The Original Musical Instrument Company (often known as OMI) was formed in 1967 by two of the original Dopyera

Dopyera

Dopyera is a surname and may refer to one of the following Dopyera brothers:* John Dopyera , inventor of the resonator guitar...

 brothers, Rudy and Emile, to manufacture resonator guitar

Resonator guitar

A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones instead of the wooden sound board . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion...

s.

The first instruments were brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

ed Hound Dog. In 1970 they again acquired the Dobro

Dobro

Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...

name.

In 1993 the Gibson Guitar Corporation

Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...

 acquired the company, and subsequently changed the name to Original Acoustic Instruments and moved the manufacturing operation to Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

. They continue to manufacture resonator guitars as a division of Gibson, which are sold under both the Dobro and Hound Dog names. Gibson also sell resonator guitars under their Epiphone

Epiphone

The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...

brand.