1937 Dobro Mandolin

[vwfye]

Hey all,
I found a very nice 37 Dobro as the title states, but can't find much info on value. It is for sale, but the owner thinks it is worth $3500!!! Perhaps it is, perhaps not, but before I even think of spending that kind of dough, I wanted to find out what it should really be valued at. (I know, it is what ever the seller can get for it) If it is an $800 mandolin, I'll pass and let the owner know that I hope he finds a buyer.

I would rate it as an 8 out of 10 as there is only minor use wear on the body. BTW, it has a fantastic sound! Remove the F holes and it would look just like this one. Same cut, metal moon/star pattern, everythign less the F sound holes...



Thanks for the help...

[allenhopkins]

So I'm assuming it's got the round "screen holes" in the shoulders, which means it's an older Dobro and not a Regal (though Regal made the bodies, Dobro made the resonators, and they were sold under both labels). Which would mean it's identical to the one I own, though I think mine's a '36.

Definitely not worth $3.5K, not in this market, anyway. Elderly Instruments recently had a nearly identical, but more modern instrument built by Original Musical Instruments (a Dobro spin-off), which they wanted $1.2K for, and that seemed fairly steep to me (discussed at the end of this thread).

I paid about $400 for mine, but that was two decades ago, and prices on the old ones have moved up since then. Guess I might go $1K for a '30's one, if I really wanted it, but not more. They're wonderful-sounding instruments, but they're not, as a rule, very well-made; mine needed a neck re-set to be playable, and my repair tech had some critical things to say about Regal's body construction standards.

You can get into fairly extended discussion (again, see the linked thread) about different resonator mandolins; the National RM-1 is pretty much the standard new one now, and you can get 'em for around half of what owner's asking for this one. It has a differently-constructed resonator, and I don't think there are many around with the spider-bridge Dobro-type resonator this one has. But I'll bet if you look you can find one for a helluva lot less than $3.5K.

Just my 2¢.

Later: four of 'em on eBay now, vintage 1930's through 1978, price range $830 to $1.8K. So they're around.

[vwfye]

Thank so very for the insight! I will have to pass ok n this one.

[chris storz]

Make the owner a reasonable offer, which they will reject, leave them some contact info and maybe they will call you when their crack induced brain-fog clears up.

[vwfye]

That is exactly what I did... now to wait.