Hi everyone, I'm considering purchasing a Dobro Hula girl with serial number D501296. can you help me know the manufacturing year and place. What do you think of this guitar? Thanks and have a nice day
Are the numbers all bunched up together, or are there separations? If the 96 is separated by a space off to the right then it's from 1996, built in Huntington Beach, California. This was the second to final year for Dobro production in California after Gibson bought the company in 1993.
They shut down the operation in 1997 and moved Dobro to Nashville where production resumed in 1998.
D = wood body
5 = style. But I've never really known the significance of "style" in OMI Dobro serial numbers.
012 = 12th instrument produced that year, 1996.
Here is a scan from a 1996 OMI Dobro catalog. Click on it to enlarge.
Looks nice. I've always wanted one of those myself, but I've resisted when I've seen them come up for sale because I have several instruments that don't get out of their cases enough as it is. Part of it is though I play regular guitar, the Hula Girl I see as something for bottleneck slide (along with some fretting) and I'm not much of bottleneck player, almost exclusively a lap style guy. I've only dinked around with bottleneck, kind of like I dinked around with banjo (oh, the horror!) for a bit a bunch of years ago.
Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 01/23/2025 14:43:20
Thanks for the information. I hope to get a good deal. For me it would be the first dobro. I've always wanted one made in the USA
I like those. That pickup looks like an added Telecaster neck pickup, look closely at how well they did the job, make sure it doesn't interfere with the resonator.
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