1950s Regal 000-Size Flattop Guitar

This weird old Regal was originally a tailpiece-load instrument with a floating bridge. Its owner asked me to do the normal work on it and then also convert it to a pin-bridge load. I'm not sure if he'll keep it or not, though, until he gets here to try it out. The top is braced heavily-enough for the change, however, so I think this was a great decision -- it sounds and "feels" better in this format.

It seems that the designers at Regal couldn't quite decide what they wanted from this guitar. Its body layout is like a Gibson Kalamazoo KG-14 that's eaten a few too many brownies -- it has a low-set soundhole, tighter waist, and rounder shoulders than if it were a Martin 000-style copycat -- but it's wider overall. In its original configuration, the tone would have been pretty spanky and forward. In this configuration, though, it makes a glorious fingerpicker and only a decent flatpicker.

Its pickguard looks totally weird because it's actually a stained piece of birdseye maple veneer that has disintegrated over time. It'd be easy-enough to replace it but dang, I dunno, I think it looks great as it is.

Like a lot of Regal necks, this one was not reinforced enough and so over time it got a pretty decent upbow/warp to it. Fortunately, late '40s and early '50s Regals feature jumbo frets and so there was enough meat on the frets to ameliorate this from playing-woes by leveling and dressing the discrepancy out.

Post-repairs I think it's a great guitar for a fingerpicker -- it's sweet and warm and round-sounding but with a lot of focus and punch. It can only really be strung-up with lighter gauges (I have 50w-11 on it right now) due to the neck, but heavier gauges are not necessary to get the most out of the guitar. One could also just use thicker strings and drop the tuning, however, if a certain mass of the string is needed for a player's feel.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, side dots install, repair to a hairline crack on the lower-bout-top (about ~5", tight, and cleated), new rosewood pin-bridge install and new bone saddle and ebony pins, cleaning, setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: ladder

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: looks like poplar and mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w-11

Neck shape: medium-big C

Board radius: ~10"

Truss rod: n/a

Neck relief: very mild upbow

Fret style: jumbo

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 15 1/4"

Body depth: 4"

Weight: 3 lbs 6 oz

Condition notes: it's mostly original though the bridge and its hardware are new. There's a repaired crack on the top and plenty of playwear/usewear throughout and some paint marks on the side and back. Overall it's in good shape, though, for its age. The fret height changes a little from nut to extension because I leveled a bit of upbow off the top of them during setup-side work.

It comes with: an old hard case, I think.