Regal Resonator Guitar Serial Numbers
Bernardine Batchelder
tried to do a deep dive for you- quite probably made in year 2000 before moving to Chinese production. Perhaps try contacting regal with your info
It is a fine looking guitar, worthy of play. I have owned a 12 fret National style N for several years, and should you choose to replace biscuit and cone, best to find someone familiar and adept with the process, as it is easy to mess up the cone. Change one string at a time to avoid cone collapse...happy picking!
The original Regal name instruments were made in Chicago and they often made instruments for the original Dobros and Nationals on an outsourced basis, circa the 1930s/40s. At some point since they made the instruments for them, they started making instruments, basically the same ones, under their own Regal name that sold for less. As Dobros and National resonator guitar sales decreased and went defunct, so did Regal, although they may have continued making generic outsourced instruments for some other companies for awhile.
Note: Square neck resonator guitars are played with a bar slide. Only the slide touches the strings and it serves as fretting. Round neck resonators can be played and fretted like any guitar or it can be played with a round slide. Resonator guitars are generally quite loud as resonators originally were a way to increase volume on a guitar without electricity. Electric instruments, upon becoming widely available, made resonator guitars more of a specialty instrument.
I have bought my first resonator guitar last week. It is a used Regal with spider bridge and 2 screen holes, has no serial number and has 'Made in Japan' on the back of the head. Does anybody have any information on Regal resonators from Japanese production and can possibly tell me how old my instrument could be? The bindings are already 'yellowed' giving it a somewhat older or vintage look. On the other hand the Regal logo on the head stock has 'Trade Mark' above and 'San Francisco' below which, I think would date it as not before 1987 when Saga started to use the Regal brand again.
Serial #'s DATING FENDER ACOUSTIC GUITARS from Unfortunately, our records are not complete enough to provide precise dating information for many Fender acoustic guitars from the early 1960s through the 1970s and 1980s. Although the tables below are as accurate as possible, serial numbers of these acoustic guitars have never been archived and are of no assistance when attempting to date these instruments. The information contained in this guide was culled from our archives of Fender price lists and catalogs, beginning with 1968. Unknown information is indicated with a question mark. This guide can help you determine the approximate age of your instrument, what the price range was during its years of production or what it sold for in the last year it was available, and what woods were used in its construction.
Find great deals on eBay for Regal Guitar in Vintage Acoustic Guitars. Serial ink stamped number. Up for sale is a cool Harmony made Regal archtop guitar. Jul 01, 2008 regal guitars serial numbers. Few things in the vintage guitar market are as confusing as Fender and Gibson custom color guitars. The number of colors.
There are a couple of resonator specific discussion forums - here is one and you might contact the guy who runs this site. Pretty much what Mikeo says, the Dobro name was bought by OMI and then Gibson (or maybe different order). Besides the Hound Dog I don't think Gibson is doing much with the brand today but it would be worth checking with them. I know that older Dobro serial numbers are a bit of a can of worms to find anything out about them. I happen to own a 1932 and a 1980 OMI Duolian. Most traditional dobros were spider bridge and had 12 frets but they did make a few biscuits and 14 fretters.
An early California instrument can be identified by square slot-ends in the headstock, coverplate screws in the points of numbers on a clock, and the lack of a dot at the 17th fret. The dot at the 17th fret was added in late 1930. By 1933 Dobro moved the screws to the half-hour points so a repairman could open a guitar without removing the tailpiece.
Both Dobro and Regal built tenor guitars with full-size resonators, shortened bodies and 14-fret necks. Dobro called theirs the 37T and 45T, with details corresponding to the Model 37 and Model 45 guitars (a Model 37 guitar was a 37G, and a mandolin a 37M). Regal offered more tenor guitar models but used a different numbering system, calling their tenors the 19 , 27 , 37 , and 45 .
Gibson experimented with a few resonator guitar prototypes in the 1940s, but never put any into production. After the war Valco returned to the instrument business, building electric guitars. Regal struggled along and declared bankruptcy in 1954.
In the earIy 30s, the California-made National-Dobro resonator guitars were selling like hot cakes, so the Regal factory, in Chicago, was contracted to build the wood body, and install the metal parts shipped from California.
The Regal Musical Instrument Company is a former US musical instruments company and current brand owned by Saga Musical Instruments. Regal was one of the largest manufacturers in the 1930s and became known for a wide range of resonator stringed instruments, including guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles. Only resonator guitars are sold under the Regal brand today, with manufacturing in Korea and distribution in San Francisco, United States.[1]
During its first years of existence, Regal only marketed 4-string instruments such as ukuleles and tenor guitars. The production of 6-string guitars would begin later. The Regal brand was heavily involved in the production of resonator fretted instruments from their first development until 1941, manufacturing components and bodies for both the National and the Dobro companies (Dobro acquiring National in 1934), though the Dopyera brothers still produced the resonator cones for them. The bodies of their laminated bellied guitars were particularly suited to resonator conversion.[2]
In the early 1930s, Regal had licensed the use of Dobro resonators. When National moved from California to Chicago, Regal acquired the rights to manufacture Dobro instruments. That made Regal become another producer of "house brand" guitars before World War II.
Production of resonator guitars ceased in 1941, followed by all fretted instruments in 1954. That same year, Regal closed down as a company, and its rights to the name and assets were sold to the Harmony Company. Harmony owned Regal for a brief period so Fender took over the brand in the late 1950s.[1] In 1965, Fender distributed five models of banjo under the Regal name, as the "exclusive distributors". It is not clear when Fender ceased to commercialise Regal products.
When it comes to traditional wood body resonators currently priced under $1,000, the Regal RD-40N Dobro guitar is one of the better-quality, affordable models offering warm twang. Distributed by Saga Musical Instruments and imported from Asia, the RD-40N provides satisfying consistency and melodic depth generally associated with more expensive reproductions.
While a spruce top, rosewood fingerboard and dot inlays are all here, these are not the details that set this guitar apart. Clean fret work, solid binding around the body and neck and sealed die-cast tuners render this resonator a consistently accurate box that easily stays in tune. The RD-40N, available in a variety of gloss finishes and often with a gold hardware option, comes with mahogany back, sides and neck.
The RD-40N presently lists for $650 online at Saga Musical Instruments, while the street price remains well below that. There are no on board electronics though the guitar can easily be amplified with any number of solutions; these include the Fishman Spider-Bridge Resonator Guitar Pick-up for around $189.00. The entire expenditure should be less than $1,000, a sizable chunk of change for most but quite reasonable for a new resonator. By comparison, an American made National Steel single cone resonator, manufactured in California, starts at around $2,000.
When compared to other moderately priced guitars manufactured outside of the United States, the RD-40N is well worth the expense; matching it to a resonator produced at home may be another matter.
I heard this guy at a local open mic night bangin away on this all metal resonator guitar, don't know what kind it was, maybe a regal. Whatever it was, I really liked the sound so I've resolved to get my hands on one of em. Here's the problem. There aren't a lot of shops around me that carry those bad boys, the ones I've managed to find didn't quite sound the same. I suspect that's mostly because the one the guy played was all metal whereas the ones the shops carry were mainly wooden with that huge metal circle on the front. So I'm looking for an all metal body guitar for sound/and because it looks sexy as hell. Trouble is I can get my hands on one of em to play and I don't know enough about em to make an informed decision. I really would like to go with a national remake but those things are damn expensive. I have this hook up from the fender factory to get gear at a discount so I wanted to ask r/guitar, what all metal resonator guitars does fender make that has a good sound and doesn't come with those giant fender logo cut outs on the front.
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