1930s Regal Spruce/Mahogany Tiple

A friend of a friend owns this tiple, and it's been languishing in the workshop for most of the year awaiting repairs. I've been digging-into a group of tiples, so it was good timing to have this one get done along with the lot. It's the first done, as well.

I've worked on at least a half dozen of this same model. When they were new, the finish was creamy-colored on the top, the fancy purfling was bright green, red, and yellow, and the mahogany for the back and sides was a medium red-brown. I've seen ones not exposed to much UV light so I know this from direct evidence. This one was clearly used a lot and so its colors have faded to a respectable palette of browns and golden yellows.

A quick primer: North American tiples are ukulele-family instruments and roughly tenor-uke-sized. They have 10 steel strings arranged 2-3-3-2 and typically tune aA-dDd-f#F#f#-bb, though we all use GCEA tuning these days save for hold-out Canadians -- or so I've heard! Thus, these are like micro-12-strings and have a ka-chunky, klang-wrangy sound that's just lovely. They work best strummed chordally with a thin flatpick, crosspicked with a flatpick, or fingerpicked with metal or plastic picks. Bare fingers and nails work, too, but I find the sound gets a bit muddy that way -- though Cats and the Fiddle seem to manage with no issue.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, side dots install, tailpiece addition, bridge modification (fit of compensated bone saddle), minor brace re-repairs, general cleaning, and setup. Using the mix of tailpiece string load and the pin/classical-style bridge downpressure yields the best tone from these instruments as the top has less "curling" fatigue and so it sounds more-open, louder, and less-compressed, while still maintaining the "normal-tiple-bridge" sweetness.

Setup notes: it plays bang-on with a straight neck and 1/16" overall action at the 12th fret. It's strung with the usual GHS tiple set, though the gauges are a hair light.

Condition notes: it's original save for the new saddle, vintage Waverly tailpiece addition, and side dots. I had to re-fit a couple of the tuner buttons as they'd come loose, too. There's playwear and usewear throughout but, luckily, no cracks.