Up for sale, a 1933 Dobro All-Electric and 1930s National/Dobro amplifier set. A vital piece of electric guitar history, this extremely rare Dobro is among the first electric Spanish guitars ever produced. A short-lived model only produced in 1933-34, there are very few remaining All-Electrics known to exist, and while it may not get the same attention as other early electric guitars like Les Paul’s “The Log” or Rickenbacker’s “Frying Pan” lap steel, the All-Electric holds just as important of a place in the development of the instrument. This particular All-Electric is a notably early first-year example, as identified by the slanted pickup and hybrid bridge/tailpiece.
The horseshoe magnet pickup at the heart of this All-Electric has a storied history: while the general public consensus holds that the electric guitar pickup was invented by George Beauchamp of Rickenbacker, Seattle’s Paul Tutmarc and Arthur Stimson developed their own design concurrently (or perhaps even prior) to Beauchamp’s work. Unlike Beauchamp’s design, which featured a prominently placed, exposed magnet, Tutmarc and Stimson’s pickup apparatus could be contained entirely within the body of the instrument, with only the pole pieces (a pair of blades, one for the bass strings and one for the treble) exposed, making it much more similar to a modern pickup design than Beauchamp’s. After struggling to get their own company off the ground, Stimson brought their pickup design south to Los Angeles and sold it to the Dobro company for $600 (allegedly without Tutmarc’s knowledge), enabling them to enter the fledgling electric guitar market which, at the time, was essentially monopolized by Beauchamp and Rickenbacker.
While the mahogany body is fully hollow, the acoustic properties of this instrument are fairly limited: as the name suggests, the All-Electric really is designed solely for plugged-in usage. The pickup, with its dual blade pole pieces and massive horseshoe magnet under the coverplate, has a glassy bark and focused midrange punch not dissimilar to an early Charlie Christian design. Remarkably musical and responsive to user inputs considering its practically prototypical nature, this pickup is also notably rich, capturing the full breadth and power of the wound strings while still offering plenty of treble immediacy and sparkle. When paired with the matching National/Dobro amp, the tone is quintessential early electric guitar woodiness, with subtle growl when pushed hard. This All-Electric weighs 9lbs 2oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 11-49 nickel strings and easy-playing action.
Neck Specs:
-Wood: Mahogany
-Shape: "Baseball bat" C, measuring .930” 1st fret, 1.045” 7th fret
-Fretboard: Rosewood, dot inlay
-Frets: Slender, refret, faint wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-3
-Scale Length: 24 3/4”
-Nut: 1 7/8”, bone
-Tuners: Open-gear strip
Body Specs:
-Wood: Mahogany
-Pickup: Horseshoe magnet with dual blade pole pieces
-Controls: Volume
-Harness: Replacement pot, original pot included
-Hardware: One-piece biscuit bridge/tailpiece, “All-Electric” stamped coverplate with lightning bolt graphics
-Plastics: Knob (replacement)
This All-Electric has a very old V-shaped headstock repair, with three added mahogany dowels for increased structural integrity. There's a chip in the mahogany adjacent to the neck heel, and the heel cap has a small number carved into the wood by a previous owner. The body is crack-free, and the Brown lacquer finish exhibits various dings and scuffs from nearly a century of use, wear along the edges, and a prominent "tan line" from a trapeze tailpiece (this Dobro was ostensibly setup with a different resonator/tailpiece at some juncture).
The 1930s amplifier was produced shortly after the merger between Dobro and National in 1935, and is essentially identical to the National amps of the era, albeit with a distinctive resonator-style coverplate in-lieu of a traditional speaker grill, delivering the warmth and treble sweetness associated with those amps. While there isn’t much on tap in the way of power and volume, this amp is musical, dynamic and rather clean-sounding, providing an ideal companion for the All-Electric guitar.
Controls include Volume and Tone, as well as a rotary Power on/off switch, and there is one small additional hole on the control plate from a previously removed mod. The circuit has just been professionally serviced, and the transformers are ostensibly original, given the myriad early iterations of these amps and limited reference material. A few new Jupiter tubular caps have been installed, and the power supply caps have also been replaced, housed in the original Polymet wax paper box. A modern three-prong cable has been installed, and the amp is outfitted with a set of vintage "coke bottle" tubes. The 8" speaker has been replaced (manufactured by Rola).
The original chipboard case (for the All-Electric) is included, along with the original potentiometer.