Your Grandpa's Guitar


1930's Regal.  This guitar is giving me the shivers.  The thing that I love most about picking up these guitars for cheap is finding that diamond in the rough.  Quite frankly that is the way that I feel about most of the guitars that you will see here.  I get them cheap because that is all I can afford.  I can't imagine paying multi thousands of dollars on ebay for an instrument you can't hold in your hands before purchasing it.  I'm not saying that some of them aren't worth it, it's just that I get even more of a thrill finding value in an instrument that was two steps away from the junk yard.  This old Regal is definitely giving me a thrill.  She is one of, if not the loudest parlor guitar I have ever heard!!  What gives me the shivers is that she is currently in need of a lot of work and still sings like crazy!!  The neck is kicked way forward(but straight), the bridge is lifting off the body,  there is virtually no saddle and in turn virtually no string break angle.  The fretboard looks like a mine field.  Check out the photo above of the fretboard - Do you think the previous owner knew their scales???  I thought this would be a problem but I've grown to love the look and it provides no discomfort to me when I play it.  This guitar is in line for some major renovations, but I'm going to take my time with it and make sure I get it right.  Now, a little talk about slide.  I'm no slide pro, but because of the current high action I couldn't resist throwing the glass on my finger to see what happens.  About the only way I currently play this guitar is in open G with a slide.  The tone is crazy.  I'm pretty sure that those proficient at slide would kill for this instrument.