VINTAGE NATIONAL RESOPHONIC RESONATOR GUITAR ARTWORK

This auction is for a set of four reproduction prints from the patent drawings for the original National resophonic guitars.

Between October 1926 and on March 1928, John Dopyera filed these drawings with the United States Patent Office for a 'Stringed Musical Instrument.' Later in 1928, he would acrimoniously part company with his partner George Beauchamp and form the Dobro company with his brothers.

Not the least of his issues with Beauchamp was the fact that though he had invented the wildly successful tricone resonator, Dopyera's rights to the design had been assigned to Beauchamp and his financial backers. Future John Dopyera inventions would be submitted to the patent office in the name of his brother Rudolph to avoid this from happening again. 

The Dopyera/Beauchamp relationship was a complex one, to put it mildly, and patent rights were a major contributor to their original dissolution and to the eventual ejection of Beauchamp from National prior to merger of Dobro and National in 1932.

Three of the patents at the heart of their dispute are shown above:

• The June 30, 1930  Patent for the rear-horn, three and four cone resonator guitar 
• The December 31, 1929 Patent for the classic National tricone resonator guitar
• The September 25, 1928 Design Patent for the National tricone resonator guitar

There are four separate patent drawings included in this auction and each will be provided on artist quality, acid-free, 60-pound parchment style paper as shown above.

Prints are 8.5" by 11.0" (21.6 by 27.9 cm) in size and are ready to frame for display. 

They are packaged in archive-safe, acid-free sleeves and shipped flat in a stiffened mailer to ensure safe arrival.

Your Satisfaction is Guaranteed

It's not possible to illustrate the quality of these prints on a web page!

These are the finest available reproductions of the original patent drawings. They are prepared using documents that I personally obtained from the United States Patent Office that I have painstakingly restored to ensure gallery-grade image quality.

If for any reason you are not happy with these prints, return them to me and I will refund the amount of your winning bid. Check my feedback; these prints really are great!

I combine shipping on multiple print set orders: Additional print sets ship FREE!

Auction text, titles & graphics ©2008 guitarpatents | all rights reserved