Many moons ago I served as import agent for Kiso Suzuki Instruments of Japan famous for their violins ( The Suzuki Method ) and they made fantastic copies of Gibson guitars. I put a lot of miles on a Hummingbird copy and a Dove 12-string. Both excellent instruments. However, they couldn't make a spider and cone assembly to satisfy Dobro player Mike Auldridge' discerning ear which left our joint venture stillborn.

You wonderful folks have probably heard, ad nauseum, that I jammed regularly with Bob Zimmerman ( Dylan ) in HS in the late '50s. Bob didn't have a guitar at that time. We traded off playing my arch-top, f-hole Sears Silvertone which played like a fencepost and sounded worse.