c.1920 Washburn Style 2424 Flatback Mandolin

Regal made the Washburn flatback mandolins of this period and this one is a style 2424 from around 1920. It's a good-quality instrument (as expected from a 20s Washburn) with a clean, sweet, and woody tone suited for old-time, Celtic, and world-y genres. After work it's also turned out an excellent player.

Work included a neck reset, bolt-through heel stabilization, brace reglues, hairline crack repairs, a fret level/dress, replacement bridge, cleaning, and setup.

It's definitely an elegant instrument in the fashion of Weymanns and Vegas -- restrained and classy. The materials are nice as well: solid spruce top (canted), laminate mahogany sides (a typical Washburn feature as it made them more durable), and solid mahogany back. The neck is also mahogany, though the fretboard is dyed maple (now faded).

The celluloid tortoise pickguard is inlaid.

Rosewood headstock veneer, original bone nut. All the hardware is original except for the bridge, which is out of my parts bin and is ebony.

Pearl dots, bound board.

I love that multi-ply binding/purfling! Note that the fretboard extension's "lip" binding is missing. It's easy to not notice that, though.

Parts-bin ebony bridge works just fine with a good clear sound to it but isn't as fancy as the (too tall) original.

Miraculously, the Waverly tailpiece cover is still intact!

 The finish is nice but definitely shows some use-wear and crackle throughout.

The engraved coverplate for the tuners is pretty slick. I lubed those tuners so they work quite well.

The added strap button conceals an additional bolt that I installed through the heel and into the interior. Regal used a single-dowel joint to attach the necks to the bodies and inevitably, even after a reset, the glue will let loose on the lower part of the heel and it will lift after "x amount" of years and tension. After I reset the neck I installed this for additional support so that won't happen in the future.

I of course added a strap button at the tailpiece to make the one at the heel useful!

Here's the warranty from inside.