circa 1940 Recording King Jumbo by Regal

Back in the 1940’s, folks who didn’t live close to a music shop could mail order a guitar from the Montgomery Ward catalog. Ward’s offered a range of instruments branded “Recording King” and built by other makers, including this jumbo size, made by Regal in Chicago.

The extra deep 5″ mahogany body contributes to the unique tone along with the double X bracing pattern and longer 25 1/2″ scale to drive the Adirondack Spruce top. You’ll have plenty of room with a 1 3/4″ nut. The original sunburst finish extends to the back and sides, with plenty of extra style from the original “valve cover” Kluson tuners, large inlays and bound fretboard.

Luthier Ross Teigen reset the neck and did a compression refret to ensure correct neck relief for best setup. All the bracing is intact, the bridge and bridge plate are untouched originals including the original bridge screws placed at the Regal factory. We only had to replace the crumbled plastic tuner buttons with correct Antique Acoustics replicas.

If you are looking for a rare and collector grade Pre-War flat top, you won’t find one cleaner than this. A crack-free one family owned guitar that still has the original bridge pins & end pin, even the original Geib case is in fine shape. Offered at Vintage Licks just as it was ordered from the Montgomery Ward catalog by the original owner, now set up to play by a professional luthier.

Enjoy the demo videos by Rich Bastar aka … Fish.