1920s Regal Fancy-Trim Mahogany Soprano Ukulele

While it's not branded, this is definitely a Regal-made product. I've worked on scads of this same basic uke with varying degrees of trim. This one is the "mid-grade" model and features cool, zipper-style purfling around the soundhole and top edge of the body. Originally this stuff was a mix of bright red, green, and yellow but a lot of them -- like this guy -- have faded colors. The ones that haven't faded really pop looks-wise.

I worked on this for a local customer and it got what a lot of these need -- a neck reset, brace repairs, seam repairs, a bridge reglue, fret level/dress, replacement (period) tuners, and a setup. If I had my druthers I'd have put some sort of geared pegs at the headstock (Gotohs or Tune-A-Leles), too, but the owner wanted to stay old-school so I stuck a set of parts-bin 1920s friction pegs on instead.

Post-repairs it plays great and also looks great, too -- save for some muck-up in the finish around the bridge left-over from a shoddy previous bridge reglue job. Usually these ukes are a hair brighter, but this one is fairly sweet and mellow in the vein of a same-period Favilla or Harmony mahogany product.