What's in a name?

(IMHO)The day that this:

became this:

was a sad day, indeed. The Gibson company's enforcement of a copyright on the word "dobro" strikes me as shortsightedness on their part. Does anyone besides me find it ironic that the day they took the name dobro away from the players of that instrument, they quit using it themselves?

Tracing the etymology of the word dobro gives us it's real meaning (in the language of Slovakia) as part of a greeting...literally (Thanks Ben!) it means "good" in many slavic languages).The Dopyera Brothers cleverly linked their name and this general purpose word to their invention (DOpyera BROthers). That's why you see all those "Dobro Slaya, Kamrade" pages when you do web a search on "dobro"--these are mostly academic papers from these universities in these countries, where it is traditional to begin your thesis with this line...

I've played the dobro all my life, but until recently, I haven't owned a Dobro brand guitar. Nonetheless, it has always been referred to as a "dobro"!!! People would say "Hey, get your dobro", or "Here's Tab on the dobro".

I understand that a trademark name is a trademark name, and Gibson has a right to protect their investment in that name, but dobro is a word like 'kleenex', or 'roto-rooter', or 'edsel', and has entered the lexicon of our language as a word synonymous with guitars with hubcaps.

Personally, I hate the word "Reso"-it sounds like something that drips out of tobacco pipes. I hate saying "I play the Resophonic Guitar", and I think the Gibson company made a mistake when they took that word away from us dobro players. It alienates everyone associated with the instrument that isn't tooting Gibson's horn. It seems to me that most of the people I know who have bought dobro's in the last 10 years have bought a guitar made by a custom builder.

I play the dobro.  I have a bunch of dobro's. That's the way it is, and that's the way it will always be. Gibson will probably send me a letter saying that I have to put a little "r" beside every instance of the word "dobro" that appears on these pages. I think it should be enough to maintain this distinction:

When dobro is capitalized, it refers to the Dobro Brand of Guitars from Gibson, Inc.

When dobro is used in small case, it refers to any wood or metal body guitar that has a hubcap and resonator.

A Gibson trademark does not a dobro make. I don't and won't have anything with a Gibson label on it other than a banjo, mandolin, or guitar.

Does anyone else feel like me? Click HERE to submit comments.

-Tab Tabscott