S. S. Stewart Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, made by Regal , c. 1940
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S. S. Stewart Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, made by Regal, c. 1940, made in Chicago, serial # 0636, sunburst lacquer finish, birch body, poplar neck with ebonized fingerboard, original bue chipboard case.
In the late 19th Century the S.S. Stewart banjo brand was the pride of Philadelphia, but it has bounced around quite a bit over the last 140 or so years. Samuel Swain Stewart was one of his era's most celebrated banjo makers, but his name became a generic marque after his death. By the early 1920s it belonged to New York wholesale jobber Bugeleisen and Jacobson, one of the largest of the day. They applied it to varied fretted instruments including banjos, guitars, and ukuleles often as their top-line brand for the highest quality in-house product they offered. B & J had "Stewarts" made for them by a number of different firms, including, for a brief period, Gibson.
This Regal-made B & J Stewart is an interesting instrument for a pre-war jobber guitar, with an "advanced" 14-fret neck on a fairly large nearly 15" wide body. It likely dates to that just pre-WWII period when these had become standard features of most guitars. While the tailpiece/floating setup is usually considered the mark of a low budget guitar this one is above the standard of many. The body is birch with a fairly dark sunburst applied to all surfaces. The ladder-braced top and back are single bound in Celluloid, the soundhole edge triple bound with a 5-ply rosette. The 25" scale neck is poplar with a fairly hefty soft "V" profile, topped with a dot-inlaid ebonized fingerboard. The headstock is faced in rosewood with some nifty pearl work. A tortoise celluloid pickguard is screwed to the top, and the tailpiece and tuners are better grade than one might expect.
While hardly a worthy competitor to Gibson or Martin flat tops of the period, this is a surprisingly good sounding guitar of its type. The sound is part flat top with some arch-top character, chunkier than some and fairly loud to boot. Overall this is a neat period piece and a better guitar than it looks!
Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 in. (635 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This interesting hybrid flat-top is structurally cosmetically a well-preserved instrument, and quite playable. Externally there is not too much wear, just some very minor dings, dents, and scrapes. The instrument is crack-free except for one tiny grain split on the back.
The neck has been reset, not the neatest job but solid. The floating bridge has been cut down a bit from the underside, all else looks original and unaltered. The small wire frets are original, showing not much wear at all. The original tailpiece crossbar is somewhat crooked, and looks to have always been that way.
Within its limits this is a good playing guitar. The sound is not complex but is full and punchy, and this is a good rhythm strummer and also a decent fingerstyle blues or fiddle band guitar. It includes what appears to be the original (or at least period) 2-tone chipboard case. Overall Excellent - Condition.
In the late 19th Century the S.S. Stewart banjo brand was the pride of Philadelphia, but it has bounced around quite a bit over the last 140 or so years. Samuel Swain Stewart was one of his era's most celebrated banjo makers, but his name became a generic marque after his death. By the early 1920s it belonged to New York wholesale jobber Bugeleisen and Jacobson, one of the largest of the day. They applied it to varied fretted instruments including banjos, guitars, and ukuleles often as their top-line brand for the highest quality in-house product they offered. B & J had "Stewarts" made for them by a number of different firms, including, for a brief period, Gibson.
This Regal-made B & J Stewart is an interesting instrument for a pre-war jobber guitar, with an "advanced" 14-fret neck on a fairly large nearly 15" wide body. It likely dates to that just pre-WWII period when these had become standard features of most guitars. While the tailpiece/floating setup is usually considered the mark of a low budget guitar this one is above the standard of many. The body is birch with a fairly dark sunburst applied to all surfaces. The ladder-braced top and back are single bound in Celluloid, the soundhole edge triple bound with a 5-ply rosette. The 25" scale neck is poplar with a fairly hefty soft "V" profile, topped with a dot-inlaid ebonized fingerboard. The headstock is faced in rosewood with some nifty pearl work. A tortoise celluloid pickguard is screwed to the top, and the tailpiece and tuners are better grade than one might expect.
While hardly a worthy competitor to Gibson or Martin flat tops of the period, this is a surprisingly good sounding guitar of its type. The sound is part flat top with some arch-top character, chunkier than some and fairly loud to boot. Overall this is a neat period piece and a better guitar than it looks!
Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 in. (635 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This interesting hybrid flat-top is structurally cosmetically a well-preserved instrument, and quite playable. Externally there is not too much wear, just some very minor dings, dents, and scrapes. The instrument is crack-free except for one tiny grain split on the back.
The neck has been reset, not the neatest job but solid. The floating bridge has been cut down a bit from the underside, all else looks original and unaltered. The small wire frets are original, showing not much wear at all. The original tailpiece crossbar is somewhat crooked, and looks to have always been that way.
Within its limits this is a good playing guitar. The sound is not complex but is full and punchy, and this is a good rhythm strummer and also a decent fingerstyle blues or fiddle band guitar. It includes what appears to be the original (or at least period) 2-tone chipboard case. Overall Excellent - Condition.