Questions: Mystery Guitar

by Walter Carter

Originally published in American Lutherie #99, 2009

Neill Pickard asks:

Any idea who made this parlor guitar? It has a poplar top and no label.

Both photos by Neill Pickard

Walter Carter from Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Tennessee replies:

The “usual suspect” for any sort of inexpensive, unlabeled instrument from the 1920s and ’30s is Regal of Chicago. In the case of this instrument, the decal ornamentation suggests Regal or Oscar Schmidt of Jersey City, New Jersey. ◆