1950s Regal Junior Jumbo Flattop Guitar

January 27, 2019

1950s Regal Junior Jumbo Flattop Guitar

A customer asked me to get this consigned guitar ready for him to try-out. Hopefully that means it's sold, but you never know!

I've worked on a lot of these old Regal Junior Jumbo models, and while they look a lot like a Kalamazoo KG-11 with their squashed body shape, they're actually a wider 000 instead of 00 in width and the bracing is a little lighter so they tend to sound just a hair more open and warm. I like them a little better for flatpicking and strumming than the Kalamazoos, though their fingerpicking is slightly less clean and punchy.

Regal design sense is practical and no-frills on this model, with its lack of binding. Compared to the mass-market versions of these they made in the '30s, though, it does have the upgrade of a slimmer (front-to-back) neck, a rosewood bridge, and some sort of gum-maybe, rosewood-like fretboard -- the latter being a huge improvement over the ebonized maple that was often stock on '30s Regals.

Work included: a neck reset, bridge reglue, fret level/dress, conversion to drop-in saddle slot, new bone nut and saddle, cleaning, and a good setup. Action is on-the-dot at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret. I have it strung with 11s in gauges 48w, 38w, 28w, 20w, 15, 11. The neck is straight and the frets are tiny and thin but have plenty of life in them. I would definitely not suggest using 12s or above on these guitars. The necks and bodies protest.

Scale length: 25 3/8"
Nut width: 1 13/16"
String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"
String spacing at saddle: 2 3/16"

Body length: 17 1/2"
Lower bout width: 15 1/8"
Upper bout width: 10 1/8"

Side depth at endpin: 4"

Top wood: solid spruce
Back/sides wood: solid mahogany
Neck wood: poplar
Fretboard: gum or rosewood?

Neck shape: 12" radius with slim-to-medium, D-shaped profile

Bridge: Brazilian rosewood

Nut: bone (new)

Saddle: bone (new)

Weight: 3 lb 5 oz

Condition notes: everything is original save the nut and saddle. I'm pretty sure the pins are original, too, though it's possible they're replacements. There are no cracks and overall the guitar is super-clean except for some minor scratches on the back and a little bit of handling-wear throughout.

This came with its original plastic nut, but that was terrible, so I replaced it with a new bone one.

I like the oversize pearl dots in the board.

The screws on the bridge wings are 100% stock. Regal was doing this from the '40s-on-up with their flattops. There's plenty of saddle height to adjust up/down season-to-season for action changes. It's now a drop-in slot so one can shim-up for winter adjustments nice and easy.