1920s Regal Spruce/Birch Size 5 Tenor Guitar

Overview: I've worked on tons of old Regal tenor guitars like this one. The quick story is that Regal was the first brand to come out with a commercial-scale tenor guitar and this is the same as the first model that took-off like wildfire. They made lots of these little guys through the '20s and into the '30s and the model barely changed in all that time.

Tone: It's loud, up-front, snappy, and has a woody thing going on. I think of these as having an almost "gypsy-jazz" quality to their voice and, to my ears, they make excellent lead/melody instruments.

Feel: It's got a pretty fast neck with the usual profile for these -- a medium-depth, soft-V rear shape and flat board.

Interesting features: The top is very lightly-braced and uses a tailpiece load just like a mandolin or banjo. Considering that the target player was a transitioning tenor banjo player, that makes a lot of sense because the instrument "barks-out" like a banjo or resonator guitar more than something like your average steel-string, pin-bridge guitar.

Repairs included: It's had a level/dress of the frets, new bridge fit, new guitar-style tuners fit (by someone else), side dots added, cleaning, and setup work done. While the neck angle was just fine and the heel not budging, I did hide a bolt reinforcement at the inside of the neckblock because I don't trust neck joints I haven't worked-on in the past and Regal is not known for their lovely dovetail joints. It plays spot-on and is ready to go.

• Weight: 1 lb 12 oz
• Scale length: 20 7/8"
• Nut width: 1 1/4"
• Neck shape: medium soft V
• Board radius: flat
• Body width: 10 3/8"
• Body depth: 3 1/8"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid birch
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: banjo-style floating
• Fretboard: ebonized maple
• Neck wood: poplar
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 32w, 20w, 13, 9 for CGDA tuning
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium/narrow/rectangular base

Condition notes: It's quite clean for its age but does show small scratches, scuffs, etc. throughout as you'd expect. The finish on these is very thin so it nicks easily. The bridge might very well be original or from close to when it was made as it doesn't show the usual "sun shadow" of the mandolin-style bridges these had from the factory for most of the production run. I've added side dots and someone else added geared, guitar-style tuners (much easier to use than friction banjo pegs). Lastly, I replaced an oversize screw for the tailpiece with a strap button. Oh! And... the tailpiece is missing its original "cover" -- it appears to have broken-off. It still works as-normal, though.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: JW