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oddball question

lousybassplayer

lousybassplayer

Jan 30, 2009
4,568
31
J-Actionville, NC
#1
Has anyone ever seen or heard of an acoustic "dobro" resonator bass. I mean think Mark Knopfler's Nat, but an ABG? Is there anyone who could make such a thing? I did a search but using "dobro bass" or "resonator bass" yeilded stuff about dobros and a million things about basses and I couldn't really narrow anything down. Frankly there was just too much stuff to sort through. If this has been asked recently I won't mind the usual "you inferior noob dingbat, use the search and you'll find......." as long as I get a link. Ticking off my betters is a habit/passtime of mine anyway. If there are no such links, suggestions?
 
#3
Yeah! This is it...

I almost bought one of these when I was in a bluegrass band a few years back for doing acoustic hippy shows. At the time I wouldn't even consider a real upright bass...supposed to be "louder" too

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I think it's a pretty nifty idea - I never ended up buying one, but they're not too expensive - I just figured it wouldn't be very practical and I quit the hippy band shortly thereafter.
 
#6
kellyoddball.jpg
 
#8
I can't get pics on all of those links, but the ones I could get, the Regal and the Fender, has a wood body. I want all steel with the cool acid etchings and such. Those are pretty cool though, I was unaware of Fender's offering. I saw that it was on the Fender Australia page, so I'll see if that is something available here. Probably, but you never know
 
#9
Hi I owned a Gibson Dobro Bass it was a 34" longscale, tobacco burst and it had a pickup installed on the cone. It sounded nothing like a bass and not really like a dobro because you couldn't really play slide on it. Very tinny sounding. Unique sound. It was a conversation piece.
 
#10
This info you guys are sharing is really interesting, but it is also starting to indicate to me that all steel dobro basses are pretty hard to come by if they exist at all. I would willingly settle for a wood bodies resonator (this is all pipe dreaming anyway) but like I said, an exact replica of Knoplfer's guitar but in bass form is the ideal. Mr. Ray, thanks for commenting on the sound, too. That is obviously something I'd also like to have opinions on.
 
#12
Well, to split the hair and otherwise make things clear as mud: Knopy-pooh's Nat'l is A: metal and B: has a "biscuit: bridge where as (wheras? were-ass?) the regal basses are wood bodied w/ a "spider" bridge, like dobros.

Biscuit= cone upside-down, facing back of guitar with puck shaped "biscuit" coupling sadle to cone
Spider= cone facing up with bridge suspended by a "spider"-y looking deal that transfers vibration to edges of the cone.

Hardcore proponents of either/both camps would consider referring to either interchangably as heresy, akin to using P & J interchangably.



But, IIRC, both designs were by the dopyera(?) bros, and are resonators.
 
#13
lousybassplayer said:
Mr. Ray, thanks for commenting on the sound, too. That is obviously something I'd also like to have opinions on.
Click to expand...

Your welcome. They are interesting "hybrids" "crossover" instruments. My friends told me to keep it because it would be great for television or movie soundtracks. It could be an interesting centerpiece in original music. They have a very nasally twang if that makes sense. Hope this helps.
 
#14
themarshall said:
Well, to split the hair and otherwise make things clear as mud: Knopy-pooh's Nat'l is A: metal and B: has a "biscuit: bridge where as (wheras? were-ass?) the regal basses are wood bodied w/ a "spider" bridge, like dobros.

Biscuit= cone upside-down, facing back of guitar with puck shaped "biscuit" coupling sadle to cone
Spider= cone facing up with bridge suspended by a "spider"-y looking deal that transfers vibration to edges of the cone.

Hardcore proponents of either/both camps would consider referring to either interchangably as heresy, akin to using P & J interchangably.



But, IIRC, both designs were by the dopyera(?) bros, and are resonators.
Click to expand...


And THAT is why I specified that these options are not EXACTLY what I was looking for. JEEZ ya gotta get told you're point is wrong and you're a moron in order to get your own point across :)

And as I understand it the Dobro/National thing is convuluted. They were the same, then split, then re joined again. Generally the dobro named were wood and the national named were metal, but not always (so don't lambaste me you experts!). eventually dobro became a generic term and the company licensed someone else (don't recall who) to make stuff under the dobro name later on, but a lot of people made resonators of several different kinds.
 

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