c.1941 Regal-made "Buck Jones" 3/4 Cowboy Guitar

This "Buck Jones" cowboy guitar was made by Regal from 1940-1943 and came in two models for the first 2 years of production: standard "0" size (13" lower bout) and 3/4 size (12" lower bout). This is the 3/4 size and so it feels just a bit smaller in the lap... like an outsized period tenor guitar. For reference, click here for the full-size model I worked on a while back.

My work on this was simple: fret level/dress, setup at the nut, new bridge, and cleaning. It was in amazingly good shape right on the way in, with the only crack being a not-through longish hairline (tight, not moving) on the rear. It now plays great with 1/16" action at the 12th on the treble and 3/32" on the bass. This guy's got a 24 1/4" scale, which is a typical Regal length.

And tone...? Nice and surprisingly full, with good mids and a sweet reverb-y sustain/overtone sequence.

These "Buck Jones" models are the best of the cowboy guitars, in my opinion. The stenciled two-tone graphics are fantastic compared to other cowboy models and their application over a "desert-y" orangey/brown-burst finish just adds so much.

These guitars, at least in the first few years of production, are higher quality than most cowboy-theme designs, sporting a solid spruce top and solid maple back, sides, neck, and dyed-maple fretboard. In addition, the maple often seems to have birdseye and light curly figure here and there throughout and all of these I've seen have had one-piece backs.

Original bone nut, with a 1 13/16" width.

Pearl dots, brass frets, and dyed-maple board. I had to re-seat nearly all the frets since they were popping up in the middle.

Both the top edge and soundhole are bound in white/cream celluloid. A nice touch!

See how strong those cloud graphics are? Cool.

"Good luck, Buck Jones & Silver."

New rosewood bridge. It's also nice to have the original lyre-shaped trapeze tailpiece.

Nice looking sunburst!

Yep, a one-piece back.

These are original covered Kluson tuners. These came to me with no buttons but I used some white buttons (correct for this year) from mangled period Kluson tuners, so they look 100% original.

 Here's some of the nicer figure on the back...

 The sunburst is so cool looking on this guy.

Small split at the end-pin area in the maple sides, but it's stable and I sunk some glue and wood dust into it to help hold it.