Official Luthiers Forum!

Just a quick question...I've been doing some research and it seems that a lot of production Dobro's are made from maple or mahogany. I was wondering if you guys thought Walnut might do well also? Or maybe something else? What are the sonic attributes your looking for? And will it ultimately make much difference?

Sorry if it's a dumb question...I'm new!

The only dumb question is the one that is never asked...

Sonic attributes of reso guitar woods....this is a loaded question though...
There are those that really feel that solid woods make the best reso's but then there are those that feel that 99% of the tone is coming from the cone, so it doesn't matter if it's solid wood or plywood. The argument that a reso guitar has as much in common with a speaker cabinet as with a guitar seems to be a good one. In effect, you are trying to get a really stiff/tight box built that will support the unique stresses that exist in a resonator, at least with the square neck variety. I sat in on a lecture by Paul Beard who mentioned (IIRC) that his best selling / best sounding model (Mike Auldridge model) has a plywood box.
Armed with all this info, my guess is that Walnut would make a fine resonator.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

One well known builder has said that he likes Walnut because it sounds the most like a plywood reso.

I've built several from walnut and have liked the tone from all of them. Can't say it's all that different from anything else, but it sure is purty.

Great news, thanks guys! I really love these forums. It's so nice to be able to get answers from more experienced guys and gals.