A single cone cutaway body available in two scale lengths: 25”, 14 frets to the body, and a 22” 'Traveler' scale length, 12 frets to the body. With such a low serial number, we suspect this guitar to have been one of the very first of the Coliseum archtops, and it does exhibit a unique combination of features. While most of the firm's super jumbos carried the 'Regal Prince' or 'B&D Sultana' logos, this guitar is labeled as an 'Esquire', a designation later used for their 15' inch.
Emmons D-10 Push-Pull Serial Numbers**Year Starting # Ending #
1966 1024 1126
1967 1127 1205
1968 1206 1283
1969 1284 1337
1970 1338 1474
1971 1475 1588
1972 1589 1720
1973 1721 1825
1974 1826 2044
1975 2045 2204
1976 2205 2310
1977 2311 2416
1978 2417 2581
1979 2582 2767
1980 2768 2870
1981 2871 2948
Please Note: These serial numbers apply to D-10's only. After each number, the letter 'D' is stamped. Great care has been taken to verify the accuracy of this information with various 'Push-Pull Experts' around the U.S. However, we cannot guarantee the information given in the above chart is 100% accurate.
In the years 1964 and 1965, it appears that serial numbers were taken off of the sales invoice; and that these guitars were not consecutively numbered (as they may have used an invoice or 2 in between guitar sales for pickup sales or string sales, etc.)
Also, at a certain point, it is possible that the endplates were serialized ahead of guitar construction and put on a shelf, and then taken down and assembled into a guitar at a later date. Therefore, it is possible that some numbers may fall into one year earlier or later than shown on the chart.
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JCH D10, 66 Emmons, 71 D10 P/p fat back, Telonics TCA 500C--12--stereo steel ,Fender JBL Twin
| Private (1896–1954) Brand (1954–present) | |
| Industry | Musical instruments |
|---|---|
| Fate | Company defunct in 1954, brand acquired by Harmony, then owned by other companies |
| Founded | 1896 in Indianapolis |
| Founder | Emil Wulschner |
| Defunct | 1954; 66 years ago |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Resonator guitars, mandolins and ukuleles |
| Owner | Saga Musical Instruments (1987–present) |
The Regal Musical Instrument Company is a former USmusical instruments company and current brand owned by different companies through the ages. By the 1930s, Regal was one of the largest manufacturers in the world.
Since its inception, the Regal name has been used in a wide range of resonator instruments, such as guitars, mandolins and ukuleles. Nowadays Regal is property Saga Musical Instruments, with its instruments manufactured in Korea and distributed in San Francisco, United States.[1]
Currently, only resonator guitars are sold under the Regal brand. All are manufactured in Korea and then distributed in the United States.[1]
History[edit]
Emil Wulschner, a retailer of Indianapolis, opened his first music instruments factory –'Emil Wulschner & Son' in 1896 to build guitars and mandolins. Products were sold under three brand names: Regal, University and 20th. Century. Wulschner died in 1900,[1] and the new owners renamed the company the 'Regal Musical instrument Manufacturing Company' in 1901 and continued using the Regal name on instruments through 1904.
In 1904, Lyon & Healy purchased rights to the brand Regal. Four years later, the company officially re-introduced the Regal name[1] in Chicago, establishing their factory there. Lyon & Healy set Regal up as an independent company in 1924.
During its first years of existence, Regal only marketed 4-string instruments such as ukuleles and tenor guitars. The production of 6-string guitars would began later. The Regal brand was heavily involved in the production of resonator fretted instruments from their first development until 1941, manufacturing components and bodies for both the National and the Dobro companies which they acquired in 1934, though the Dopyera brothers still produced the resonator cones for them. The bodies of their laminated bellied guitars were particularly suited to resonator conversion.[2]
In the early 1930s, Regal had licensed the use of Dobro resonators. When National moved from California to Chicago, Regal acquired the rights to manufacture Dobro instruments. That made Regal be another producer of 'house brand' guitars before World War II.
Production of resonator guitars ceased in 1941, and of all fretted instruments in 1954. That same year, Regal close down as a company, and its rights to the name and assets were sold to the Harmony Company. Harmony owned Regal for a brief period so Fender took over the brand in the late 1950s.[1] In 1965, Fender distributed five models of banjo under the Regal name, as the 'exclusive distributors'. It is not clear when Fender ceased to commercialised Regal products.
In an effort to reintroduce the brand to global markets and focusing on overseas production sources, Saga Musical Instruments acquired the Regal name in 1987 and has steadily produced a complete line of metal and wood body resophonic instruments.[1]
Brand owners[edit]
- Emil Wulschner & Son (1896–1904)
- Lyon & Healy (1904–1954)
- Harmony Company (1954–late 1950s)
- Fender (1950s–?)
- Saga Musical Instruments (1987–present)
Regal Guitar Serial Number 9710159
References[edit]
Regal Guitar Serial Numbers Lookup
- ^ abcdefThe history of the famous Regal guitar on Jags House website
- ^Regal Musical Instrument Co. on Lardy's Ukulele Database
External links[edit]
- Regal on Saga Music website
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Regal (musical instrument brand). |