Original (formerly "Original Musical Instrument Company", also known for its acronym "OMI") is an American

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

currently owned by Gibson through its

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Epiphone. The company uses the brand to produce and commercialize resonator guitars. The company was formed in 1967 by two of the original John Dopyera brothers, Rudy and Emile, to manufacture resonator guitars. They produced their first instruments under the brand "Hound Dog". In 1970 the company reacquired the Dobro name that had been sold in 1966 to Semie Mosely of Mosrite, although it carried on using the Hound Dog name for a time. In 1993 the Gibson Corporation acquired Original, and subsequently changed the name to "Original Acoustic Instruments", moving the manufacturing operation to its headquarters in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Gibson Corporation still produces Dobro resonator guitars through its

company, Epiphone."O.C. Sees the End of Dobro Era" by Greg Johnson
on ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', 4 Mar 1997

References

External links

Dobro Hound Dog resonator guitars
at Epiphone website (archived, 3 Dec 2019) Gibson Brands Defunct manufacturing companies based in Tennessee Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States 1967 establishments in Tennessee {{Musical-instrument-company-stub