Description: Dobro M-47 Alumalite Resonator Guitar
Available: 1937 to 1940.
Collectibility Rating: D-.
General Comments: "Fiddle edge" body style with lips around the top and back edges, Aluminum metal body (known as the "Dobro-Lite" or "Lumalite"), mahogany grain painted sunburst finish, dot fingerboard inlays, unbound rosewood fingerboard, 14 frets clear of the body, round window soundholes, painted resonator plate, peghead with "Dobro" decal. Retail price of $47.50, slightly fancier and expensive version of the M-46. Appeared in catalogs in 1938 (but may have been available a year earlier), and hence should always have a pickguard (or at least two holes in the body where a pickguard was mounted). Discontinued in 1940. The aluminum body makes for minimal midrange and practically no bass. Also this models have a serious problem with paint adhesion (paint just doesn't stick well to aluminum). The worst sounding Dobro fiddle edge, but sold (correctly) as being "light as a feather".

If you need to figure out the exact year of your Dobro M-47 guitar, use the serial number from the serial/model number label. See the Dobro Serial Number Info web page for help determining the exact year.

If you have a vintage Dobro M-47 resonator guitar for sale, please contact me at cfh@provide.net