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Thread: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

  1. #1
    wannabe mandolin wizzard bluesmandolinman's Avatar
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    Default unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    I have seen a lot but none like this :

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-REGA...item46380125bc

    the headstock and the fretboard extension are very rare !

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    Carl Martin - Everyday I have the Blues

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  3. #2
    Registered User zedmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    That headstock belongs in one of the headstock threads...
    Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?

  4. #3
    Registered User Steve VandeWater's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    I like the fingerboard extension scroll too!
    It ain't gotta be perfect, as long as it's perfect enough!

  5. #4
    fishing with my mando darrylicshon's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    i like this one
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  6. #5
    acoustically inert F-2 Dave's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Very nice. I like it too. Love to see it all cleaned up.
    "Mongo only pawn in game of life." --- Mongo

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    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Nice design.

    Jamie
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Very Orville like.

    Phil

  9. #8

    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    I've had a couple of those reverse scroll Regals and I've seen a bunch more and I've never seen that design before. That's a really nice one!

  10. #9
    Mandolin tragic Graham McDonald's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Here is a mandola of the same design that Fred Oster has/had in his shop in Philadelphia a few years back 16.5" scale. They are very cute.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    That headstock shape kind of shows what Frank Kordick was aiming at when he designed that model. Until this thread I had never seen that headstock shape on this body.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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  13. #11

    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    I always forget that term ---the smurffy backwards scroll is technically called a "Reverse Kordick".

  14. #12
    Henry Lawton hank's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Ok did these scrolls predate Gibson F model scrolls? It's like finding the missing link in the evolution of scroll and point design.
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  15. #13
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Quote Originally Posted by hank View Post
    Ok did these scrolls predate Gibson F model scrolls? It's like finding the missing link in the evolution of scroll and point design.
    No, the Regal Company that built this (not the original Regal Company) didn't predate the Gibson F style body. Frank Kordick patented this design years after the original Gibson F styles were produced. Many of the early Regal guitars were basically body shape and size copies of some Gibson products. This was, I assume, Frank Kordick's attempt to get a piece of that fancy mandolin market or at least piggy back on it with inexpensive instruments.

    http://www.google.com/patents/USD46366

    http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/2790
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  16. #14
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    I didn't see any sign of these in Bob Carlin's fine book on Regal. Nor was this label on his page of Regal Labels. I haven't really walked through the lengthy guitar section to see if it showed up there at some point. There's so much good stuff in Bob's book; I highly recommend it. I hope he (like Keef is with his book on Washburn) is planning a second edition to fill in some missing links.

    Really cool mandolin, and knowing there is a mandola as well is even better. I bought a Regal mandola last fall and it is a cheap and cheerfully fun instruments. Amongst all the nutty details on this one, the deformation of the "Regal" type on the tuner cover plate to inflect to the shape of the headstock is brilliant. The whole thing is muy funky.

    Mick
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    There have been one or two very ornate examples of this style that have been presented as Larson made --but they did not have this little scroll design. I believe I saw a reference to one that even Bob Hartman claimed was Larson made. I guess it's possible but personally I never believed it. I always believed that Regal was capable of making a presentation grade high quality instrument without farming it out.

  18. #16
    Mandolin Dreams Unlimited MysTiK PiKn's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Thx for the regal pix of the Regal.
    I used to have a wreck that had probably been smashed somehow - had a 2"x3" hole in the top lower bout. It became an interesting project that was interrupted by moving, and eventually got left behind. I still think of it often. I made a Martin set of braces for it. They were left with it. The original ladder braces were made of essence of fruit basket. It had a decal top finish. It played well even with all the damage that had been done, and even with what were perhaps the original strings. I paid 2.99 for it. Loved it. And it left. Sad. Had a green label on the hstock. Likely '40s.
    I have a special place in my heart for Regal. And they are always dirty lil things - a protective layer of dust. Maybe they always get left behind. Gotta love 'em. They need that.

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  19. #17
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Most of these reverse-scroll mandolins (at least the flattop versions) were made with birch back and sides. This one looks like rosewood, I think.
    Jim

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  20. #18

    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Looks like rosewood to me as well --but does it look like rosewood if you look into the sound hole? I can't tell but it does appear lighter. I have encountered a few mandolins that were faux painted and they were really good at it because at first glance and even second glance it looked real. It was only when you looked inside that you knew for sure. Tops on some of those were also birch but the ones I have had were spruce.

    There are a lot of features on this one that mine doesn't have. I have a single edge binding at the sound hole,this one has the more elaborate rosette. This one has an inlayed scratch plate, mine does not and if you look into the sound hole the back brace is pretty much centered on the sound hole where as mine the back brace is at least a good inch below the edge of the sound hole and not visible unless you view the mandolin from an angle. Oh, and this one is fully bound on the top, The binding stops at the points on mine.
    Last edited by barney 59; Apr-09-2015 at 11:22am.

  21. #19
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Looks like rw to me, too. Real rosewood wouldn't be foreign to the Regal shop. I've owned a couple of their better '20s era flattop, A / teardrop shape with nice rw backs.

    I've had a few mandolins with faux painting as well, and I dig the technique itself on furniture, built in cabinets, hearths, etc. I've taken a couple workshops on the process a few years back on faux wood and faux stone painting. Fun to do as well.

    Insides can look lighter for various reasons: lack of finish, layers of dust, camera flash.

    Mick
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  22. #20

    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    On the ebay listing there are more pictures. On one picture there is an angled view showing the label and the wood looks much darker than the straight on photo posted here. I do think it's rosewood after all. With all the upgraded appointments that this mandolin has it would follow that they would also use the better wood. There is a photo of the back on the ebay photos and the back is fully bound as well. This mandolin is a really good example for blowing the " Larsons' built the good ones" theory out of the water. Larson Brothers tended to bind the fingerboards in their little special way they did it on their ornamented instruments-- this mandolin does not have a bound fingerboard.

  23. #21
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: unusal Regal Mandolin - that headstock !!!

    Quote Originally Posted by MysTiK PiKn View Post
    ...I have a special place in my heart for Regal...
    Me too. My current main gigging banjo is a '30's Regal tenor pot with a luthier-made "Pete Seeger" long 5-string neck, and my main ukulele is a '30's Regal taropatch. I also get a lot of use from my Regal Octofone, and occasionally play a nice little koa Regal tiple. And, of course, the body of my '36 Dobro mandolin was probably built by Regal as well.

    Regal and Harmony -- sure miss 'em.
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