DVD-quality lessons (including tabs/sheet music) available for immediate viewing on any device.
Take your playing to the next level with the help of a local or online resonator guitar teacher.
Monthly newsletter includes free lessons, favorite member content, resonator guitar news and more.
38
Resonator Guitar Lovers Online
I am moving the photos from your homepage into the thread. You have a rare bird! The serial number indicates Los Angeles built in 1932, but in order to have a better chance at a positive i.d. we need photos of the back, the back of the neck, and the side. Possibly a rare Model 125.
This was originally purchased by your great grandmother and you inherited it? You are a lucky dog!
Here are the other photos moved into the thread. It does indeed appear to be a Model 125. Beautiful four piece (laminate or ply) walnut back. That's the photo I really wanted to see. And like Eric I was curious about the neck profile. That's all for now, I need to head over to the supermarket.
Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 01/07/2025 16:05:44
Thank you MarkinSonoma! The date and place match the fragments of stories handed down with the guitar. I think my great grandmother sold some of her land allotment in Oklahoma, moved to California and must have felt those Cali-vibes! Any idea, just out of curiosity, what these retail for? Thank you so much for your time and information!
I see two for sale currently online. One is at Carter Vintage Guitar in Nashville for $6K. And there is one on Reverb for $7K. No idea how long the one at Carter's has been listed, the one on Reverb shows seven months. If the one at Carter's has been for sale for quite awhile, then both prices are too high.
The guy who knows more about these than anyone alive is Steve Toth, who lives not that far from you in North San Diego County. He is the author of the excellent book, Dobro Roots, which is all about pre WWII wood body Dobros. He is a member here but doesn't post very often. I will text him later and give him a heads up about this thread.
These ornate early 1930s Dobros are very beautiful, but they don't necessarily sound better than those that were made later in the Thirties that aren't so fancy, as played by the likes of Josh Graves, or at different times in their careers Mike Auldridge and Jerry Douglas. I have a great sounding 1936/37 Model 37 that I bought from Steve after I visited him just over a year ago. He has collected many old Dobros, including another Model 125.
Dobros aren't like Martin guitars from the 1930s which soundwise are considered some of the best steel string acoustic guitars ever made and sell for many thousands of dollars.
Interesting story about your great grandmother. Did she move from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s? I hear Woody Guthrie singing in my head as I write this...