1960s Dobro Model 30 "Gold" Resonator Guitar

This gold-sparkle wonderbeast is one of my favorite resonator designs made -- period. The neck is quick and easy to handle (rather a lot like an early-'60s Gibson electric), it has a compact body that comes in fun colors, it has design improvements compared to older Nationals (which this is modeled on: it's got a big biscuit-bridge single cone under that Dobro coverplate), and it sounds good.

Is it a premium-sounding resonator like an old '30s National or higher-end Dobro? Eh, maybe not...? ...but it checks-off all the "practicality" markers for me while still having a wide, full-sounding resonator tone.

This guy just needed a glorified setup to play well -- a fret level/dress., setup, and compensation added for the original saddle. Its poor owner has been waiting ages for me to get around to it, to, because I like to set a lot of time aside for when I need to work on resonator projects in case the neck needs to be yanked and the dowel reset. In this case I was able to adjust-out some quirks with a humped fretboard extension simply through the leveling process. Whew!

Did I mention the finish is gold-fleck-sparkle? I mean... dang! Smitten...

The serial numbers from this time are not very helpful but this guitar was made somewhere in the mid-late '60s.