Anyone see the Larson Bros. "Regal" Mandocello on eBay?

[Ivory Bridge]

And just when I thought my Bruno Mandocello was special!!! I am totally digging the headstock, and the larger pick guard on this one, and it seems in pretty fair shape, except the soundhole bummer, and the crack.....Beautiful Mandocello, I may have to have it....LoL

[darrylicshon]

I saw it but don't have the money this month, for some reason i like that shape, i bought a mandolin just like it but it got damaged in shipping, so i returned it, i would like to get the whole family in that shape. But i have so many i want. Got to buy something to help my mas

[Eddie Sheehy]

No Link?

[Eddie Sheehy]

Here you go...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-REGA...torefresh=true

[darrylicshon]

It has a bid so someone's get it

[Ivory Bridge]

Sorry for not putting up a link....It's a cool instrument, and it would be well worth having a professional repair done, to make it stable and fresh looking....even the sound hole!

[allenhopkins]

Not so sure it's a Larson -- apparently experts differ. Sure has that Regal "reverse scroll" look about it.

At the current $1K it's definitely attractive. New owner's gonna drop several hundred into restoration, I'd say. Had I not recently purchased my Waldo bowl-back 'cello, meaning that I now own three mandocelli, I'd probably be bidding.

[Ivory Bridge]

That's what they say...."the experts" ! I'm not so sure it's a Larson Bros, but it does have a carved top, and looks as if it were built well. A couple of other things I like about this Mandocello are, it's scroll at the end of the fingerboard, and the larger sound hole...

[jim simpson]

The label says Regal, it's a flat top, priced high (especially for condition). The scroll inlay on the headstock is cool.

[allenhopkins]

Didn't the Larsons build induced-arch, rather than carved-top instruments? And I believe the seller's write-up says " Back and top arched 'built under tension' but not carved."

Jus' askin'...

[Ivory Bridge]

As I look at the pictures, the top looks curved, maybe not carved, but I see the shadow near the sound hole and the pick guard.....hummmm....Maybe my eyes are bad. There is a scroll at the bottom of the fretboard too.

[brunello97]

$10K 'appraisal'. Hmmm. Well for insurance purposes, why not. Cool instrument, though I'm not sure it's a match for the Bruno shown in the catalog.

I could probably get my foot into that sound hole. Hopefully someone from the Cafe scores it at a decent price and can fill us in.

Mick

[jim simpson]

An end-pin view could answer the induced/curved top question - too bad one wasn't included.

[darrylicshon]

I have talked to the seller and they said

It is not carved but arched with curved bracing. more pics tonight

[Graham McDonald]

Another overly optimistic date as well. Late teens or 20s I would think. Fred Oster in Philadelphia had (has?) a mandola of the same style. I do like the scrolls

[Ivory Bridge]

I thought I saw a curved top in the photos I have. Fred Oster has had almost every instrument known to man, come through his shop, or his hands.

[barney 59]

Didn't the Larsons build induced-arch, rather than carved-top instruments? And I believe the seller's write-up says " Back and top arched 'built under tension' but not carved."

Jus' askin'...

Wulshner "The Regal" Indiana guitars were also built under tension. Emil Wulshner and Sons were in business from 1885 to 1903. They were building instruments under tension before there was a Larson Bros. I have a guitar by them top tensioned with a fan like bracing system not anything like the Larson's did. A "Tell" on Larson Bros instruments was the visible black line of the finger board below the binding which this instrument does not have. Regal was purchased by Lyon and Healey 1904/05 and they had it until 1912. I believe Regal had the expertise to make an instrument such as this without the necessity to outsource it to the Larsons. (I doubt anyone would question L&H's ability to produce a fine instrument!) I've seen Regal instruments, including Indiana made Regals, attributed to the Larson Bros. by Hartman that just doesn't seem possible given the timeline. Just because something is well made does not mean that it is Larson made and I personally doubt that any of the reverse scroll mandolin family instruments attributed to the Larson Bros were made by them. I have a reverse scroll Regal of a much more inferior build quality than this one and the top has a slight arch to it. The back however is dead flat.

[Jeff Mando]

A couple thoughts.

