Re: Old Regal Reso
Originally Posted by
Mando-Mauler
...every image I have seen to date shows Regal necks Ivoried bound whereas Dobro necks are not. The Regal top plate has the more familiar repeating crescent holes & Dobros have the repeating stars & moon pattern....Dobros often have an airbrushed "Tigerstripe" pattern,especially on the f hole model. I have not come across a Regal with tigerstripes. I might be wrong about some of these observations & no doubt there are more erudite members whose comments and/or corrections would add to the knowledge pool.
My Dobro-labeled mandolin has an ivoroid-bound neck, round "screen holes," and the moon-and-stars cover plate. Its cover plate is stamped "Licensed by National Dobro Corp." dating it to after the merger of National and Dobro (1935), and its similarity to the Regal-labeled instruments probably also puts it post-1937, when National Dobro moved to Chicago and entered into contracts with Regal for co-production of certain models. It also has an airbrushed "figured" top.
My feeling is that Regal built the wooden bodies, with either f-holes or round "screen holes," and Dobro supplied the resonator hardware. This opinion is based on the fact that National Dobro often contracted with other Chicago firms for wooden guitar bodies (Kay for the rare Havana single-resonator guitar [I own one]). Would be in keeping with these arrangements for National Dobro to contract with Regal for wooden mandolin bodies. I could be all wrong on this, though.
Allen Hopkins
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