1930s Regal (J.R. Stewart-Style) Mahogany Soprano Ukulele

\

Regal (in Chicago) made ukes for a variety of different brands and this one is very similar to the ukes they made for the J.R. Stewart brand of the early '30s. It's got a more Harmony-like body shape but the headstock contours and general build give it away as a Regal product. They really loved their edge-router cuts at the headstock at the time!

It's a nicely-made model and comparable in sound and quality to a better-grade Favilla of the time. Nice features include a bound fretboard and binding on the top, back, and soundhole of the body. It has better-grade, spring-loaded friction pegs, too.

As a project for the workshop, it was quite the labor of love! Manny had to repair a number of top cracks, make and fit a new (Madagascar) rosewood bridge, cut a new saddle for it, level and dress the frets, add side dots, and set it all up. There may have been some loose seams and bracing as well and he may have replaced the nut, too. We did the work for Naive Melody up in Montpelier, so there's a chance this might be for sale up there in the future.

The top is lightly fan-braced -- which is interesting -- and I showed Manny how to use a "string-through" system to load the strings in the bridge rather than the usual slotted-style of bridge which tends to fail over time.