So do you fancy trying your hand? Well, you can get the ‘feel’ of playing a dobro even if you haven’t got one, or can’t borrow one, by making gentle modifications to a guitar. Obviously it won’t sound like a real Dobro guitar because it won’t have a resonator. While living ‘down’ here I had the use of a modified 12-string guitar and it worked well. There are several things to watch out for if doing a temporary mod so I’ll explain:

1. It's dangerous to do on an ordinary guitar because
a) the strings are tuned higher (though thinner strings can be used to compensate) and
(b) the nut is higher (about 9mm) - both these factors put a lot of extra stress on the neck and particularly on the place where the neck joins the body. So bring it up to pitch slowly. 12 string guitars have a much stronger neck and body fixing so these are a far better bet.

2. The string spacing is wider at the nut than is a regular guitar. To get round this on a six string one can use a flared-out nut (Fig.1) or a half section of a piece of 18mm OD pipe, or smaller pipe squashed a bit; (Fig.2) with grooves cut in it, to bridge over the existing nut. The pipe section is cut a little longer than the existing nut to give the extra string spacing.

3. If you think 9mm is too much try something less, but beware that if you go very low (say 5mm) then you might have to raise the bridge a little.

4. The span across my strings at the nut is 45 mm 1st string to 6th string.

5. The strings must all be in the same plane - some guitars are made with arched necks, and if the bridges are too arched the steel won’t contact (stop) the strings properly.

If you wreck your instrument, just bring it down and I’ll have a look at it for you free of charge (UK experimenters only!).

Brian Oldham, Christchurch, New Zealand Write to Brian

Updated 23rd Jan 1999