People like to attribute instruments to the Larson Brothers, this one looks more Regal-ish to me. With the exception of the pickguard and the rosewood back, it looks like a very typical and fairly common reverse scroll Regal, seen almost monthly on eBay, in mandolin form. I might add the rosewood looks solid, but many many instruments even in the early 20th century used laminated rosewood, or perhaps more correctly veneered rosewood. It is not a "given" that the rosewood is solid, even back then.

Secondly, the Larson craze probably peaked in the 80's when Scott Chinery was amassing his collection and paying record prices, mostly for guitars. Mandolins always brought much less money. Also, it is the opinion of many that Chinery was a "newbie" at collecting instruments and followed his own instincts, often overpaying, trying to quickly complete a collection. He also collected vintage cigars and cars. When he died many of the instruments he purchased were sold at auction for much less than he paid years earlier.

That being said, I think it is a very cool Regal. Regal did have a "custom shop" which was capable of making fine orchestra guitars, such as the 18-inch Regal Prince, which would hold its own against a Super 400 or Emperor, both in sound and finish quality. So, it would not be surprising to me that Regal could make a quality mandocello like this.

Lastly, appraisal letters no longer impress me. I worked at a museum and saw how things were bought and sold without documentation, then later the documentation would appear, complete with notarized signatures, etc. When they were resold, of course, they now had the proper paperwork. I know a collector who "lent" several guitars to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for display, so he could later resell them with the documentation stating, "so and so's original Les Paul as displayed at the RRHOF. (brings more money, that way) Even the "expert" who wrote the letter was not certain that is was by the Larsons. I think most of the members here are seasoned enough to be skeptical of such claims.....

[allenhopkins]

Just to clarify: not contending that an induced-arch top (which this one seems to have) is evidence of Larson Bros. construction. Only offering the suggestion that a carved top would be unlikely on a Larson Bros. instrument, from all I've read.

"Larson" attribution gets thrown around like "Loar era" for Gibson A-models, usually as an attempt to raise the selling price. I think this one can stand on its own as a Regal, but as a Regal, it won't command $10K or anything like it. Current bid, by the way, is $1K.

A nice instrument, unusual and striking design, and Regal's better instruments were of excellent quality. I currently play three Regal instruments -- a taropatch, an Octofone, and an old Regal tenor banjo converted to a 5-string -- and they're good workhorse instruments. This one's a bit special, and whoever gets it will have a neat mandocello.

[ollaimh]

a lot of great info on this thread, but although unlikely a Larson, it sure is a beauty. I don't play mandocellos(except a cheapo guitar altered to mandocello) so not for me, especially after two harp purchases and a 12 string buy this summer--yup, the unstoppable collector is tapped out for mad money.

nonetheless a beautiful collectors item, well worth repairing at that price. looks like rosewood back and sides, probably brazillian back then, so I bet it is a cannon.

[ollaimh]

I was just looking oin the classifieds and there is a Bruno mandocello there. looks great but a lot pricier.

[allenhopkins]

I was just looking oin the classifieds and there is a Bruno mandocello there. looks great but a lot pricier.

And the seller says [a] it's definitely Larson-built, and [b] it has a carved top. Asking $7.5K for it.

Link

Remaining a bit cautious as to what's "Larson," and what ain't. The Bruno and Regal bodies look identical, with the headstock shapes and the pickguards differing. The Regal seller says the top's induced-arch, the Bruno seller says it's carved. Regal built instruments for Bruno, a firm that distributed (since the mid-1800's!) but didn't build its own. So the "Larson" Bruno instrument might be a Regal build as well. Or, they could both be Larson-built. They could both have carved tops, or both have induced-arch tops, or one could be built one way, the other differently. (I'd find that alternative pretty unlikely.)

So you don't have a "one-of," but pretty clearly a "two-of," with very similar Chicago-built '20's-'30's vintage "reverse scroll" mandocelli. At the current bid of $1K, the Regal's an amazing bargain, IMHO, but the auction has days to go. The Bruno has been professionally restored (the Regal's gonna need some TLC, from the seller's description); would I go $7.5K for the Bruno? Hmmm...maybe, maybe not.

What are the odds that two reverse-scroll mandocelli would pop up at the same time? Where were these gems for the past 75 years? Fascinating...

[brunello97]

This conversation needs some pictures.

Mick

[Eddie Sheehy]

It went for $1,800...

[Ivory Bridge]

Hey, that's me you just posted up, along with my Bruno Mandocello ....by the way, it is Larson built, and it is in the Larson Creations Book....