1920s regal reverse scroll project questions.

[Jdw3po]

Howdy folks. I'm working on my first project mando and need some advice. I got a reverse scroll project off eBay and it's been nothing but a pain in the rear ever since. I don't even know if it'll be salvageable or not but I hope so. If anyone knows how the neck joints work on these things I'd like to know. Also, in case I have to replace the top, does anyone know what kind of wood the tops of these are made of? Mine has been re stained so many times you just can't tell. If anyone has any other advice for working on these I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[Bill Snyder]

IF you end up replacing the top why not use solid spruce? Even if that was not the original it will probably make for as good a top as you can get.

[darrylicshon]

I bought one last year it arrived broken i took some photos here is one of the joint hope it helps , i also returned it and got my money back.

[Jdw3po]

IF you end up replacing the top why not use solid spruce? Even if that was not the original it will probably make for as good a top as you can get.

Probably will. Just thought I might go original but I'll probably use either spruce or flamed maple.

[Jdw3po]

I bought one last year it arrived broken i took some photos here is one of the joint hope it helps , i also returned it and got my money back.

It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like the neck is glued onto some kind of knob? Never ran into something like that before. I'm in the process of removing the top to flatten out some gauges so if it gets damaged in removal, I'll probably just replace it with a new one. Any more advice on these will be appreciated!

[darrylicshon]

Here's another photo

[Jdw3po]

Do you happen to remember if there were any screws holding the neck to the knob or if it was just glued? Because from the looks of it you could just heat it up and twist it off.

[darrylicshon]

Nothing but glue but they all may not be built the same

[Jdw3po]

Nothing but glue but they all may not be built the same

Yeah, even mass produced instruments were built different back then.

[Jim Garber]

It looks like some sort of dowel to attach thru the neckblock. That would have been a real cheap way to do it.

[sunburst]

In the picture, it looks like the heel split and the lower part of the neck heel is still attached to the body, exposing a dowel. It looks like is was just a dowel fit into a hole in the head block and into a hole in the heel. No surprise that the heel would split with that big hole drilled in it...
If I'm correct, and it is just a butt joint with a large dowel, that is the same as some of the old Regal mandolins. There was a recent threat about them. Try searching it.

[sunburst]

Here's the Regal thread. Feel free to skip over parts of it.