1930s Regal Octofone Octave Mandolin/8 String Tenor Guitar

This is the best Octofone ("8 instruments in one!" depending on how you tune it) I've worked-on yet. Judging by the Kluson tuners, it's also the latest one I've worked-on and dates from the late '30s. Compared to the average Octofone, this one has a shorter scale length, two extra top braces, and a thicker and sturdier neck. All of these changes make it a lot tougher, more resistant to top fatigue/collapse, and also means its neck doesn't warp (at least somewhat) the moment you tune it to pitch with even the lightest gauges. In fact, the company fixed every design flaw except for the dumb, doweled-on neck joint.

If this version of the instrument were what most Octofones were, I think these would've become wildly-popular with the average mandolinist of the time. This thing sounds as good or better than most new flatback octave mandolins and due to its lighter build, it can get a good, full sound without having to jack the gauges up to finger-busting territory.

Work was fast and crazy: the owner and I dug-into this together all in one day and he actually left with a shim stuck through the soundhole gluing-up a back brace (though all the other setup-side work was done before we glued that). Overall, it got said brace reglue, a fret level/dress, hidden neck-bolt reinforcement of the neck joint, side dots, some seam repairs, general cleaning, and a new, fully-compensated, bone bridge. We strung it up GDAE in octave mandolin fashion with octaves on the lower courses for more of an "Irish bouzouki" sound. Gauges are something like 18/42w, 12/30w, 16/16, 11/11. The 16s may be 17s, though -- I can't really recall.

Specs are: 19 13/16" scale, 1 5/16" nut width, 1 1/8" string spacing at the nut, 1 5/8" spacing at the bridge, 10 5/8" lower bout, 5 1/4" shoulders-bout, and 3 1/4" side depth at the endblock. Action is set at 1/16" at the 12th fret and the neck is straight. Said neck has a C/V hybrid shape and a flat-profile fretboard.

Woods are: solid spruce top, solid birch back/sides, poplar neck, and ebonized-maple fretboard. There's binding on the top and back edges and the frets are smaller nickel-silver.

The only true letdown to this instrument are its lackluster tuners that have some annoying slack. If I were the owner, I'd be sourcing some repros from StewMac right away.

Here's my fancy bone bridge with full compensation for the strings.

As always, a bit of muting-foam hides under the tailpiece to damp the string-afterlength overtones. I've used ball-end strings in the Bell Brand tailpiece, too -- it's nice that these tails allow you that choice or loop when stringing.