John Dopyera, the 1/3 of the Dopyera brothers, did not just work for the National String Instrument company. He invented the National resonator guitar, and founded the company (with his brothers and a bunch of investors).
The disagrement that made him and the brothers leave the company, also meant that he had to leave his patents behind and could not use those in the guitars he manufactured. So John Dopyera invented yet another type of resonator guitar, the Dobro. The cone in a dobro is very different from those you find in a National.
I recall reading about the Dopyera brothers long ago when I first compiled the info for this post - fascinating story! Re National cone v. Dobro cone, I just now did a search. Will post to a Note so I can include images. Pls let me know if I got it wrong!
John Dopyera, the 1/3 of the Dopyera brothers, did not just work for the National String Instrument company. He invented the National resonator guitar, and founded the company (with his brothers and a bunch of investors).
The disagrement that made him and the brothers leave the company, also meant that he had to leave his patents behind and could not use those in the guitars he manufactured. So John Dopyera invented yet another type of resonator guitar, the Dobro. The cone in a dobro is very different from those you find in a National.
I recall reading about the Dopyera brothers long ago when I first compiled the info for this post - fascinating story! Re National cone v. Dobro cone, I just now did a search. Will post to a Note so I can include images. Pls let me know if I got it wrong!