c.1925 S.S. Stewart (by Regal) Flatback Mandolin

Well, it's warm enough today for some outdoor shots! Huzzah! Here's a great-sounding, great-playing old flatback mandolin from the mid-1920s, made by Regal, and sold under the SS Stewart brand name. Solid spruce bent top with flat back of solid birch and sides and neck of solid birch, too. Nice inlaid celluloid pickguard, bound top in black celluloid, with comfortable and fast neck, "ebonized" fretboard, MOP dots, and all-original hardware save a new compensated bone bridge and new bone nut.

The finish has alligatored which gives this a major-domo-mojo look to it.

I had to do a neck reset on this guy as it had separated quite a bit... which involved a heating, twisting, and regluing... the usual. This fine machine plays nice and easy now!

...

The new compensated bone bridge (made by m'self) gives good intonation and a sweet, pronounced sound. And speaking of tone: husky, deep, sweet, and warm. It's also got plenty of chop to boot.

Stewart label.

Here you can see that pickguard a little better.

Back.

Tuners look rough but function absolutely perfectly... no slipping, clean and easy movement... etc.

In the past there were some home repairs to this fellow. It looks like someone reglued the entire back and used some pins at the heel block and neck block to keep the back in place while it set. Sheesh! They also "repaired" the neck separation at one point, but not all that well... You can see a little chipping in the finish (and a couple chips to the surface of the wood) where they had done their deed before.

Back is birch.

Grungy old tailpiece... I've always liked this style of cover, though. Under it are some rubber grommets between the string pairs I've used to dampen overtones.