This was my first dobro. Dobro is a brand name (Dopera Brothers invented it) and the instrument's name, but has become a generic term, like Kleenex is to facial tissues. This one was stainless steel and was beautifully engraved with palm trees. I think it may have been meant for Hawaiian music.
After 5 years of not playing because of the damage to my motor skills from chemo, I picked up my Taylor 614 and started relearning to play. As any beginner knows, the initial stages of trying to play guitar are quite painful to the fingers and hand. I thought that per-
haps playing with the steel bar on the dobro would spare me some of that pain, but I have found this instrument to be difficult. I'm pretty sure I'll never master it, but the tone is so sweet that simple things sound good. I'll do what I can do for the joy of it.
..
August 22, 2021
My second dobro, the
one I have now, is a 2004
Jerry Douglas model
that I bought about in 2020, about a year ago while living here at Fernwood.
I should have it finally paid off in 6 months. I bought it from Elderly Instruments online,as you can't find a quality dobro at a local music store in Florida.
At the mobile home
Click on image to enlarge
Click on the image to view a larger PDF
in another page or tab.
When I hear a Jerry Douglas or Rob Ickes play, I have to take a breath and marvel. These two get my vote as the best in the world. I've noticed that many pedal steel guitarists also play the dobro. The sounds
of each instrument are quite unique though.
Click on the image to view a larger PDF
in another page or tab.
I just happen to have been born in Hono-
lulu, but all I ever played on it were praise & worship songs with Barnabas or along with Alison Krauss
& Union Station recordings. I did play this dobro on Leilani Clark's album, Never Say Goodbye. There Is Jesus was the launch-
pad to a new era of playing professionally for me. Dan Clark sent me the acoustic guitar track and I came up with the complimentary dobro part. Later, I went to the studio in Lake City, Florida and recorded it (along with bass, guitar, and mandolin) to add to the tracks they had.
A few years later, I had to sell it, so I was without a dobro for a long time.
I ran across this snippet of video from a Weekend Workshop In The Woods, a guitar event put on by Calvary Chapel. There is no audio.