MartyBluesman - Posted - 02/20/2024:  09:08:12

Just bought this 37 and from previous posts appears to be late 60s pre Mosrite based on the neck joint rope and screw on back. Number on headstock is 329. Sounds great like Uncle Josh- has good silverware drawer clang.  At first I thought screw and joint rope was a pro repair but appears from reading and other pics it’s what the Dopeyra bros were doing then.  Very happy with this one.   Have seen pictures of OMI 70s dobros with this screw in the back too... Any insights will be appreciated!

Edited by - MartyBluesman on 02/20/2024 16:37:30

 

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 02/20/2024:  10:24:45

How about a photo of the headstock showing the decal?

MartyBluesman - Posted - 02/20/2024:  10:44:13

Adding pic. You’ll see outline of where decal was at one time

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 02/21/2024:  12:17:26

After looking at the photo on your homepage showing the location where the logo used to be, the outline appears to be a typical Dobro logo. 

In the early '60s the brothers were building some guitars under the DB Dopera Original banner, the logo had a more rounded appearance. 

The guitar may have been built in Gardena in the mid 1960s prior to Mosrite taking over Dobro for several years. Or it could even be from the early 1970s after the Dopyeras regained use of the Dobro name.

Though is has the overall appearance of a prewar Model 37, they were no longer using that model number for any guitars when they started building some again in the late '50s or early '60s.

They eventually reintroduced the Model 27  in the '70s which in the 1930's did not have the three holes between the coverplate and fretboard. 

Click on the photo below to enlarge, a paragraph about the Gardena plant in the 1960s, from American Guitars by Tom Wheeler, 1982. A good long chapter in the book on Dobro history. 

 

Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 02/21/2024 12:19:10