The Squareneck Journal For players and fans of resonator, Weissenborn and lap steel guitars. Steve Toth with his 1. National Steel Guitar Serial Numbers' title='National Steel Guitar Serial Numbers' />Model 3. Dobro. SJ How did you get started playing the dobroWho or what inspired you to start playing ST When I was growing up, my father loved country and western music and he would listen to it all the time on the radio so naturally I would hear it too. My parents would also take the family on vacations to a dude ranch each summer and I would hear country music there. Back then, in the mid 1. I was about 1. 2 or 1. New York area where I grew up. For players and fans of resonator, Weissenborn and lap steel guitars. The V. C. Squier Company manufactured strings for violins, banjos, and guitars. It was established in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan. National Guitar makers of fine resophonic guitars, hand crafted in California. They played the bluegrass performers right along with the country artists like Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, Hank Snow, Ray Price, etc. And two groups I would hear frequently had dobro in their music the Osborne Brothers and Flatt Scruggs. That was my initial exposure to the dobro. Then, every once in a while Flatt Scruggs would do a show in our area and my parents would take my brother and I to see them and thats when I got to see Uncle Josh Graves for the first time. Wow, was he terrific Seeing him in person really lit the flame in me for the dobro or the old hound dog guitar as Lester Flatt would call it when he introduced Josh Josh Graves with his 1. Model 2. 7 Dobro from DOBRO ROOTSSJ How did you learn to play Did you take formal lessons or were you self taughtLooking back, what were the things that were most helpful in learning to play the dobro ST I picked up the Flatt Scruggs LP record album called Foggy Mountain Banjo which had great dobro on it by Uncle Josh and an Osborne Brothers LP album, I think it was called Country Pickin and Hillside Singin, which also had a lot of dobro on it. I later learned that it was Shot Jackson playing dobro on that album but I didnt have any idea who it was at that time. I would also buy Flatt Scruggs 4. So, it was from those early records that I taught myself to play the dobro in the late 1. Original Dobro catalog cut California 5 Series From DOBRO ROOTSSJ What model was your first dobro In addition, itd be great if you could give us an idea of the different kinds of dobro brands and models that were available when you got started. ST My first dobrowas actually a National Tricone My father got it for me from a music store he knew about and that was all they had available so he bought it. I played it for a short time but it just didnt have the volume and tone for bluegrass style picking so we returned it to the store. That was a big mistakeIt cost less than 1. Since we were not aware of any stores or anyone in the New York City area that had a dobro for sale, I ended up with a National Duolian with a warped neck and broken neck heel. But, with a high nut on it, it played OK and had pretty good volume. We got it in Upstate New York and I still have it I played that until around 1. I got my first real Dobro, a 1. Model 5. 5. Mike Auldridge with his 1. Model 3. 7 Dobro made by Regal from DOBRO ROOTSThere was basically nothing available as far as dobros were concerned where I lived in the mid to late 1. I was certainly not aware of anything and even now the history of the dobro during that period is still quite vague. Im sure there were many prewar Dobros out there somewhere under beds, in closets, in attics, in barns but they would not surface for many years to come. It may have been the folk music boom of the early 6. Flatt and Scruggs appearances on the Beverly Hillbillies TV Show that made many people aware of what they, their parents or grandparents had. But there was still relatively no market for them so they stayed where they were stashed away. From 1. 93. 3 Dobro catalog cut California 6 SeriesSJ Howwhen did you start building a collection of prewar DobrosDid you start out to become a collector or did that evolve over time Id also be curious to know what the market looked like when you got started vs. In other words, how has the value of prewar Dobros changed over time ST I once said I would never collect prewar Dobros because it took me about 1. But as the years went by, more and more prewar Dobros came on the market for sale but there were very few buyers. I wish I had started collecting in the 7. But, alas, I didnt start actually collecting until around the year 2. I happened to meet someone who had about 1. Dobros in his collection and he couldnt even play the Dobro So I decided that it would be alright if I started collecting them too since I always had a love for them. And it was only possible because of the Internet. I would never have had access to the number of instruments I was able to see on the Internet which were up for sale at any time without that resource at my disposal. I decided to start by looking for one of each model made in the prewar period focusing on the wood body Dobros with the round screens. I was also looking for ones that sounded good too, if possible. In the case of the rare models sound was of less importance. I started to find that the lower end models like the Model 2. Model 3. 7 seemed to have a better sound than the higher end walnut models. This confirmed what Bobby Wolfe had said in his great articles about the Model 2. Dobros. I would also work on setting up each Dobro to sound the best I could get it since most were poorly set up when I got them. I would also try modern cones in them and experiment back and forth with the original and modern cone. I found that, in most cases, a good modern cone tended to improve the sound, to my ears, by adding more low end and generally more volume. I always felt that changing a cone did not hurt the originality of a prewar Dobro anymore than changing out a calf skin head in a prewar Mastertone banjo for a modern plastic head, which is universally done, lessens the value and collectability of a prewar Mastertone banjo. It was more about which sounded the best to me. Of course, I would keep the original cone so it could be re installed at a later date if I wanted to. By the time I started collecting prewar Dobros the values had increased to roughly the 1,0. However, over the last several years the prices of prewar Dobros and most vintage instruments, in general, have come down a bit. Jerry Douglas with his 1. Model 3. 7 Dobro made by Regal from DOBRO ROOTSSJ Your most recent book DOBRO ROOTS is the most comprehensive pictorial historyreference for wood bodied pre war Dobros ever published. In his foreword to the book Jerry Douglas hit the nail on the head when he referred to your book as the Dobro Wish Book. Now that Jerry is touring with the Earls of Leicester hes returned to playing his prewar Dobro through a microphone. Not that the two are causally related but the combination of the two have certainly piqued interest in prewar Dobros From a players perspective, how do you think about the difference between prewar Dobros and guitars made by contemporary builders like Paul Beard, Kent Schoonover and Tim Scheerhorn What are the pros and cons of playing prewar Dobros vs. DORBO ROOTS A Photo Tour of Prewar Wood Body Dobros. Ware Software Winzip. Click here to purchase a copy of DOBRO ROOTS from Elderly Instruments ST Thank you for the kind words about DOBRO ROOTS And I, once again, want to thank my good friend, Jerry Douglas, for taking the time to write such a wonderful Foreword for the book. I would also like to thank my good friend, Larry Maltz, with his broad knowledge of prewar Dobros for his assistance on many aspects of the book.