On Saturday, January 4, 2025, the bluegrass community, particularly reso-guitar enthusiasts, lost a beloved friend, Bobby Wolfe. The North Carolina musician and luthier was 94 years old. During his building career (1981-2017,) Wolfe constructed 234 resonator guitars with 92 of those being his specially designed ported models. (This writer owns and plays #93.)
Condolences have poured in from those in the music industry who knew and loved him best.
Jerry Douglas, renowned resophonic guitarist, shared, “He was a dear, dear friend and I’m very sad to see him go. He was one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of resonator guitars. He knew most of the Dobro pioneers, and paid particular attention to each one’s style, guitar choices, and most importantly, he knew how the instrument worked and used his knowledge for the betterment of all concerned. Without him, the road for young musicians playing resonator guitars would have been a much slower one.”
“Bob meant a lot to me,” relayed dobroist Frank Poindexter. “I first met him in the early ’70s (1971 ). Over the years, we’ve shared a close friendship. He has worked on practically every guitar I’ve owned. I bought his #69 (Brazilian Rosewood, gold-plated with engraved hardware). It’s the guitar that’s on my It’s The Music solo project. My deepest condolences reach out to Darryl, Greg, and the entire family. Bobby will be missed.”
Fred Bartenstein, former chair of the IBMA Foundation, author, musical historian, and musician, conveyed, “I’m sad to learn about the passing of reso master and builder, Bobby Wolfe of Davidson, NC, March 14, 1930 – January 4, 2025. He was a great friend to me in the early festival days, and a major contributor to the book, Bluegrass Bluesman: Josh Graves.“
“Bobby was an exhibiter for many years at ResoGat,” shared Pammy Lassiter, Resogat administrator and resophonic guitarist, “an event held yearly in Wilkesboro, NC since 2005 for a group consisting of dobro players, luthiers, collectors, connoisseurs, writers, etc. He was dearly loved by everyone there and will be sorely missed.”
Her husband, Big T Lassiter added, “Bobby was the kindest person I ever met!”
Wolfe was honored during the 2010 Resogat Event (Resonator Guitar Gathering) in Wilkesboro. The late Randy Getz, Mr. Dobro, gave the following speech during the honoree’s recognition ceremony. It highlights much of Wolfe’s personal musical history.
“In 1965, Bobby was living in Cleveland, Ohio. He had always had an interest in country music, especially in the acoustic form we know as bluegrass. He was especially drawn to the sound of the Dobro guitar as played by Josh Graves at the time. He along with two of his sons decided to get involved in the music and Bobby’s choice of instruments was the Dobro guitar, and the rest is history.
As his playing skills improved, he began looking for ways to improve on the volume and tone of the guitars that were available, by trying various set-ups and modifications. In 1968, his employment took him to the Fayetteville, NC area where he immersed himself in the local music scene, and played in various local bands, all the while continuing with his efforts to improve the instrument. He was becoming rather well known locally as the person to work on your Dobro if you wanted the best that it has to offer, and his reputation was expanding beyond the local area.
His interest did not stop with the instrument itself, but with anything that might be used with the instrument. In the early ’70s, the Miller capo was introduced which was the first capo to be designed for a square-neck guitar. Bobby immediately purchased one, and after receiving it and using it, he felt that it could be improved on. Improving on the Miller design he had approximately 220 of them made and was concerned that he may not get his investment back. Well fear not, they have all been sold or given away as promotion pieces many years ago, and by the time the last ones were sold, many other styles were becoming available and he had no more made.
He had the foresight to know that his interest in the Dobro and the ever-increasing work he was doing on instruments would require a shop, and this became part of the home construction project. In the early 1980s, after having repaired and played many of the instruments that were available, he made the decision that he could build a better mousetrap. In 1982, he built his first instruments doing everything by hand, he used no jigs or bending aids other than his hands and tools he had in the shop. He was very pleased with the results that resulted from his effort, and others also must have been impressed because in very short order he had sold all the instruments.
During this time, he began to buy and sell vintage instruments, and his reputation as a fount of knowledge on pre-war instruments was becoming widely known. He continued to build 1-3 instruments a year during the remainder of the 1980s up until the early 1990s. These could be considered as his formative years as a builder, as he saw what did work as well as what didn’t work, all the while he was making refinements and establishing the standard for the Wolfe guitar.
