Gibson or Dobro?

Richard Shatz · From: St. Louis

Recording King by Regal Link to photos on Yahoo!
Recording King was a Gibson budget brand.
Regal was a Dobro brand.
I can't find any info about this model that was obviously made in the 30s or very early 40s.

[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 06 October 2006 at 08:50 AM.]

Matt Johnson · From: California, USA

Interesting,
I have the same steel. Are there two holes drilled in the back to fasten the bridge with a nut/bolt on yours? Also, is the back sort of a painted finish (orange-ish)rather than natural? I found some info on them when I bought mine, so I'll try to sift through my bookmarks and post the link if I find it. What do you think of the sound?

Tighe Falato · From: South Plainfield, New Jersey, USA

Richard.....owned one and as you know they are not your typical catalog steel. Mine had the standard two solid bar Regal pickup which are pretty decent. Montgomery Ward used both Regal and Gibson for the Recording King house brand. Gibson ended their contract before the war and I believe Regal continued for awhile. Regal made some of the prewar Recording King arch tops as well.

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

Here's a history of Regal that might help shed some light on the subject.

That's a pretty looking guitar, Richard - how does it sound?

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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Richard Shatz · From: St. Louis

Thanks for all the info.
Matt, info on this specific lap steel would be great. If you find it please post or email me a copy. Mine does not have any mounting holes on the back but does have a dull orange rough (non-slip) finish on the back of the body. I'll post a photo on the above link.
Brad and Tighe, the sound of this instrument is very clear and clean -- almost sweet sounding. The construction is very high quality. Double bound, curly/quilted maple top, rosewood board with moderately figured grain, metal inlaid frets and pearl inlaid dots.
I'm thinking about selling it along with a few other redundant or unimportant steels to help make up for the fairly big purchase I just made.

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