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| Company type | Private (1928–1937) Brand (1940–present) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | 1928 |
| Founder | John Dopyera |
| Fate | Merged with National to form "National Dobro Co." in 1935,[1] brand then used by Valco and other manufacturers |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Resonator guitars |
| Owner | Gibson (1993–present) |
Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar.
The Dobro was originally a guitar manufacturing company founded by the Dopyera brothers with the name "Dobro Manufacturing Company". Their guitar design, with a single outward-facing resonator cone, was introduced to compete with the patented inward-facing tricone and biscuit designs produced by the National String Instrument Corporation. The Dobro name appeared on other instruments, notably electric lap steel guitars and solid body electric guitars and on other resonator instruments such as Safari resonator mandolins.