In 1985, due to his heavy involvement with vintage instruments, and his ever-expanding repair and set-up work, he became an authorized Dobro dealer and remained one until the sale of OMI to Gibson in 1993. By 1992, he had finalized his construction details and had constructed various jigs as well as a bending box for sides, and set out on a building program of 8 instruments a year (4 over the summer and 4 over the winter months). This was all in addition to his set-up and repair business. He never would take a down payment for an instrument, only a verbal request from individuals who wanted one of his instruments. The only question he would ask being what type of wood an individual would prefer to have his instrument constructed of. When not enough orders were placed to cover his normal 4 each season, he would build instruments with woods he had on hand or even woods that he had not previously seen used in instruments.
When Josh Graves decided to retire his long-time instrument named ‘JULIE’ with a model 37 he had purchased from Cliff Carlisle (which was well road weary), he chose Bobby to refinish the instrument and set it up. This instrument would become known as ‘CLIFF,’ and Josh played the instrument until his death.
During the period from 1982-1992, Bobby had written numerous articles which covered set-up of instruments as well as interviews he had conducted with several of the dominant players of the day. These were all published in various issues of Bluegrass Unlimited.
In 1993, he published a magazine type booklet titled The Resophonic and the Pickers, with in-depth interviews with Josh Graves, Mike Auldridge, Jerry Douglas, and Tut Taylor. This brought all the BU articles together in one publication. He had 1,000 copies made, and like the capo, they are all gone. There were 11 total articles published by Bluegrass Unlimited.
In 1995, he was honored to have one of his guitars displayed in an exhibit called Dixie Frets at the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga, TN. This was in conjunction with the National Folk Festival. The exhibit ran for approximately three months and was intended to display to the public the instruments that were being produced by respected Southern luthiers of the day.
In 1996 and again in 1997, he was invited along with Tut Taylor to attend the Dobrofest celebration in Trnava, Slovakia, which was being held to honor the Dopyera family who had emigrated from the region to the US.
In 1998, he built two highly ornate guitars to represent his 90th and 100th instruments. These instruments are still in possession of the Wolfe family. Once again, he was honored to have his 90th instrument included in an exhibit entitled Loud and Clear, which toured the United States for two years. This exhibit was intended to honor the Dopyera brothers, who were responsible for the development of resonator instruments, and to draw attention to some of the current luthiers who were carrying on the tradition of building these instruments.
As we entered the new century, Bobby, who had felt for years that the resophonic guitar, which had seen few changes over 70 years, could be improved as to volume and tone, as well as mid-range and bass response, but the changes he felt were required would alter the appearance of the instrument. Because he was not sure how potential buyers would accept the changes, he had been reluctant to build instruments that would have the altered appearance. Finally in 2001, not knowing how many more years he would be building, the decision was made to experiment with what would become known as the Wolfe Ported model. Three experimental instruments were constructed of various woods in order to retune the internals as to find the ‘sweet spot’ for all the woods, and establish a medium that would become the standard. This ported upper bout design eliminated the screen holes, added an array of ports which in turn provided a wider frequency range for the instrument, much like a well-designed high-end speaker cabinet.
The official introduction of the Ported model took place at the ‘Gathering of Resonatuers’ at the home of John Dopyera Jr., the son of the principal inventor of the resonator guitar, in July of 2002. The most outstanding features of the Ported guitar are an increase in volume, exceptional tone over the entire scale, and a large improvement in midrange and bass response, which had been a weak point of the factory produced instruments. The change in appearance from the standard resonator guitar had very little if any effect on the acceptability of the instrument, and with the exception of two, all instruments produced since that introduction have been the Ported variety.
With the introduction of the Ported model, we bring to a close a period in the life of Bobby Wolfe, luthier, but in reality we have only scratched the surface in the life of this exceptional individual.”
Darryl Wolfe, Bobby’s son and former mandolinist with the Knoxville Grass, concluded, “He was a wonderful man and respected by all. Dad was also one of the original bluegrass festival goers, having attended hundreds of festivals starting with the Carter Stanley Memorial Concert in Maryland, and followed by the Carlton Haney festivals in the mid-’60s. He was also one of the original subscribers to Bluegrass Unlimited, starting with its inception as a corner stapled, 10-page newsletter and into 2025 at his passing.”
A celebration of life will be held in March in Bessemer City.
R.I.P., Bobby Wolfe.
