~1938 Dobro Model 27 Sunburst

Dobro Model 27 c 1938 | $1975 | (v2335) In 1928 John and Rudy Dopyera left their brothers and the National Company in California to form the Dobro Corporation. These two patented and marketed a 'spider' type resonator setup, different from that of a National. By 1932 Dobro sales were booming and the brothers licensed Regal in Chicago to begin manufacturing the wood bodies for their Dobro and other branded resonator instruments. The metal parts were supplied by Dobro and the wooden parts by Regal. By 1937 all wood-bodied Dobros were made in Chicago. The Model 27, which cost $27, was an entry level guitar, but shared the same innards as the more expensive offerings. Towards the end of the 30s, the price rose to $32 so this could, technically, be called a Model 32. It's often tricky to date later 30s Dobros, since the use of serial numbers was dropped for the most part. This particular example has no serial number, and shares a number of late 30s appointments includin f-holes, 14-fret neck, and a traditional dovetail joint as opposed to a neck 'stick' typically used to attach a resonator neck.

The body is made from what appears to be three-ply birch laminate. The top and back are bound in white celluloid with only the top receiving a sunburst. The 14-fret neck is likely basswood with an ebonized and radiused fingerboard. The neck is carved in the typical Regal 'V' of the era, quite pronounced and thick ensuring a straight neck under tension. One interesting side note is that when Regal built a 14-fret Dobro, the top of the body was truncated to accept the extra two frets, making the body shape similar to a Gibson KG11. Also, the body is 4 1/2" deep at the end pin, which is a bit deeper than a typical Dobro. Lastly, there is no sound well in this example but there are a number of thick walnut blocks glued between the top and back for stiffness. We've not seen this in any other wooden Dobros, opening up the speculation that they were added at a later time. The slotted head stock sports the Regal decal of the era, and the tuners are replacements. The cone appears original to the guitar, and the spider is cast with the desirable "14", which some reports claim is the 14th version of a Dopyera spider. The tailpiece is the trapeze-type and typical of many Chicago-made instruments. The end pin is an aluminum replacement.

The body measures 14 1/4" across at the lower bout. Scale length is 25". The fingerboard measures 1 13/16" across at the nut and string spacing is 2 3/16" at the saddle.

The guitar is in mostly clean, original condition aside from the tuners, end pin and the afore-mentioned soundwell blocks. We recently: reset the neck; made a new nut; leveled and dressed the frets. The guitar came to us set up as a lap player with a raised nut so there is virtually no fret or fingerboard wear, only some repaired chipout at the 15th fret from the fret removal. The neck is quite straight with low action set at 5 & 6/64". There are a few minor nicks and scuffs to the finish, but quite sparkly overall.

The guitar plays very well fingerstyle and is quite loud with the desired Dobro 'high and lonesome' sound.

Comes with a soft case.

Check out the sound clip!