Tiple Terrors

After browsing for tiples I picked this old Regal up. Its binding and overall visual style are practically the same as one of my soprano ukes (and the neck is nice and wide) so I'm going to be keeping this one for myself in favor of the Wizard I showed you all earlier. Unfortunately, it lost its original glued bridge to "structural failure" and some fellow bolted the bridge back on, only to rip off again and take bits of the soundboard with it. I've since repaired the cracks and filled the holes and installed a mandolin-style rosewood bridge and tailpiece with some custom loop-end strings. The nut is new, too, but the rest is original. I'm going to either find a fun vintage decal or paint some sort of fun scene to cover up the rough soundboard under the bridge.

Fun multicolored binding.

Slotted headstock (a bonus in my opinion) with a wide (new) bone nut.

Mahogany back and sides.

And now for some "catching up" ---

This is the same maple bridge I fabricated and glued to a customer's tiple that's currently being restored. Since the last photos I've "stained" it black ("ebonized") like in the old days, varnished it (like in the old days) and then weathered it similar to other tiple bridges I've seen (as in the passing of the old days to the new...).

I think the effect isn't half bad! At a glance it's hard to distinguish it from other tiple bridges. It's a shame that the grime that accumulated on the instrument over time managed to remain in places where the finish had worn through (ie, under the bridge), but it all adds up to "authenticity" -- no?