by Billy Sunshine

Created on: February 03, 2007   Last Updated: February 11, 2007

How to make a Pocket Dobro
I invented a guitar that can fit in a cargo pocket. It's the highest pitched guitar ever. It sounds like a cross between a Banjo, a Dobro, and rain on a tin roof. Actually it's a creative re-imagining of an old idea.

In the old days, poor people who wanted to make music but didn't have money for fancy instruments used to make their own musical devices with the materials that they had. These are the original folk instruments. A couple of the most famous examples are the washtub bass and the cigar-box guitar. Two other such homemade creations were the Spike Fiddle and the Diddley Bow. A Diddley Bow consisted of a plank of wood with a string stretched tight between two screws or nails. If there was no boards available, this could be constructed on a porch railing. This would be picked and played using a bottleneck or a knife blade for a slide to change the pitch.

For my Pocket Dobro you will need:
1 Empty, cleaned can of Tuna (or Spam, if you want to get cute- I already did.)
3 Flat Wooden rulers
1 Guitar tuning machine (Tuner knob), with needed screws. (Get one at a music store)
1 Unwound guitar string
2 1/4"- 3/8" thick small rectangles of wood, about 1/4" x 1/2"
Wood Glue
Utility knife

Instructions:
1. Glue 2 rulers together. At one end also glue an additional two 2 inch sections of ruler, for a thickness of 4 rulers (about half an inch) to accommodate the post of the tuner.
2. Carefully use nails or a drill to make a rectangular opening in the sides of the tuna can, just big enough for the pair of rulers to fit through. The opening should be a little more than 1/8" from the bottom of the can and be centered.
3. Drill a hole for the post on the guitar tuner at one end of the rulers.
4. Screw the tuner into place, with the exposed post pointing in the same direction as the bottom of the can.
5. Slide the rulers through the openings you have made in the can. This may take some adjusting, but it's better to be too snug than too loose. Push through until an inch of the ruler is sticking out of the end.
6. Cut a V-notch on either side of this small end of ruler that is sticking out.
7. Thread the end of the string through the tiny little brass ring, or if you don't have a brass ring, tie the string in a loop. Fit this loop in the notches you just made and pull tight.
8. Take the other end of the string over the bottom of the can and through the eye of the tuner post, and wind it up, but start out with about 2 inches of slack, so the string gets a chance to wrap around the post.
9. Lastly, put your rectangles of wood under the string. Slide one up towards the post for your nut, and the other down close to where the string attaches for the bridge, then tune it to a pitch you like.

To play this get a metal, glass, or ceramic guitar slide, or else use a bottleneck or a blade for the old school feel. You just slide around to get the pitches you want. Play the blues. It's good for your musical ear and I guarantee you'll have a unique instrument that sounds high enough to make a mandolin sound like a cello. And it's a lot cooler than a rubber band guitar.

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