Nice looking Dobro mandolin, Lee! #Mine has the same "stars & crescents" coverplate, except mine's engraved "Licensed By National Dobro Corp." just below the bridge. #I have round screen holes in the upper bout, rather than f-holes. #Slightly different-shaped tailpiece, but with the same option of either a single prong for each course of strings, over which two string loops will fit, or a slot on either side of the prong for ball-end strings.
Do you have any approximate idea of its vintage? #Serial number seems the closest to one of the OMI (Original Musical Instruments) configurations. #Could it possibly be as new as 1980-90, though? #It looks so much like my '30's vintage instrument, that I would tend to place it as pre-war, despite the fact that the serial number is nothing like the pre-war sequence. #We really don't know whether Dobro mandolins were given serial numbers in the same sequences as Dobro guitars. #National Guitar Co. did give sequential serial numbers to all instrument styles, so a guitar, mandolin and ukulele might have consecutive numbers, but I don't know if Dobro (and later OMI) did the same.
Anyway, here's the OMI numbering system for late 1980's to early 1990's, before the Dobro nameplate was acquired by Gibson:
1988-1994 OMI Dobro: A# #### yyD configuration.
#First letter (and numeral) is style.
#numerals in center are instrument ranking.
#yy is last two digits of year.
#Last character is body type: D=wood, B=metal, H=Hounddog, P=solid peghead.
-- Would mean K9 = style, 120 = instrument ranking, 90 = 1990, M = body type (mandolin; OMI used "M" as a suffix for mandolins).
If you're well aware that the instrument is much older than this, the above attempt at deciphering the serial number is just an exercise in futility.
Allen Hopkins
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