Just acquired this 1920s B&J (Regal) mandola

[nmiller]

16.5" scale, spruce top, birch back sides & neck, rosewood board. Clean, and with a surprisingly good neck (straight and set at a good angle). There's a separation along the concave curve of the pickguard where the shrinking guard has pulled at the top, but otherwise there's no damage. I don't think the bridge is original, but the rest of it appears to be. I'm out of mandola strings, so I've strung it with a heavy mandolin set an tuned it E-B-F#-C#. The sound is big and "scooped", with plenty of treble and bass but a dip in the midrange. A brash tone, but with plenty of volume.

The label reads "Victoria" by Buegeleisen & Jacobson. There's a nearly identical mandola pictured in Bob Carlin's book on Regal (though with a mahogany back), so I've concluded that Regal built this one. It was a really good deal - at $180, I don't think I've ever spent so little on a playable vintage instrument.

[brunello97]

Nice score. It does look dead-on like the Regal. From Bob's book (page 73):

"The Regal and Sterling mandola, as well as the S. S. Stewart (at that time, a 'house brand' of B+J wholesalers in New York City) mandolins, sported a nickeled tuner plate that covered the back of the headstock."

So your Regal / B+J link makes sense to me. Do you think this implies that Regal was making S.S. Stewart labeled mandolins as well at this time?

Mick

[nmiller]

Probably. Looking at the 1927-1928 B&J catalog (which, unfortunately, has no mandolas), there are Regal, Harmony and Stromberg-Voisinet instruments crammed onto the same pages. A couple of the nicer S.S. Stewarts look like they could be higher-end Regals.

[Tavy]

Nice old 'dola!

I feel the need for a sound clip coming on...