By popular request, here is a short introduction and explanation of the modified guitar known as the Dobro. The name is derived from the combination of "Do", from the last name (Dopyera) of the two brothers who first manufactured this design, and "bro", from the fact that they were brothers. The name originated in 1928 and means "good" in the native Slovak language of the two brothers. The brothers used the phrase, "Dobro means good in any language." as their company motto.
All photographs and the indented portions below are extracted verbatim from the Wikipedia website from which all other information (except Grumpy's opinions) are derived.
The Dobro was the third resonator guitar design by John Dopyera, the inventor of the resonator guitar, but the second to enter production. Unlike his earlier tricone design, the Dobro had a single resonator cone and it was inverted, with its concave surface facing up. The Dobro company described this as a bowl shaped resonator.
Although the above description, from Wikipedia, describes the resonator as having its concave surface facing up, the picture at left appears that the convex surface is facing up. Grumpy has never seen a Dobro first hand, but he suspects that the Wikipedia contributor is confused concerning "concave" versus "convex". Grumpy always remembers that "concave" is the side that forms a cave.
Pictured at right is a person playing a Dobro. Note that the strings are being keyed by means of a steel bar which may depress all strings at once and may be slid along the strings to produce a kind of "wailing" tone or chord. Grumpy finds this effect kind of woefully soothing, especially when playing any blues music; the Grand Mother and Darrell liken it to a sick dog complaining of his master's learning to play a clarinet.
Pictured at right is a person playing a Dobro. Note that the strings are being keyed by means of a steel bar which may depress all strings at once and may be slid along the strings to produce a kind of "wailing" tone or chord. Grumpy finds this effect kind of woefully soothing, especially when playing any blues music; the Grand Mother and Darrell liken it to a sick dog complaining of his master's learning to play a clarinet.
Modern instruments
As of 2006, many different makers including Gibson were manufacturing resonator guitars to the original inverted-cone design. Gibson also manufactures biscuit-style resonator guitars, but reserve the Dobro name for its inverted-cone models.[update]
As well as recreating the traditional sounds and look, resonator guitars have also become the foundation for even further developments in the world of guitars. Many Dobro-style guitars are now hybrid electric guitars, and some manufacturers are adding strings to create 7- and 8-string resonator-style guitars.
The photograph at left shows a one-of-a-kind bass-version of the Dobro. Grumpy hasn't heard this one play, but imagines that it would have all of the "pleasant" sounds of its smaller, alto-tuned regular Dobro guitars. It may or may not have a soothing effect on the Grand Mother or Darrell.
The inverted metal "resonator cone" and the use of a steel bar to key the strings, results in a long-sustaining tone. Obviously, the strings are tuned differently than a conventional, acoustic guitar. They use what is called "open chord" tuning. A typical Dobro string tuning is (low-high) "G B D G B D". The strings may be plucked or strummed, depending on the sound or effect that is desired.
If you want to hear some excellent dobro skills, listen to the Alison Kraouss & Union Station (Live 2 CD set). The 1st song on disc 2 is an instrumental, "A Tribute To Peador O'Donnell / Monkey Let The Hogs Out."
ReplyDeleteI played that album for you once when you were in my car, but I started with song #2 "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn" which also features the dobro, but it's a vocal, so the dobro is just in the background.