Darrell Urbien wrote:Thanks for that link! To be honest, what I really want to make is a DV-styled resonator tenor guitar.
I'm asking in this forum because I was hoping someone with resonator guitar experience could explain any differences between "normal" reso parts and DV parts.
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Darrell.
The DV guitar has a sound all its own. Not loud and brash like a dobro, it's tone has plenty of volume and metallic/wooden character for recording that makes it perfect for the studio. That was the lure of Atkins when he heard it on the Los Indios recordings. Nato Lima played the heck out of his using the sustain and cut to play the most wonderful melodies with his signature vibrato. Atkins copied so much of his style. There were several Nasville players including Grady Marting that used them in the studio also. Ledgend has it that Martin actually went to Sao Paulo to get his because he wanted one so bad.
Matthew P. has first hand experience as to what the current situation is with DV..pretty much over, so we know they are not made now anything like they were in the old days. The original company goes back quite a while.
The older instruments are the ones to get. In the 80s there was a fellow down in South Georgia that was married to a girl from Sao Paulo. He would regularly make trips to the DV factory and had some Dinamico guitars custom made there that were of VERY good quality. They show up here in the US sometimes.
The instruments themselves are not of good enough quality in regards to the fret spacing to ever play in tune. All the instruments you have heard by Atkins are totally rebuilt in regards to the fingerboard to play in tune. A new board with correct fret work is imperative. The older guitars that are made of Brazillian rosewood with the large pink tuning button machine heads are THE guitars to have. You have to be careful if you see a used one as they were made through the years of totally different woods that sound very different. The 60s guitars made with solid Brazillian sides and laminated Brazillian top and back and a mahagony neck with a center section of rosewood for support are the ticket.
The DV is made in the same fashion as the National guitars. The cone sits on a ledge that is inset maybe an inch or so down in the body as opposed to a dobro where you have the cone sitting on a "spider" down in the body. There is "biscuit" sitting on top of the cone that has the saddle in it, which on the DV guitar is made of aluminum. The biscuit is made of solid rosewood that has been hollowed out a bit underneath. Also the cone is MUCH thinner than dobro cones and is very easily damaged by too much palm pressure. That is the reason for the brace you see over the biscuit, so you won't cave in the cone with too much pressure.
The construction of the guitar is very simple and you can easily build one. I have taken a cheap cutaway classical guitar, used a thin blade in a jig saw, cut the round section from the top and made the ledge for the cone and dropped in a cone with no problem. I also have two original 60s DV guitars one in long scale and one is short. The short scale guitar is the one that is highly prized by the Atkins fans. I have also heard of players putting a riser on the nut and playing them in the dobro style.
If you buy the McGill....maybe $4000+!!!! yikes!!
Contact Mel McCollugh..
http://www.mcculloughguitars.com/
He would probably make you what you want in the $2000- zone. If you want to save some money and can do the work yourself, I would buy a cheap small classical guitar like a requinto or a 1/2 or 3/4 size and retro a cone in it. You will have to also retro some tuners that will let you wind on some steel strings. The plastic shaft of classical tuners will not take the pressure.
Hope this info helps.
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