TRASH OR TREASURE
ZAChARy R. fJEstAd
Regal Esquire
John A. Ruis
a kind, but can you tell me anything more
about this guitar and its possible worth?
Thanks!
Hey, John.
It sounds like you and the previous owners
have already done quite a bit of research on
this guitar yourself, but let’s see what else
we can find. I’m sure that many readers have
heard of Regal, but the company’s history is
very interesting so we’ll start there.
Regal was originally used as a brand name
by Emil Wulschner when he and his stepson opened a factory in Indianapolis, IN.
Wulschner passed away in 1900, but the factory continued on through 1902 or 1903 under
the control of a larger corporation. By 1908,
Regal had moved to Chicago, where they
began building instruments and labeling them
as a house brand them for a variety of distributors, wholesalers and retailers. The first Regal-branded guitars appeared in the late 1920s.
Regardless, the Esquire shown in the catalog
is similar in style to yours, but it has a combination triangle/diamond fingerboard inlay,
Regal-only headstock inlay and a tortoiseshell
pickguard with more points. I looked everywhere for a similar guitar with an Esquire-only
headstock like yours, but found absolutely
nothing. I did find a few examples of the 1951
Esquire shown in the catalog, but they were
fairly obscure as well. My guess is that the
Esquire you have was produced before 1951
as the old design, or it was produced sometime between 1951 and 1954 as a newer style
than the 1951 model. I also find it odd that it
only has “Esquire” on the headstock and there
is no other “Regal” identification on the guitar
whatsoever. However, I find no evidence of
another Esquire guitar trademark, aside from
the model name used by Fender.
In 1932, Regal received a license from the
National-Dobro Corporation to build guitars
with a Dobro resonator, and in 1937 Regal
acquired the rights to exclusively make all
Dobros. Regal continued to produce a variety
of mostly entry-level and intermediate instruments through the 1940s and early 1950s until
ceasing operations in early 1954. Fellow house
brand builder Harmony purchased most of
Regal’s assets at auction, but Harmony only
produced a limited number of Regal-branded
instruments—most notably a line of cheap,
entry-level acoustics distributed by Fender. In
1987, Saga Musical Instruments reintroduced
the Regal trademark on a line of resonator
guitars that are still produced today.
As I stated before, most Regal instruments
produced between the 1920s and 1950s were
built for the entry-level guitar player and
were extremely cheap. Of course, there are
a few exceptions, including the Dobro instruments and the nicely equipped Esquire archtop like you have. Today, Regal Esquires are
valued between $900 and $1,200 in excellent
condition, which your guitar appears to be
in. Mint models could approach $1,500. As
you mentioned, the guitar sounds great, so
as long as you paid a fair price for it you certainly have a treasure in your collection.
For more information on “house brand” manufacturers, including Kay and Harmony, please
visit our website: guitars.bluebookinc.com.
Hey, Zach.
I recently purchased this Regal Esquire
guitar from Michael Ricciarelli of North
Branch Instruments, LLC of Montpelier,
VT. Ricciarelli is a repair technician, and
he recently completed an apprenticeship
with Pete Langdell of Rigel mandolins, who
owned the guitar before him. Langdell
added some features, including a double
truss rod and internal piezo pickup with an
endpin jack. There is no label inside and
no serial number. This guitar really sings
on the high end with a strong bass side as
well, and I have only seen one other Regal
Esquire for sale. To me, this guitar is one of
Several features of this guitar are unusual,
and you’re probably right about it being one
of a kind, but that can be expected due to
the nature of most house-brand instruments,
as well as the aftermarket modifications. In
Regal’s 1951 catalog, the the company presented the “New 1951 Regal Esquire,” which
to me means either the guitar was updated for
1951 or it was a new model in 1951 (the next
earliest catalog I could find was from 1940).
Zachary R. Fjestad
Zachary is the author of the Blue Book of Acoustic
Guitars, Blue Book of Electric Guitars, and the Blue
Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
Questions can be submitted to:
Blue Book Publications
Attn: Guitar Trash or Treasure
8009 34th Ave. S. Ste #175
Minneapolis, MN 55425
bluebookinc.com
guitars@bluebookinc.com
