3 RQ Jones dobro guitars

I Here's a trio of dobro's by legendary dobro builder Rudy Q. Jones. Left to Right: owned by Tab Tabscott, owned by Junior Barber, and owned by Chuck Togstad. All three are solid walnut, with matching abalone fret board inlays. The guitar on the left was once stolen in Tacoma Washington but was miraculously recovered.

These dobros were made in Wanette, Oklahoma during his prime building years in the mid to late 70's. All three guitars were made with wood taken from the same walnut log. The story goes that Rudy bought a large log of Ozark Black Walnut that had already been sitting in an elderly farmers barn for several decades. Rudy then rigged up a contraption consisting of multiple microwave ovens and further desiccated the wood. A companion guitar to those shown above owned by Josh Graves now resides in the Country Music Hall of Fame. I also understand that the Jerry Douglas' famous mahogany Jones (probably the single most recorded dobro in history) now resides at the same museum. Paul Beard builds a very nice facsimile of that instrument, right down to the bevels on the back of the neck.

The one on the left has a 3-3/16 body depth, making it the shallowest of the three. Rudy sold it as the Uncle Josh Model. It's on its third cone, second spider, second cover plate, and 5th set of tuners. A bargain at $700 new in 1977. Webmaster is the original owner.

The middle guitar is very interesting in that it has book matched burled holes in the top. You can see them on either side of the fret board between the 13th and 19th frets. This guitar was dropped on a cement floor, splitting the top and back from the sides in the lower bout. Body depth is closer to 3 +75". I think this is the one that was recently for sale in New York state.

The third guitar is very similar to the first, but has a deeper body, around 3 + 7/8 ". It is an Uncle Josh model in gold. The coverplate and tailpiece are extensively engraved.

These guitars were photographed at a recording session for the 2000 dobro project "Resophonics Anonymous".

Rudy made a couple of cassette albums in 1995, featuring himself and Leroy MacNees. (The dobro in the cover art is also pictured at top left).

Here are a couple of shots of the man himself...These are from a promotional poster. The real thing is about 20x36. I love the NASCAR theme!

The finish on this dobro is red metal flake (like a drum kit) and the resonator has some sort of blown aluminum powder coat finish. Very Cool!

Sorry about not having the image all in one piece. I have a Wal-Mart scanner...

If you have pictures of an RQ Jones dobro, or a Bob Reed dobro, send it to me and I will post it here.

Gene Wooten's Jones. This is owned by the great Tom Costner of NC. Check him out if you get a chance.

This is David Curries Jones. I am sorry David, took a long time to get the name right with the photo. David lives in Scotland, I think.

Above is Nick's Jones, now living down under...very nice Jones, one of the originals from that famous Walnut log. One serial number before webmasters guitar...

This is Mahogany Reed #84 -- I'm not sure exactly what year it was built. It belonged to my late father. Early 80's maybe. I have put in a polycarbonate baffle, and timeless timber hard maple saddles. It beats any Horn I've ever heard. Slayed a few ojnab's with it too. Take care,

Ron"Buz" Butler

Heres a bunch of fancy engraving on the Jones that Bev King gave away in 1979 for the first dobro contest on tape. Ever.Owned by Tom Costner in North Carolina. Great guy!

Here's an early Reed that was made in the manner of a Jones. Note the really long fretboard that was a trademark for Reeds.