This guitar was made in Japan and distributed by Gretsch in Cincinnati, Ohio around 1971-1974. It is a six course (6x1) resonator Spanish style guitar. In the 1970s, Gretsch began importing the Dorado line of inexpensive guitars. This resonator style guitar is listed as the “Dor-Bro” in a Gretsch catalog from 1973.
This guitar was use by Bill Mabe, founder member of the Branson, Missouri based group, the Baldknobbers. The Baldknobbers, named after an 1800s vigilante group in the Ozarks, began in 1959, when four brothers, Bill, Jim, Lyle and Bob Mabe, began entertaining visitors on the Taneycomo lakefront. The group was comprised of a washtub bass, banjo, Dobro guitar, washboard and a mule’s jawbone to provide rhythm. Their down-home, family style performances were a hit and became known as “The Baldknobbers Jamboree,” Branson’s first county music-and-comedy show.
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