c.1930 Regal-built B&J Serenader Archtop Tenor Guitar

Don't get any ideas -- you won't see me prying my hands off of this fellow anytime soon! This is a very cool archtop tenor guitar built by Regal for B&J who sold it under their "Serenader" brand, probably early to mid-1930s. It's got a spruce top with mahogany back, sides, and neck, and is bound top, back, and soundhole.

The hardware is all-original save some holly feet I stuck under the bridge feet and a replacement (but period) tuner button. I did quite a bit of work on this as it had been "repaired" before... which meant I had to reglue most of the back seams, which had some epoxy-loving damage, reset the neck, and reglue a bunch of braces.

Bone nut.

I love the Serenader decal... a minstrel playing to a lady up in a tower.

MOP dots.

This guitar has a deep body and a 13 1/4" lower bout, with truncated upper bout. It's like an archtop 0-18T with a sunburst top, essentially. You can see this same body form sold under the Washburn brand for 6-strings in the early 1930s, when Regal was building instruments to be sold under the name.

The one black button is from my parts bin... the original was crumbling. These are typical period Grover Champion pegs.

A nice slab of mahogany!


Soundhole label.

c.1930 Harmony Soprano Ukulele

Unlabeled, but definitely a product of Harmony, and probably c.1930s or maybe c.1940s. It has the "Standard Approved" label inside, which points to the late 20s and 30s.

Construction features all-solid mahogany throughout, with a rosewood fretboard and MOP dots. I've done a neck reset, repaired some cracks, and replaced the missing 12th fret, as well as the usual setup, cleaning, etc. Hardware is all-original, which is always nice.

Rosewood board.

This is a relatively plain uke, but internally it's very much built like an entry Martin uke. It even has the thin, sculpted braces typical of a Martin. And the sound compares, too. Light, breezy, loud, and sweet, with decent sustain.

Bound soundhole. Nylgut strings.

Bridge: note repaired cracks to the bass side of it.

Not bad 'hog, huh?

Original bakelite pegs are in dandy shape.

A bit of figure on the back.

All in all, a nice'n!

c.1930 Bruno "Maxitone" Banjo Ukulele

I've repaired and setup a few of these "Gumby headstock" banjo-ukes and can safely say that they're a lot of fun. They're not "fine quality" instruments, but they do have a great, poppy, punchy sound that's all their own, courtesy of a one-piece metal pot.

You can find these ukes with all sorts of brand names slapped on them, but this one happens to have been sold by Bruno under the "Maxitone" label, probably in the late 1920s to early 1930s. All the hardware save a later-style bridge is original.

...and what's this? "Artwork" perhaps...?

I simply won't comment. Curious, though. Very curious. I've repaired a small hole in the head that you can see at the bottom of the picture: it's backed by some replacement skin and should keep the head in good stead for the foreseeable future.

The tarnished pot managed to come back to a bit of a shine, but the rest of the hardware was a little "malnourished" for sure. It all works just fine, though.

Typical oversize "U-King" tailpiece.

c.1950 Stradolin Mandolin

As many folks say... these old Stradolins sound way better than they should... and for that reason, beginner (and seasoned!) bluegrassers and folksters love them. This one certainly falls right in line with that thinking. It plays great and sounds great, with a loud, sweet tone that easily punches through a few guitars and a fiddle.

Tuners are replacements of the inexpensive Japanese variety.

The top and back of this mandolin are press-arched three-ply mahogany, which while you'd expect it to sound dull... doesn't. It sounds great. I'm guessing that the very spare bracing helps quite a bit.

Bridge is an adjustable rosewood style typical for the time.

You can see the painted "binding" here.

Overall, really a sweet player's mando perfect for gigging or taking to the beach, fire circle, whatnot. Neck is dead straight an the action is really nice and slick. It feels, sounds, and plays like a much more expensive instrument.

c.1920 German Import 4/4 Violin

Here's a nice-playing, nice-looking, nice-sounding German import Strad copy probably c.1920 or so. It has what appears to be all its original fittings, save a new bridge, and has its original hard case and a vintage Glasser bow with good hair. The only detriment to this fellow was a previously repaired top crack. Not bad for pushing 90 years.

