Philj200 - Posted - 10/10/2008:  07:08:17

I sit in with a group of musicians each week who play mostly rock. And mostly guitar. I play guitar too but don't bring one since I've always felt that three guitars is one too many. We might have seven or eight.

So I bring a banjo and dobro. To a large part, one of the other fits in. But every other week we go electric. Same problem cubed. Putting aside that I prefer acoustic jams and different genres of music, pretty soon everyone cannot resist bumping up their volume. My banjo and dobro are soon lost and impossible to be heard.

StewMac sells a dobro pickup. It is expensive (especially these days) and I don't know anyone who uses one. What is the concensus on pick-ups on resonator instruments. Holding the instrument to a mike doesn't work since the room we play in is not all that big and too many mikes cause a feedback problem.

Advice, help, suggestions, please.

MitchellB - Posted - 10/11/2008:  15:22:25

I'll be the first to admit I've not had a lot of experience with the new pickup systems that are out today. However, I installed a Barcus Berry Hot Dot in a Shobro spider back in the mid-80s to get over drums and electric guitars and it sounded pretty good. However it would feed back something terrible unless I taped over the holes in the cover. A lap steel would also work, but it will sound more like a steel guitar. I have a fairly new Fender resonator guitar with a built in piezo pickup and a magnetic pickup below the neck that uses a blending switch knob that I can reduce the feedback problem with. Today if I played a lot on stage with an electric band, I would have to figure out someway to seal the sound holes and the holes in the Dobro cover to prevent feedback problems. I’m not sure what the best approach to that would be. I’d be curious to know how people playing amplified dobros in electric bands solved their acoustic feedback problems. There is a device made by Yamaha that is basically a rubber cup/cover for a flat-top guitar sound hole that works wonders in cutting down feedback problems in an acoustic electric flat-top guitar. Someone should invent a similar device for a Dobro cover. Maybe a magnetic rubber mat that can be taken on and off as needed.

M i t c h e l l

Philj200 - Posted - 10/11/2008:  16:02:03

Over on the Banjo Hangout, where I posted a similar request, someone mentioned a pickup but suggest I filled the inside of the pot to avoid acoustic interference. I don't like the idea of that there. If I played a lot of dobro professionally, I would try to get an instrument I could optimize for amplification and not be concerned about re-configuring it all the time, mutes in, mutes out. But I have only one dobro-like instrument. It's not particularly loud (for the genre) and I played it acoustic a lot.

Maybe an idea will turn up?

I'm building an acoustic guitar-base out of a salvaged bass neck and an old guitar. I know I can buy one for $170. But that's not the challenge. Hybreding is. But when that project is complete, I'll have a guitar neck sitting around. I wonder if I could make a lap steel out of that. Hmmmm.....

MitchellB - Posted - 10/12/2008:  06:31:56

The more I think about it that magnetic rubber mat material that you see business cards and such attached to that stick to refrigerators would be a good candidate to make a Dobro cover-cover out of, if a large enough piece could be found to cut it out of. Cut it out in a circular shape and just lay it over the chrome cover when needed to kill feedback and pull it off when you want to go acoustic. No alterations of the Dobro is needed.
Good luck with the bass/guitar project. A lap steel could be a fairly simple project. Bolt that guitar neck to a block of wood with a magnetic pickup & high bridge.

M i t c h e l l

Philj200 - Posted - 10/12/2008:  07:50:58

I think the magnet idea can work. I'll file it away against the day I need it. First the pick has to be installed before it causes an feedback. I was looking at the body of the bass I'm going to sacrifice. It has chambers for electronics already in it. Which will save some construction steps. And it's sturdy enough to recieve the guitar neck. I'll have to turn the tuners upside down. That's no big deal.

Edited by - Philj200 on 10/13/2008 08:11:45

Mbradford6288 - Posted - 10/25/2008:  16:27:41

National Lace magnetic pickup, sounds pretty good, doesn't feed back. Best pickup I've found for dobro. Anything actually on the cone feeds back way too much.

Philj200 - Posted - 10/28/2008:  12:41:30

National Lace? Sounds like a stripper. How much do they cost?