Did I mention that the first-ever book on “Regal” brand instruments came out at the beginning of the year? Shame on me. I guess it’s because there wasn’t much harp guitar-related material that Harpguitars.net readers weren’t already familiar with. Bob Carlin is the author, and I don’t envy him the research of this topic one little bit (but thanks, Bob!). It reminds me of the National – Dobro (and also Regal) can o’ historical worms – trying to unravel those companies and brand names and who’s who and what’s what over several decades of instrument making.
The subject of the Regal trade name and/or company (companies?) is much the same, especially during the early years – specifically, c.1900, the short period when these unusual harp guitars were produced. While I now understand the history a bit better, I’m no better off about the harp guitars!
Still, after being reminded of them after my last Harwood post (the Regal now clearly seen as a “Harwood knockoff”), and more recent pondering from Bob Hartman about the authorship (builders) of the Regal harp guitars, I decided it was time to collate all the Regal material onto one main page (accessed from the main History page). And here it is. As usual, it contains every last item, photo and tidbit I’ve ever come across on the subject, so researchers have easy access to it (and in return, please help me update it).
Thanks to Bob, Leo Coulson (Intermountain Guitar & Banjo), Frank Ford for help, and of course Bob Carlin (and Centerstream) for the book!
