The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi, I found this hanging on the wall in a music shop in Hot Springs, AR. I paid it little mind - it was old and a little beat up ... but decided to at least strum it... WOW!!! What a tone ... what volume! Needless to say, I bought it immediately for a little over $100. That was the longest 5 hour drive back to Texas I've ever made! I couldn't wait to play it... This thing looks very old - even SMELLS old - like something Grandma might have hidden on her top closet shelf. But the sound is absolutely incredible!! I know that Regals today are low-end imports from Asia and without quite a bit of work are less that impressive. But I was impressed with this one! I can't find a serial number, but haven't taken the cone out. I'm actually SCARED to mess with it! The slotted peg head has what appears to be an old Regal label on it. It reads "Trade Mark Regal San Francisco". It has what appears to be a lacquered WOOD nut. The rest of it is pretty standard; spun cone, spider bridge and maple saddles. The patina on the cover plate and tail piece would suggest to me the 60's or 70's, but that's a guess. If any of you could look at the pics and help me with what the heck this is, I would really appreciate it.

Hi Bob,

The fellow you need to contact is Mark Makin over here in the U.K ~ his contact details are listed on the "Palm trees, Senoritas & Rocket Ships" thread lower down the page

Good luck,

Ian.

Thanks, Ian!

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Thanks, Mike. I appreciate the input. If this IS an early import, it's one of the BEST I've ever heard. I dismantled the guitar to have a look inside and I've included the pics I took. A couple of things stand out as a bit "unusual" here. First, it appears to be a solid wood guitar - looks like Honduran Mahogony, not NATO which I believe is what most Asian builders use, but I could be wrong, of course. Secondly, look at the joints between the back and the sides... That doesn't look like any type of joint I've ever seen. Strange ...

Bob, if you contact Saga Music in South San Francisco I would be willing to bet they would give you help on information regarding this guitar. I have found them in the past to be nice folks.

I've lived in the greater Bay Area most of my life and I can recall going to Saga founder Richard Keldsen's San Francisco store a couple times in the '70s.

This dobro appears to have lived a hard (or very well played) life. Keldsen started Saga in 1981 and revived the Regal name and started importing dobros in 1987.

In some ways as you pointed out it would certainly appear old enough to be an old Regal from Chicago, but someone would have had to replace the original headstock logo with one from the modern Regal company with "San Francisco" included - which would seem pretty unlikely but stranger things have happened.

At any rate it's a good score!

Thanks very much, Mark. I was really hesitant to take the thing apart, but I'm glad I did. A new set of strings and she's back in business. It's really one of the best sounding guitars I've ever played ... and I have a Beard! Ok, off to the Bay area to contact Saga. Thanks again!

As the old saying goes, "Even a blind pig finds a truffle now and then". I've played a couple of recent Regal imports that were actually pretty good, but in general they're not that hot.

I'm glad you found one that sounds good to you. I hope you enjoy it!

thanks, Brad ... no matter how good this one sounds, it's going to hard to beat my Beard or Appalachain! It's amazing to me that this guitar is actually SOLID wood, which is likely why it sounds so good. I thought imports were almost always laminate ... that's what I get for thinking ... Mark Makin (UK) says what I have is an early Regal import from around '87 or so.

Thanks to everyone for their input, the mystery is solved. It's a c.1987 solid mahogony Regal Import. The sound is so good on this, I'll just leave it alone, not going to upgrade the cone for now. Thanks again for helping me to put this to bed!!