c.1925 Regal-made Style 110? Flatback Mandolin

February 11, 2012

c.1925 Regal-made Style 110? Flatback Mandolin

This mandolin confirms to the PMI catalog style #110 Regal-made instrument, though without the inlaid pickguard. Mandolins of this high-quality type made by Regal were sold under a number of different brands, most notably Lyon & Healy's high-end Washburn line. It's virtually identical to a Washburn model, but this one is unlabeled and unbranded.

That said -- this is a killer instrument with loud, warm, and sweet tone. It plays fantastically and has high-grade materials including a solid canted spruce top, solid Brazilian rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck, bone nut, and ebony bridge. The fretboard appears to be some sort of dyed hardwood.

The big celluloid pickguard is inlaid into the top and looks great. It's a faux-tortoise pattern and really stands out in the light. The edges are bound in nice multi-ply binding that also has stripes that show up on the sides and back for extra elegance.

All the equipment on this mando is original except for a missing tailpiece cover.

Rosewood-veneered headstock.

My work on the instrument included gluing up and filling a back crack. as well as the usual cleaning, fret dress, and setup. And that crack is the only significant wear/damage on the instrument and is typical of dried-out rosewood (split on the grain). This mando is in pretty darn good shape, luckily!

Nickel-silver frets, bound fretboard, pearl dots.

Nicely-cut compensated ebony bridge. I had to install a very thin shim/foot to the bridge to adjust the action up just slightly. The braces are all in good shape and the top is not sinking at all so I'm guessing maybe someone had refit/sanded the bridge at some point when the setup was not, er, ideal.