1930s Regal-made LeDomino "Big Boy" Archtop Guitar

I've worked on this same model a number of times, now, and every time a bluesy fingerpicker gets his or her hands on these guitars they smile like a crazy jackass. It's got that "transports you right back to the '30s" sound -- a bit woody, a bit thwacky, a bit crunchy. It's like playing any average press-arched archtop guitar from the period but with a little extra warmth and openness to the sound. Maybe its closest comparison is to something like a round-hole Gibson L-50 from the early '30s? -- but less refined and velvety in the highs and lows, though. Well -- "more bluesier." Close enough.

This one came in via a customer and it may be up for grabs. It's had work in the past done to it including the install of a new rosewood fretboard and medium-big frets, a non-adjustable truss-rod under it, a new nut, and a new bridge and possibly an old neck reset, too.

My work included an additional interior bolt/screw reinforcement of the neck joint (because I don't trust Regal joints if I haven't had the joint open myself), a fret level/dress, side-dots install, some cleats for back cracks that'd been glued but not cleated, one brace reglue, bridge fitting, and a good setup. It plays on-the-dot with a straight neck and 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret, strung with 54w-12 gauges. Action is adjustable, of course, via the bridge.

Specs are: 25 1/4" scale, 1 7/8" nut width, 1 3/4" string spacing at the nut, 2 1/4" spacing at the bridge, 15 1/4" lower bout, 11 3/8" upper bout, and 4" side depth at the endblock. It's basically a 000-size guitar but with an arched top. The fretboard has a ~12" radius to it and the back of the neck is a medium-big C/V hybrid shape.

Woods are: solid spruce top with ladder bracing, solid birch back and sides, poplar neck, and rosewood fretboard and bridge -- both new.

The guitar is original save the replacement board, bridge, nut, and tuners. The tailpiece is original but its mouting screws are not. The finish is all-original as well and the only cracks are a few hairlines on the back.

How about that stencil at the headstock?

The new fretboard is nice and while it lacks the ever-cool decals of the original board, it's materially much better and has a nice radius and much-better medium frets than the original board would've had. The dots are small pearl inlay.

It's hard to argue with the way-cool decalcomania domino theme, right? The top and back are also bound in white celluloid to offset the dark-brown sunburst finish, too.

The bridge is a newer, adjustable archtop bridge. The last person to own this really sanded its top down in a flattened way and mucked it up a bit, but I've reprofiled it back to a compensated form and then fit the base properly. It now has plenty of adjustment height for action changes as desired.

While the Kluson-style tuners don't fit the '30s look, they do work just fine.

There are three or four tight, 2-3" hairline cracks on the back. All have been cleated.