B & D Jumbo Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, made by Regal , c. 1938
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Item # 3570
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B & D Jumbo Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, made by Regal, c. 1938, made in Chicago, natural finish, mahogany back and sides, spruce top, black tolex soft shell case.
This Bacon & Day Jumbo flat-top was built in the mid-1930's when the original Bacon Banjo Company was on its last legs, a victim of both the lingering Depression and the declining market for banjos. The guitar itself was made by Regal in Chicago, but all Bacon & Day instruments were top quality, and this ranks with the finest Chicago-made guitars of the era. While this guitar has seen fairly extensive re-working, it is a good playing example of a rare and sought after line of prewar guitars.
Although the Bacon company built many of the finest (and most expensive) banjos of the 1920's, they had no experience, or apparent interest, in building guitars. They dabbled with ukuleles and mandolins in the early 1920's and had even sold a few Martin guitars branded with a Bacon stamp, but in the main had been able to prosper with a banjo-only line.
When the high-end banjo market collapsed in the early 1930's, Fred Bacon and David Day, both older men with decades of experience in the music business, took the expedient route and contracted with outside makers to supply them with guitars that could be finished off as "B&D's". While similar to other Regal-built instruments, including the Tonk Bros. Washburn line, these "B&D" guitars are always distinctively appointed, and also the best that could be had.
This 14-fret B&D Jumbo is typical of the final guitars built for the company, not long before they effectively ceased operations following severe hurricane damage in 1938. The body features very rounded bouts with a rather shallow waist, neither exactly like a Gibson Jumbo or a Martin Dreadnought, although of a similar size and proportion.
The spruce top is straight braced and quadruple bound, with multiple binding and colored wood inlay on the soundhole. The neck is a shallow "C" profile with a generous 1 3/4" nut width. The rosewood fingerboard is bound and inlaid with a celluloid trapezoid-and-triangle pattern that is typically Regal. The solid headstock is faced in rosewood with a simple "B & D" pearl inlay.
Bacon marketed a number of different Chicago-made guitar styles in the 1930's, both flat-top and arch-top. All are quite rare, with the higher end flat-tops particularly hard to find. The company name was sold to Gretsch in 1940, and Bacon-labeled guitars from that point on are lower-end Gretsch products.
The original Regal-made B & D guitars are considered very collectible, both for their inherent quality and due to a longtime association with John Fahey, who played B & D Ne Plus Ultra flat-top extensively in the 1960's. This Jumbo is a great-playing and sounding guitar with a deep, powerful tone, a good example of a 'gigging' 1930's large-bodied flat top.
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 15 7/8 in. (40.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This guitar has been refinished except for the back of the neck, with the back and sides being a natural laquer and the top a very thin oil varnish. There are no major cracks or repairs; neck angle is excellent, so it has almost certainly been well reset. The rosewood bridge is a replacement in the Martin bottom-belly style and a strap button has been added to the heel. Tuners are proper period flat-plate individual Klusons, although the headstock shows evidence of several past tuner installations.
Overall, this is in excellent playing condition although the appearance is no longer fully original, and is priced considerably lower than a better-preserved B & D guitar of this type would be. Very Good Condition.
This Bacon & Day Jumbo flat-top was built in the mid-1930's when the original Bacon Banjo Company was on its last legs, a victim of both the lingering Depression and the declining market for banjos. The guitar itself was made by Regal in Chicago, but all Bacon & Day instruments were top quality, and this ranks with the finest Chicago-made guitars of the era. While this guitar has seen fairly extensive re-working, it is a good playing example of a rare and sought after line of prewar guitars.
Although the Bacon company built many of the finest (and most expensive) banjos of the 1920's, they had no experience, or apparent interest, in building guitars. They dabbled with ukuleles and mandolins in the early 1920's and had even sold a few Martin guitars branded with a Bacon stamp, but in the main had been able to prosper with a banjo-only line.
When the high-end banjo market collapsed in the early 1930's, Fred Bacon and David Day, both older men with decades of experience in the music business, took the expedient route and contracted with outside makers to supply them with guitars that could be finished off as "B&D's". While similar to other Regal-built instruments, including the Tonk Bros. Washburn line, these "B&D" guitars are always distinctively appointed, and also the best that could be had.
This 14-fret B&D Jumbo is typical of the final guitars built for the company, not long before they effectively ceased operations following severe hurricane damage in 1938. The body features very rounded bouts with a rather shallow waist, neither exactly like a Gibson Jumbo or a Martin Dreadnought, although of a similar size and proportion.
The spruce top is straight braced and quadruple bound, with multiple binding and colored wood inlay on the soundhole. The neck is a shallow "C" profile with a generous 1 3/4" nut width. The rosewood fingerboard is bound and inlaid with a celluloid trapezoid-and-triangle pattern that is typically Regal. The solid headstock is faced in rosewood with a simple "B & D" pearl inlay.
Bacon marketed a number of different Chicago-made guitar styles in the 1930's, both flat-top and arch-top. All are quite rare, with the higher end flat-tops particularly hard to find. The company name was sold to Gretsch in 1940, and Bacon-labeled guitars from that point on are lower-end Gretsch products.
The original Regal-made B & D guitars are considered very collectible, both for their inherent quality and due to a longtime association with John Fahey, who played B & D Ne Plus Ultra flat-top extensively in the 1960's. This Jumbo is a great-playing and sounding guitar with a deep, powerful tone, a good example of a 'gigging' 1930's large-bodied flat top.
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 15 7/8 in. (40.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This guitar has been refinished except for the back of the neck, with the back and sides being a natural laquer and the top a very thin oil varnish. There are no major cracks or repairs; neck angle is excellent, so it has almost certainly been well reset. The rosewood bridge is a replacement in the Martin bottom-belly style and a strap button has been added to the heel. Tuners are proper period flat-plate individual Klusons, although the headstock shows evidence of several past tuner installations.
Overall, this is in excellent playing condition although the appearance is no longer fully original, and is priced considerably lower than a better-preserved B & D guitar of this type would be. Very Good Condition.