1979 Dobro 60-DS
In 1980 my brother bought a new 1979 Dobro 60-DS squareneck. He lived for that thing! He was obsessed by it and it was always the hot topic. If he wasn't playing it, he had bluegrass music blaring all through his house.A little bluegrass goes a long way with me.
A couple years later, he was behind in his rent and gave the dobro to his landlord to cover the back rent. Several months went by, maybe it was even a year or more, and my father found out about it. He knew the landlord quite well and they hammered out some kind of deal... Dad bought it back, I think for about $275. He took it to another friend, a sign painter, who painted my brother's name in gold script with music notes on the case. My father then presented it back to my brother, could've been Christmas, his birthday, or Happy Wednesday.... can't recall. In any case, the dobro was back in the hands of my brother with the admonition to "hang onto the damn thing".
Fast forward to December 2007. My brother drives truck and is gone for weeks at a time sometimes. We had a thaw, some heavy rains, and the roof of his trailer leaked enough so the furnace shorted out and tripped a breaker. When it turned cold again, the pipes froze, broke, and caused severe water damage to the trailer. He brought me the dobro and a JB Player dreadnaught and asked if I would sell them on ebay. I agreed, but I had other plans. I quickly threw a bunch of unused cheaper guitars on ebay and made sure my brother got his asking price. I didn't tell him what I had in mind, I just did it. He called me the next week to see how I made out and I told him I had his money. Of course he was happy about that, but he was even happier to learn I had "bought" it for myself and it would at least stay in the family.
