1930s Regal Olive Green Concert Ukulele

An adorable Regal uke! I haven't had a funky old Regal uke in for a long time, now. This one is a genuine concert-sized instrument with a 14 3/4" scale length and a body that seems to be made entirely of birch or poplar and cut paper-thin and with as minimal ladder bracing as possible. As you'd guess, after service, it sounds excellent. It's a sort-of sweet, woody voice, though -- not a ton of sparkle -- and very plainspoken.

A customer of mine brought this up and it received the minimum to get it going -- a bridge shave plus reglue, seam repairs, and a setup with fluorocarbon strings. I drilled extra pinholes at the bridge so it could be strung through the top or as-normal. I chose to string it through the top since there's not all that much footing for the bridge's glue to hold onto and I like to hedge my bets. This way the top and the bridge resist tension rather than just the bridge.

Anyhow, after work it plays with hair-over 1/16" action at the 12th fret and feels great. I didn't level/dress the frets, but that might have given it slightly more mileage in the setup department. As-is they're pretty decent, though.

Olive green is an odd finish choice -- but everything else is an odd choice, too! Check out the decal below the bridge and the wild and lovely celluloid fretboard veneer. The uke is 100% original.