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Tailpiece: nickel-plated, pressed sheet steel. Heel cap: none neck heel set in from back.īridge: steel staddle on black-painted biscuit (round steel cap on resonator) resonator cover plate has hand rest soldered to top, covering bridge position. Nut: bone high setup for Hawaiian playing. Tuners: six nickel-plated, Waverly worm-gear machine tuners with ivory plastic heads.įingerboard: rosewood 19 nickel-silver frets single ivoroid dots behind 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, and 17th frets double ivoroid dots behind 15th and 19th frets. Neck: basswood square profile for Hawaiian playing integral with head. Finish: brown walnut-grain paint on body shaded dark brown lacquer with fine craquelure on neck and head. Trim: Endpin: nickel-plated brass steel domed, slot- headed screw through center.
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Inscriptions: Black-and-gold, shield-shaped decal on head: NATIONAL / DUOLIAN / MADE IN / U-S-A- īranded on top of headstock, under finish: B 2 2 3īody: Soundboard: sheet steel arched, pressed sheet-steel resonator plate affixed to resonator with six domed, slotted screws. The “hard baked finish of synthetic mahogany” on this guitar was described in a National catalog published about 1937: “The grain pattern was taken from a select piece of mahogany-and the result is a high-grade piano finish, depicting a fine mahogany grain which is beautiful as well as long lasting.” A cheaper version, the Duolian, was first offered in 1931, during the Great Depression. The company began to produce a metal-bodied Triolian the following year. The earliest version of this model was introduced by National in 1928 as the wood-bodied Triolian. In 1931, Louis Dopyera became a shareholder of National and increased his involvement in the company, leading to a merger of the two firms late in 1933.Īlthough the first patent for a single-resonator guitar appeared under George Beauchamp’s name, the Dopyeras also claimed to have been the inventors. Following a dispute with George Beauchamp (the company’s general manager) and some shareholders, the Dopyera brothers left National to found their own company, Dobro, in 1929. The previous six years had been tumultuous for the company, which was originally founded in Los Angeles (1927) as the National Corporation to manufacture the triple-resonator guitars patented by John Dopyera. National-Dobro moved their operations to Chicago in 1936, the year this single-resonator guitar was made. Gift of John McNeill, Springfield, South Dakota, 2009.Ĭlick on any image on this page to see a larger image Guitar by National-Dobro Corporation, Chicago, 1936.