Re: Anyone familiar with 1930's Dobro mandolins?
Different instruments, with different sounds (and thus different uses); only real similarity is that they both have resonators, although of different design. The "biscuit" bridge attached directly to the vibrating cone is louder, more "barky"; the spider bridge, with the vibrations transmitted to the cone by the spider's "arms," softer, more "chimey."
Plus the RM-1 is by all accounts a very well-made instrument, while Dobro mandolins are a bit more hit-or-miss. The wooden bodies, often made by Regal, are not of top-quality wood -- since, of course, the sound of the instrument comes from the resonator cone, not the wood's vibrations. My Dobro needed a neck reset, and the guy who did it remarked on the softness of the wood in the neck block, which contributed to the need for the repair.
I am, however, a bit surprised that a neck width differential of 1/16" to 1/8" would be a "deal killer." But I play so many different mandolin-family instruments that I'm constantly adjusting to different neck widths, scale lengths, and string spacing. Not everyone does that, of course.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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