Regal Custom Super Coliseum Arch Top Acoustic Guitar (1939)
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Item #11670
Custom Super Coliseum Model Arch Top Acoustic Guitar, made by Regal, c. 1939, made in Chicago, Blonde lacquer finish, maple back, sides and neck, spruce top, ebony fingerboard, brown tolex hard shell case.
This guitar is truly a stunner, if only in sheer size and glam factor! We don't know who Rudy was, but he must have wanted a guitar that would make him stand out from the crowd, at least! This Regal-made arch top is a one of a kind creation, a pre-war gold-plated blonde beauty of enormous pulchritude but a charming persona as well. This is a very deluxe carved-top instrument, unbranded except for the name "RUDY" in large block pearl letters on the headstock but the parentage is evident in its DNA.
The maker of this instrument was certainly Regal of Chicago; it bears a number of their unique design and construction traits. The guitar is basically similar to the very high end "B&D Sultana Grande" model that Regal made in small numbers for Bacon & Day in the late 1930s. As that already struggling firm was virtually wiped out by the hurricane of 1938, it's possible a few incomplete examples were left in Regal's factory and finished out as custom or special instruments for anyone that could be found to take them! This fully-carved guitar was a very expensive item to make, so Regal would have been eager to sell leftover unfinished stock any way they could after Fred Bacon's company's untimely demise.
This guitar has a beautiful blonde finish on its 18"+ body; the carved maple back and sides are fairly plain wood with only some subtle figuring. The sides especially show a few visible grain fills perhaps indicating it was originally intended to carry a more forgiving sunburst finish. The sides have the carved "violin" insets peculiar to Regal in this period, used only on their highest grade guitars. The top, sides and back are bound with 'zipper' pattern marquetry with a black outer layer; the top is decorated a thin but vivid abalone trim layer as well. The proportionally small F-holes are single-ply bound in white, which is hard to see against the blonde wood.
The fairly wide and chunky neck is made of laminated maple with a rosewood center strip, topped by a multi-bound ebony fingerboard with split-block inlay. The large headstock is capped with only a plain black facing with the "RUDY" block letter inlay and no other binding or decoration. The tuners are later Grover imperials, so were changed along the way. There are factory plugged holes in the headstock veneer visible on close inspection. The adjustable bridge is an unusual two-footed design and the heavy tailpiece is the typical Regal piece for their high-end guitars.
The big natural archtop look was the new "thing" in 1939-40, with Gibson and Epiphone vying for the top of the market. Whoever this guitar was finished out for got a spectacular unique showpiece of a performance instrument, and a good sounding one as well. While we would not claim this is the tonal equal of a period D'Angelico or Epiphone Emperor it does have a very robust sound with plenty of volume and enough 'cut' for big band use. Not the subtlest of arch tops, either visually or sonically but still a big blonde boomer that can dominate a room with sheer charisma!
Overall length is 43 1/8 in. (109.5 cm.), 18 1/4 in. (46.4 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/4 in. (641 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
This guitar remains in nicely original condition, showing some wear and minor repair but essentially unaltered from how it came to Rudy around 1939-40. The finish has only minor wear with small scrapes, dings and scuffs overall but no large areas of playwear or loss. There is a well repaired spruce grain split on the upper bass bout coming off the front edge with a bit of old finish touch up. The back center seam has been resealed in the center and the neck has been neatly reset, no other repairs are evident. There is some very minor discoloration on the top under where a pickguard once sat.
Whatever pickguard was originally fitted is long gone (the bracket is in the case) and the tuners are later but the other hardware appears original and intact. The exact pedigree on the two-footed adjustable bridge is obscure but it appears to have been on the instrument for a long time. The original frets are in very good shape and the guitar plays well, taking into account the quite substantial neck profile. This is a unique find for sure, a real showpiece of high deco guitar design and swing-era sweetheart for the player of collector with a taste for the unusual. It is housed in an enormous well-fitted case of more recent vintage. Overall Excellent - Condition.
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This guitar is truly a stunner, if only in sheer size and glam factor! We don't know who Rudy was, but he must have wanted a guitar that would make him stand out from the crowd, at least! This Regal-made arch top is a one of a kind creation, a pre-war gold-plated blonde beauty of enormous pulchritude but a charming persona as well. This is a very deluxe carved-top instrument, unbranded except for the name "RUDY" in large block pearl letters on the headstock but the parentage is evident in its DNA.
The maker of this instrument was certainly Regal of Chicago; it bears a number of their unique design and construction traits. The guitar is basically similar to the very high end "B&D Sultana Grande" model that Regal made in small numbers for Bacon & Day in the late 1930s. As that already struggling firm was virtually wiped out by the hurricane of 1938, it's possible a few incomplete examples were left in Regal's factory and finished out as custom or special instruments for anyone that could be found to take them! This fully-carved guitar was a very expensive item to make, so Regal would have been eager to sell leftover unfinished stock any way they could after Fred Bacon's company's untimely demise.
This guitar has a beautiful blonde finish on its 18"+ body; the carved maple back and sides are fairly plain wood with only some subtle figuring. The sides especially show a few visible grain fills perhaps indicating it was originally intended to carry a more forgiving sunburst finish. The sides have the carved "violin" insets peculiar to Regal in this period, used only on their highest grade guitars. The top, sides and back are bound with 'zipper' pattern marquetry with a black outer layer; the top is decorated a thin but vivid abalone trim layer as well. The proportionally small F-holes are single-ply bound in white, which is hard to see against the blonde wood.
The fairly wide and chunky neck is made of laminated maple with a rosewood center strip, topped by a multi-bound ebony fingerboard with split-block inlay. The large headstock is capped with only a plain black facing with the "RUDY" block letter inlay and no other binding or decoration. The tuners are later Grover imperials, so were changed along the way. There are factory plugged holes in the headstock veneer visible on close inspection. The adjustable bridge is an unusual two-footed design and the heavy tailpiece is the typical Regal piece for their high-end guitars.
The big natural archtop look was the new "thing" in 1939-40, with Gibson and Epiphone vying for the top of the market. Whoever this guitar was finished out for got a spectacular unique showpiece of a performance instrument, and a good sounding one as well. While we would not claim this is the tonal equal of a period D'Angelico or Epiphone Emperor it does have a very robust sound with plenty of volume and enough 'cut' for big band use. Not the subtlest of arch tops, either visually or sonically but still a big blonde boomer that can dominate a room with sheer charisma!
Overall length is 43 1/8 in. (109.5 cm.), 18 1/4 in. (46.4 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/4 in. (641 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
This guitar remains in nicely original condition, showing some wear and minor repair but essentially unaltered from how it came to Rudy around 1939-40. The finish has only minor wear with small scrapes, dings and scuffs overall but no large areas of playwear or loss. There is a well repaired spruce grain split on the upper bass bout coming off the front edge with a bit of old finish touch up. The back center seam has been resealed in the center and the neck has been neatly reset, no other repairs are evident. There is some very minor discoloration on the top under where a pickguard once sat.
Whatever pickguard was originally fitted is long gone (the bracket is in the case) and the tuners are later but the other hardware appears original and intact. The exact pedigree on the two-footed adjustable bridge is obscure but it appears to have been on the instrument for a long time. The original frets are in very good shape and the guitar plays well, taking into account the quite substantial neck profile. This is a unique find for sure, a real showpiece of high deco guitar design and swing-era sweetheart for the player of collector with a taste for the unusual. It is housed in an enormous well-fitted case of more recent vintage. Overall Excellent - Condition.
