2024
AL#152 p.52
Devon Pessler Alyssa Fernandez Mark French
▪ A lot of people have a rough idea of how it would affect the sound of a flattop guitar to make the sides deeper, or to make the soundhole smaller. But now a college professor and two students have built the test apparatus and quantified the question. Read this article and see if you guessed right.
2023
AL#150 p.24
Lee Herron
▪ A Dobro is good clean fun. And then maybe youll want to expand your lap-steel playing to include an acoustic Hawaiian guitar. Wouldnt it be great to have them both on your lap at the same time? Do it. Go on; you are a luthier, you can mash them up. A Dobro… a Weissenborn… a WeissenBro!
2022
AL#145 p.46
C.F. Casey
▪ We sometimes hear of a luthier who enjoys the challenge of building an instrument from lumber-yard materials rather than from picked and approved tonewoods. but Casey goes one better when he makes two successful instruments from a single softwood two-by-four. And it had a knot in it, just for extra fun.
2021
AL#142 p.2
Steve Kennel
▪ A quick and dirty Dobro made partly from yard sale stuff.
2020
AL#139 p.48
Lee Herron
▪ Check it out: a standard cheeze grater is easily adaptable as a guitar tailpiece. But why would you even want to know that? Because you are crafting an electric lap steel guitar on a kitchen theme, obviously! This instrument uses pots, pans, flatware, everything but the kitchen table. Wait a minute…. Yes, it actually does use the kitchen table.
2017
AL#132 p.58
Lee Herron
▪ Take a break from building that replica Joachim Tielke Baroque guitar and step up to this lutherie challenge. Build a fully-functional Dobro from a sheet of 3/4″ construction plywood, a few parts from the plumbing department, and various stuff from the thrift store. OK, you can also have a fretboard, a real set of tuners, and a set of strings. But when it comes to finding a resonator cone, you’ll have to punt. Or Bundt.
2013
AL#113 p.69
Paul Norman
▪ Finding the precious little documentation on building resonator guitars.
1999
AL#59 p.50 BRB5 p.392
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Rhinehart has built Dobro-style guitars for years, and was among the first to furnish custom resonator cones to the industry. Includes a new plan format, a one-page diagram of a square neck guitar with a chart of dimensions. Different methods of seating the cone are discussed, and 8 photos show some of the details of Rhinehart’s work.
1998
AL#55 p.16 BRB5 p.214
Mark Bass Paul McGill
▪ McGill is a thinking-man’s guitar maker with some strong notions that run counter to current lutherie mythology. He also has a big-time clientele who believe he is right. With 6 photos.
1996
AL#47 p.60 BRB4 p.470
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer generally likes this video for the specific information it offers about Dobro hardware. He also finds that half the tape is too basic to be of real help to seasoned luthiers.
1996
AL#45 p.59 BRB4 p.469
Robert Lundberg
▪ This is a thorough and glowing review of an important book, by a reviewer who is best known for his work in early instruments.
1994
AL#40 p.8 BRB4 p.90
Curt Carpenter
▪ Carpenter tells of his VA-sponsored apprenticeship to a legend of the electric guitar industry. A fine string of anecdotes. Carpenter actually moved in with Doc Kauffman and his wife, relived all the old stories, learned to build guitars, visited with Leo Fender, met Rudy Dopera, and made pickups. Carpenter left the army to enter the Guitar Wars.
1994
AL#37 p.57 BRB4 p.458
Ron Lira
▪ The reviewer says, “I’m so impressed with this book I could just bust!” Apparently America now has a National heaven.
1988
AL#14 p.14 BRB2 p.55
Ed Vande-Voorde
▪ Rhinehart’s Dobro cones have developed a wonderful reputation. In this interview he outlines his material choices and production techniques. With 6 photos.
1986
AL#5 p.14 BRB1 p.154 read this article
Bobby Wolfe
▪ Wolfe explains some history of the Dobro-style resonator guitar and mentions John Dopera, then details its construction and lists some commonly seen repairs and how to deal with them. The article is completed by 8 good photos.
1977
DS#40 LW p.58
Dick DeNeve
▪ Variations on the basic Dobro design.