The finish is in great shape save a few scuffs here and there. I love the sound -- direct, loud, clear, and smooth. Not too warm and not too shrill.

Really purty flamed back!

A pretty good eye-popper, for sure.

c.1925 Regal Tenor Guitar (another one!)

It's not often that I sell an instrument and then get to take pictures of it after the fact. Fortunately for me, this one is owned by a lovely musical couple who surprised me by bringing it back to the shop one day for a photo shoot! And to top it off, have a second example of the same instrument in the space of two posts...! This one is the sister of this guitar mentioned earlier and shares the same design specs: lightweight, birch back, sides & neck, spruce top, and super tone. Whereas its sister is more sparkly, this one is rich and warm and sweet. It really opened up with all the years of play it has evidenced!

Tuners are new 4:1 ratio planetaries in places of the missing friction pegs.

Fretboard and neck are perfectly straight and true. MOP dots.

Bound top and back with black celluloid binding. Original tailpiece and original ebony bridge.

Soundhole has the typical Regal-style multicolored herringbone ring (which I think is a really nice touch on their line of instruments from this time). Check out that pickwear! Righteous!

Ebony and bone bridge.

Back.


Pegs.


Tight heel.

When I was working on this guitar, the back was split wide open in parts, and I had to get it all nicely back together. Fortunately, the patient was willing!

Original tailpiece.

And here's our Mr. Terrapin cat, seriously enjoying luxury on his oak "throne" in front of the pellet stove. He's my 2nd in command... really helps me out with dispatching loose string ends.

c.1925 Stromberg-Voisinet Hawaiian "Parlor" Guitar

Heck yeah! What a cool guitar! You can find these fellows off and on in online auctions, but they're usually totaled or full of basket-case issues. This one's in quite fine condition and plays nice and easy, with the only apparent damage being a 1 1/2" long hairline that I've repaired on the back. In addition, I've reglued (and recut) the bridge and installed a new saddle, as well as the usual cleaning, setup, yack, yack.

These were made by Stromberg-Voisinet (later Kay) in the 1920s (and I think 1930s, to some extent, too?) and featurea all-solid mahogany body. The neck looks like some indeterminate hardwood. The sound is open, bluesy, and balanced, but lacks the big warmth of a spruce top instrument. It's a sound that suits fingerpickers and fingerstyle players quite well, as muddy notes on a typical spruce top become clear and ringing on one of these guys.

Headstock is very cool, with a slotted-style for the tuners, but with the slots only going halfway through the headstock. This certainly adds strength and an upscale look. Headstock is bound in celluloid.

Fretboard is covered in white pearloid with black pearloid or black MOP dots (not sure which). It's bound with white celluloid and sports some original, a bit worn, but in good shape nickel-silver frets.

The pickguard is celluloid and is actually inlaid into the wood like old mandolins! But, of course, time has raised it just a hair on the soundhole side where you can feel it raised a bit.

This bridge is actually rosewood, and I've reglued it. For whatever reason, makers would often stain or paint their rosewood bridges to look like ebony... which is what has happened here. I've re-profiled the top of it to be lower and installed a new fret-saddle at a compensated angle which has helped intonation. I've re-stained the part that I modified so as to appear as original as possible. The bridge pins are all original except for one, which I pulled from my parts bin and trimmed to fit.

Of course, the coolest part about this guitar is that super-awesome decal they splattered all over the front, of the perfect vacation... I mean... tropical beach... far from this frigid Vermont winter... so far away... so warm...

But I digress... it also has inlaid marquetry around the edge of the body and around the soundhole, too, which is typical for this brand, but looks quite the ticket.

Top down.


Back.


Headstock rear. Nice original tuners.

Comfortable v-neck with heel cap. While there appears to be paper-thin separation for the last 1/4" at the heel, it's an illusion, as the dovetailed neck slots for these only went about 2/3 of the way down from the top, with the remaining bit unglued.

Back is one piece of mahogany, just like the top, and has some purty grain here and there.

Side.


Detail.


Other side.


...

Here you can see the neat looks of the bound headstock.