cone.

We could really do with photos and as much information as you can give us. If it was in my hands it would be easy to diagnose, but remotely it takes a bit of input from both sides to find the fault.

Happy to help if we can

Shine On
Michael

[bwade913]

Hi Michael and Pete,

Thanks for the welcome and interest in my issue. When I woke up this morning, I thought about my original post, and it occurred to me that a reader may well question whether I can actually play a barre chord. It even occurred to me to do the capo test just to rule out my technique. Then I read your responses, and saw that my fears were realized. :-)

So, I did the capo test, and there was still string buzz, but then I stumbled onto a solution. I found that with the capo on, if I held the tailpiece above the cover plate, the tone cleaned up. I've now added some felt between the tailpiece and the cover plate, and my barre chords have cleaned up nicely. I'm surprised at this, as I didn't think it mattered if the tailpiece lay on the cover plate.

I'll go ahead and answer your questions and post pictures. Any further advice is welcome, but I do consider the main problem solved.

The cone appears to be in good condition. It is a stamped slotted cone, about which I've read a lot of conflicting information. Some people consider them to be poor cones, some like their distinctive old time sound. I'm in the latter group. The tone may not be beautiful, but it has a lot of character. I have a Beard Deco Phonic that is meant to be the same guitar except for the cone, and the two sound as different as two dobros can sound.

I don't know anything about the spider tension screw and have not adjusted it.

The string height is a little over 3mm at the 12th fret. I don't consider that too high. Most of my guitars are between 2.5 and 3mm.

The strings are D'Addario EJ42 Resophonic Guitar Strings, 16-56.

I tune to Open C#, a half step down from Open D.

[bwade913]

I've attached five photos of my dobro, showing the cone, soundwell, bridge and saddle. Note also that the body looks like it was beaten with a hammer and I had to do a headstock repair last year after my stand collapsed under the guitar.

Attachments:

[Michael Messer]

Hi Bret,

What you have there is a mid 1930s, probably 1935, model 37 Dobro with a stamped eight leg lug cone and a non-original tailpiece.

It doesn't look beat up to me and I think it's a shame the neck repair hasn't been done professionally.

Those lug cones are sought after by people like me that like old time sounding Dobros. Nothing sounds quite like them. They are less powerful than spun cones, and much less powerful than modern spun cones, but they sound very sweet. This is the main reason it sounds so different to the new Beard Dobro.

The reason the felt between the tailpiece and coverplate is making a difference is because that non-original tailpiece is not quite angled correctly for the setup. The felt is not a great idea because contrary to many people's opinion, it does affect the tone. I would consider getting a proper tailpiece for it. While that one looks cool because it is similar to Bashful Brother Oswald's famous model 27 Dobro's tailpiece, it may not be helping.

The tension screw in the centre of the spider should be adjusted in this way...>> with the coverplate on, tune up the guitar to pitch, C# in your case, then slacken off the screw so the whole thing buzzes when you strum and pick the strings, then keep tightening it gradually a quarter turn at a time until you can strum and pick it with no buzzes happening, and that's it. This is a very important part of setting up a Dobro to sound good. Too loose and it rattles and buzzes, too tight and it chokes the sound. There is a happy place where it is just right.

Open C# is a pretty slack tuning, which I reckon may be the main reason for the rattling non-original tailpiece. This indicates to me that your tension screw is not adjusted correctly.

16/56 D'Addario EJ42 Resophonic Guitar Strings are a very misleading product. They are resophonic guitar strings, but they are specifically designed to have perfect tension in high bass G tuning GBDGBD on Dobros (square neck Dobros). In any other tuning they are unevenly balanced. You would be better off with a regular set of acoustic guitar strings 13/56, and replace the 13 with a 15, so you end up with 15, 17, 26, 36, 46, 56. This would be a much more balanced set for C#, D, low bass G tunings.

I hope that is all helpful information.

That's a beautiful guitar you have there.

Shine On
Michael

[bwade913]

Wow, I can't thank you enough for your help Michael. I didn't realize the tailpiece wasn't original. I'll look into getting a replacement.

I'm aware that Regal made Dobro branded instruments for the Eastern US market and that they also sold some identical instruments with the Regal brand. Is my guitar one of those, or a Regal-only variation? Sadly, the Regal decal on the headstock came off when I removed the masking tape after the headstock repair.

Regards,
Bret

[Michael Messer]

Bret,

My pleasure.

As far as I can tell, yours was built by Regal under license from Dobro. A good photo of the front of the headstock would clarify that point for me.

Shine On
Michael