1930s Regal Fancy Spruce/Maple Archtop Guitar

I used to work on pretty Regal archtops like this a lot more often but, suffice to say, this is the first one I've had through the shop in a while. My guy Ancel did most of the work on this one and it's now playing spot-on and sounds excellent. It has a mids-focused, choppy, direct sound that suits old trad-jazz chord-flinging styles perfectly. It has a nice, snappy, slicing voice for lead or melody playing, too, and I imagine in the right hands it would make a good country-blues box as well.

It has a big ("generous") V-shaped neck profile and lightly-radiused board so the feel will not be for everyone. For those who like that feel, however, it offers a lot of eye candy as well -- a kick-butt pearloid headstock veneer with a multicolor Regal crown logo, engraved and bound tortoise celluloid pickguard, pretty figured maple on the back and sides (with a painted "center strip" on the back), and perfectly-executed 3-tone sunburst on the face. Regal was using some milky/ruddy-brown rosewood at the time, too, which gives a nice look when contrasted with the deep black-brown of the outer part of the sunburst.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, bridge compensation adjustments, cleaning, and setup.

Weight: 4 lbs 1 oz

Scale length: 25 3/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Neck shape: medium-big V

Board radius: 16"

Body width: 15 3/4"

Body depth: 3 1/2" + arching

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: flamed maple

Bracing type: tonebar

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

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

Truss rod: unknown

Neck relief: hair of relief under tension, essentially straight

Fret style: wide/medium-height

Condition notes: it's pretty dang clean and all-original throughout. The finish shows weather-checking and light scratching/scuffs here and there but is overall in good order. 

It comes with: an original chip case and case candy.

Consignment tag: MM