c.1935 Regal Pearloid-board Tiple

Another Regal tiple! Yes, I seem to do a number of these in a year. This one is owned by a customer of mine and I think he's quite pleased with it. There's nothing like playing a tiple that's actually setup and ready to go... they're such a joy!

A neck reset had been done to this one in the past and the job was perfectly functional so my work actually just involved re-gluing and modification of the original (pin/classical-style) bridge, installation of a tailpiece, fret level/dress, and setup.

Per the customer's request, I modified this instrument from a pin-bridge style string mount to a tailpiece (mandolin-style) string mount. I think that was a good choice on his part because from my experience these instruments tend to sound better (and louder) and are structurally a zillion time more stable with this type of setup.

The original bridge had come unglued, though, so after reshaping it a bit to suit this style of stringing, I reglued it so it would stay in place.

Fun, dark-grey pearloid veneer on the headstock. Original bone nut, too.

Original nickel-silver frets. I love the contrasting dark-grey pearloid dots. The fretboard surface is also cream pearloid.

Unlike earlier Regal tiples (c.1920s), the 1930s models have a 16 3/4" scale vs. the earlier 17" scale. This makes them feel slightly springier and faster to play.

Here you can see how I've modified the original bridge and installed a mandolin-style tailpiece. Click here to see a Regal tiple that has its original bridge style intact.

All the woods are solid, of course, with a spruce top and birch back, sides, and neck. I love the black celluloid binding and fun multicolored purfling around the top edge and soundhole.

...in the soundhole.

A bit of WD-40 lubed up these tuners and got them to function perfectly.

This tiple, amazingly, has no cracks.

I used this vintage 1920s/30s "Bell Brand" mandolin tailpiece because it can be used with ball-end as well as loop-end strings. This is important because the major American tiple string set is made by GHS and is entirely ball-end strings.