It's a good compromise and especially for the time they were built, a very good design because the maker could use the exact same ultra-light bracing pattern and build, but plus a pin bridge, to make an instrument suited to gut/nylon strings.Īll that aside, my work on this instrument included a neck reset, fret level/dress, replacement bridge (slightly modified an old 1900s one from my parts bin), new end pin (ebony), setup, cleaning, and light hairline crack repair/cleats to the top (they're invisible in the pics! I glued up the center seam and a couple other very tight hairlines next to it - typical dryness cracks). This Oahu-branded one is a little fancier, though, but still has the 'tobacco burst' finish on a solid-birch body that the Maybells tend to have.
These tailpiece-style steel-string flattop "parlor" size models have a tone that's halfway between an archtop's balance, cut, and zing and a pin-bridge guitar's mellow warmth and lingering overtones. This Oahu-branded 'parlor' guitar (this is just a hair smaller than a Martin 0) is in many ways a clone of a similar model Regal also made for Slingerland to sell under their 'May-Bell' brand name. This bracing pattern gives these old Regals good volume and an enormous, saucy tonality. This has Regal's typical modified ladder bracing which features only two braces on the lower bout - one right under the bridge that also serves as a "bridge plate" on the pin-bridge models and one set at an angle ("transverse bracing") near the soundhole. This one was made by Regal around 1910 and sports typical "Chicago" style purfling lifted from the furniture trade, a solid (wide grain) spruce top, and solid birch back/sides/neck with a faux-rosewood painted finish on the body.
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