1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27

ARCHIVED • SOLD

1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27

No serial number. The model history of Dobro guitars in the 1930's is made entirely confounding by the use of serial numbers of various and occasionally overlapping sequences, model names that related to the retail price of the instruments rather than to the model's specifications, two manufacturing facilities located some 1700 miles apart, and the tendency of Regal (in Chicago) to randomly use what ever coverplates, tailpieces, and tuners were immediately available in the assembly of any given Dobro. After all, they were building mostly very inexpensive guitars at the height of the Great Depression - they weren't too concerned about what we would think some seventy years later! All that being said, we can say with little to no certainty that this Dobro was built in 1937 - it is equally probably that it dates anywhere from '35 to '39, and it is quite possibly not a model 27, but rather a Model 19, 25, or 32! The best we can do is tell you all about it, so here goes:
This one is a Dobro-branded and Regal-built 14-fret round-necked guitar. It has a sunburst-finished birch body with and bound top and back, triple segmented F-holes, poinsettia coverplate, stamped cone, and no soundwell. It has an ebonized maple fingerboard with pearl dots at the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets, a new (old looking) bone nut, slotted headstock, and seriously gorgeous Kluson tuners with amber buttons. This guitar is in excellent and playable condition (with action of 5 to 7 64ths) but does have many fine scratches to the finish and wear on the back of the neck. It was set up Hawaiian style its entire life so the frets are pretty much new, and it has somehow escaped the need for a neck reset. The scale length is 25", the nut measures 1-13/16" wide, and the neck has a chunky soft V profile. Its tone is mellow and warm, with that Dobro honk in the mids that you'd expect, and a touch of vintage cone rattle if you hit the guitar just the right way. It's a cool guitar.
No case
SOLD
1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27
  • 1937 (circa) Dobro Model 27

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