Ally
From:
Edinburgh, UK
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Posted 21 Mar 2002 3:21 am |
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Well, after a long struggle with the morons at Parcelforce, my eBay bargain arrived. If you remember, a 1936 Regal which I picked up for $325.
And it's surpassed all expectations.
It's the classic 30s Regal f-hole model; 12 frets to the body, white binding and mother of pearl dot inlays. I would say exceptional condition for its age; two well-repaired cracks in the lower bout. The original finish is worn-in and funky, but a lot better than you'd expect from a 66 year old guitar. Even the case (original) is in a good condition!
You can see the pics here: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1522543946
The seller warned it needed a neck reset: ok, there's some glue visible at the neck join, but the neck itself is straight as a die! I played it spanish style for a couple of hours, and it was great. If anything, the action was a little low for slide.
After fitting the extender, discovered a few problems: the hand rest is bashed in, giving only minimal clearance for the strings; I'll need to fish this before putting in new inserts,
So, my first vintage dobro. In terms of tone; very different from modern dobros. It's a stamped cone, and the cheap spider only has four legs, but the volume is great, and I love the old timey sound. Not yet put a set of dobro strings on it yet, so it's a little thin and brassy, but streets ahead of what I expected after playing similar guitars in London. Not as midrangey as a classic Dobro, but very loud and clean. Slightly metallic and crisp, which is probably down to the stamped cone and the new, under gauge strings. Blues riffs sing on it. It's also very light; don't think there's a soundwell in there.
Upgrade queries: I want to keep this as original as possible, so no quarterman replacements for me, but I'd still like to get the most out of it. It definately needs new bridge inserts, (the old ones are very worn, and glued into the spider.. removing 'em could be a nightmare!) What were the originals made off? This is quite a bright guitar, so something to mellow out the tone a little would be good.
Also, the extender I use is pretty cheap aluminium: playing in A with a shubb capo improved the tone quite considerably. Anyone know if there are solid brass extenders available? Or is swapping it for a bone nut acceptable?
All in all, very pleased with my purchase. My Epiphone Spider (upgraded all round) pales into insignificance; it may have a slightly more dobro-like tone, (I think that's the quarterman) but it lacks volume and the bass response is terribly muddy and weak.
I'll post again after fixing it up to my satisfaction, but, straight out the box, couldn't be happier. Nothing sounds like a pre-war guitar!
Oh yeah, sorry about the long post, but I'm a wee boy with a new toy!
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 21 Mar 2002 9:49 pm
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Congratulations on the purchase, Ally! Nice to know there are still some bargains out there.
Swapping the current extender for a bone nut would be your best bet if you plan on only playing lap style. I've never seen an extender nut that fits over a regular guitar's nut made of solid brass; it probably wouldn't be hard to get a machinist to make one, but it would definitely be a custom job.
Sorry, I can't tell you what the bridge inserts were made of.
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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
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