I can't say I've done an exhaustive study of Dobro vs Wessenborn guitars but I do own a fine Bear Creek hollowneck & a Benoit Dobro.
My impressions are that these kinds of instruments are very different animals but both offer great tones. The Weissenborn is "sweeter", with a "woody" sound that's close to that of a fine acoustic guitar but with less punch and much longer sustain. That hollow neck really moves air!

The Dobro sound really varies a lot with the type of instrument (plywood or hardwood)and the quality of the hardware. In general it's much more directional with that punchy, metallic twang to the note initally then a gradual ramp down rather than the soft swell into the note and long, even sustain of a Weissenborn. Dobros are, of course, much louder as they were designed to be.

Both instruments however have been highly underutilized for more modern music IMHO.
As for recording. I suppose you have to mic a Weissenborn a little more carefully to find its "sweet spot" as opposed to resonator guitars that are so uni-directional straight up from the cone.
I think the state-of-the-art for recording a Weissenborn is probably David Dennison's engineering of Grisman/Brozman/ Auldridge's "Tone Poems II" CD (though here again they only did old stuff). I think Weissenborns make wonderful guitars for Jazz & Latin tunes and that's why I tackled "Begin the Beguine" - just a great, great tune. Tuck Andress recorded an awe-inspiring solo version on his CD "Reckless Precision" that inspired me to have a go at it.

Photo of my Weissenborn at: http://www.bcguitar.com/images/hnmk5.jpeg

[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 29 June 2001 at 01:11 PM.]