Dobro D5

[disparatesoul]

Hi all

i'm getting hooked on resonators ! got my first one recently and looking for others if i can find them at the right price

Does anyone know anything of the D5 in the mid 90s - i know its a gibson model, not sure if thats a good thing or not ! and i think i read that the initial D5s in the early days were considered lesser models? is that the case with the D5 or are they considered good instruments ?

thanks in advance

Andy

[pete1951]

I have seen several ‘Gibson’ Dobros and they have all been disappointing. I am not sure about the model your interested in , there must have been a translation period when old Dobro workers were making Gibson brand Dobros, but my understanding is that most original workers were let go and the factory moved.

Others on the forum will have more info
Pete

[leeophonic]

Once Gibson took the reigns everything went south, although the period from the late 80's to mid nineties there was quite a bit of innovation and individualism going on, fighting to find a winner I suppose. I have owned quite a few from that era, most need a good setup, due to budget constraints they had plastic nuts (need replacing) some of the cones will be tired by now (get a beard Dobro cone) and set up accordingly. If you buy right a lot of fun for the money though.

Lee

[disparatesoul]

Thanks for the replies and info

having done a bit of digging around i think its actually a model 60, though i'm no expert from 1997. I'm not sure if thats just before gibson bought Dobro.

reverb.com/uk/item/65076515-dobro-d-5-sunburst

I only recently bought a republic dobro which i'm very happy with, but wondered if this is a good deal if i can negotiate a bit on price and will it likely give me much of a difference in sound as both are spider cone wood bodied guitars - though i do like that sound. And having 2 in different tuniings might be useful !

thanks

Andy

[leeophonic]

97 is the Gibson era ownership of Dobro, as long as it plays and feels right then maybe have a punt on the guitar,

the listing I would imagine was hastily put out as listed as a D5 and in the 12 string category !!!!, it is a shop and they need to make money I guess but they should know their onions. A private sale would probably set you back £650 to £750 but we might be talking about this in a couple of years whilst you wait for one to surface so go with your gut if you already have a spider cone you may want something different or like that style of tone, it is all individual.

Regards

Lee


PS also noticed they have this listing as well

reverb.com/uk/item/59744947-dobro-regal-model-d-5-1997-resonator

[disparatesoul]

Yeah the shop don't really know what they've got.

they listed as a D5 and also that it was a biscuit cone, i'm new to these but knew it was a spider.

They've made me a pretty good offer on it to be fair!

i'm tempted to buy it, the one thing putting me off is whether it will sound too similar to the republic I have - but then i suppose i've had plenty of acoustic guitars with the same woods and body size etc but they all offered something different !

thanks for your help !