c.1950s? Regal Wendell Hall Teeviola Tenor Ukulele

Here's a sort of rare bird: this is a Regal-built tenor uke (17" scale) from either the late 1940s or early 1950s. It's a very sturdy uke and features a nicely-grained (with some spidery figure) spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides, with a maple neck. The bridge and fretboard are both ebony, the frets are brass, and the nut and saddle are bone. I've replaced the original plastic bridge pins with vintage rosewood ones (tone enhancer) and I've taken off the original geared Kluson tuners (safely stored away) in favor of same-era standard friction tuners. The original Klusons work great but they've had new cheapy ugly buttons installed that really hurt the aesthetic. This uke plays great and has a ringing voice that is especially suited to a pick.

Curiously enough, there headstock veneer is birdseye maple, but you can't see the figure much at all. Bone nut.

Nice and tasteful cherry/orange sunburst on the spruce top.


Ebony fretboard with freshly dressed brass frets and MOP dots.

Soundhole rosette is reminiscent of much earlier Regal ukes and almost identical to the ones on earlier Wendell Hall models from the 1920s and 1930s.

Nice moustache bridge of ebony with a bone saddle. Vintage rosewood pegs have replaced the original plastic ones, which like the tuners, have been safely stored away.

Sides are solid mahogany, as is the back. Nice grain, no?


Side.


Back.

Now here's the curious bit: aside from the original tuners being off and the marks they've left, we can see (faintly) four extra drilled holes that have been plugged up at the factory. I'm wondering if this was originally intended to be strung with eight strings as the spacing would have been perfect for mandolin tuners. Now, supposing that's correct, my other intuition is that this uke is built more like a tiple (the neck is thick and strong and the body quite strong, too) than a tenor uke, which tend to be built much lighter. The neck is also a bit wider than a typical tenor uke, too... which makes me tend to think that this was originally meant for 8 strings and possibly steel ones. It could definitely handle 4 steel ones at the moment... very sturdy. Not to mention, Wendell Hall had old photo-ops while holding tiples... so who knows...?

Side.


Lower bout join.