the wood of the ' dobros'

[john south5yahhogr]

hello michael ,and the other 'resonated' people! what do you think is the more like to the classic dobro (or to sardinas style, if you have heard of) kind of wood, for a spider cone guitar? mapple ,mahogany..?? is it critical for the making of the characteristic dobro sound,or the cone does the most of the'job'? thanks!

[Deleted]

Dobros (and Nationals too) are generally made from laminated wood, usually birch. Some upmarket spiderbridge guitars use solid timbers, but this is the exception rather than the rule. The construction of a resonator guitar bears little similarity to that of a conventional guitar, apart from the shape. The tops of these guitars are very thick compared with a regular guitar, and the soundwell construction of a Dobro type guitar connects the front and back with a structure which has more in common with a banjo than a guitar. The cone is the most important in terms of tone, and the way the body is constructed is more critical than the materials. A few makers are using an open 'propped soundwell' rather than the trad deep ring type, and also using solid woods, but these are not typical of the majority of makers.

[LouisianaGrey]

There are exceptions to every rule but as a generalisation, from a certain amount of experimentation (I normally build with an open body and soundposts), I would say that the traditional soundwell construction plays a significant part in producing the traditional dobro sound (i.e. the Josh Graves sort of tone). Laminate dobros, if properly built, have a typical laminate tone that again is reminiscent of the older players like Josh but in general you won't hear that tone from the cheap far eastern laminate guitars, even with soundwells, because by and large they're just not built well enough.

It's also worth pointing out that by "dobro" people usually mean a square necked spider bridge instrument played lap-style, so a big factor in the "classic" tone is the heavy gauge strings and steel bar rather than a bottleneck. Most of what Sardinas is playing, even when he's playinf acoustically, doesn't bear a lot of resemblance to this - to my ears a track like "Wicked Ways" sounds much more like a biscuit bridge.

[john south5yahhogr]

thanks both chickenbone and luisianagrey, and you know you got it right, ' wicked ways' must be one of the few exceptions (like is written) he's playing with a bisquit! and to think, i own a bell -brass amistar bisquit and it never crossed my mind-great! but the trueth is ,when i put some drive in my brass guitar i create a mess, thats why i'm looking for a wooden 'spider' with a warm sound and sustain-any other of your ideas are wellcame