1940s Regal Buck Jones Cowboy Stencil Parlor Guitar

It's been years since I worked on my last Buck Jones. These, I think, are the prettiest of the old cowboy-stencil guitars. The design of the image is exceedingly-good, it's two-tone, and it has everything you want -- saguaros, prickly pears, big sky, mesas, and a cowboy and horse in fancy duds.

This one's been here for a while for customer repair and I finally got around to finishing it up. Life was incredibly distracting last year so anything needing more than the usual work got piled-up.

What I like best about these little guys, too, is that they're very lightly-built in the top (transverse-ladder-braced) and are solid spruce over solid maple, so with the tailpiece setup (which is very efficient energy-transfer-wise) they're ridiculously-loud little cannons with a gutsy, punchy sound to them.

The only downside to them is that typically-ginormous Regal-style neck which can be a turnoff to folks who aren't, ya know, playing cowboy chords. 

Repairs included: a neck reset, refret and level/dress to iron-out warp/twist, minor seam and brace repairs, new bridge, replacement tuners (vintage Klusons I snuck under the covers -- originals are in the case), and setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid maple

Bracing type: ladder

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: ebonized maple

Neck wood: maple

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12 custom set

Neck shape: big soft V

Board radius: flat

Truss rod: none

Neck relief: pretty straight

Fret style: medium modern

Scale length: 24 1/4"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 13"

Body depth: 4"

Weight: 3 lbs 2 oz

Condition notes: it has a few repaired small hairline cracks on the back but otherwise it's actually in great shape for its age. The stencil is in good order save the cowboy's face but the rest of it is crisp and pretty. The neck had mild relief in it so when I refretted it I had to do a bit of a heavy-handed level/dress job to iron-out warp. It plays great, though, but frets right at the joint and at the nut are slightly lower than the others. There's, of course, playwear and usewear throughout in the form of small scratches and aging to the finish.