Earliest Resonator Dulcimer Photo?

Thanks to the sleuthing of Butch Ross in the DPN (Dulcimer Players New) Archives, Park Gortney, from E. Sparta, Ohio, has come to my attention!

When I wrote and published my Dulci-Bro:  Methods & Resources for Playing Resonator Dulcimer, in 2019, I included the known history at the time, which suggested that the Kentucky instrument builder, Homer Ledford, had produced the earliest version of a dulci-bro or resonator dulcimer.  It turns out that his photo is dated in the first half of the year of 1979.

This photo, however, was published in DPN in July 1976, a full 3 years earlier!!

So, it is time to revise the history (which is a constant, on-going process, of course).  

The other thing to note is that Park's instrument also features a full-sized Dobro cone, which also accounts for the larger size of the lower bout of his instrument.

This is the way that the late Don Neuhauser designed and built his dulcibros and his instrument is the one that I own and play.

See this photo in context here:  https://archive.org/details/dpn-1976-002-03/page/n19/mode/2up  p. 19