Newest repair photos -- 20s fancy flamed koa Hawaiian, 30s Regal, 50s Luna... fun!

Jake Wildwood

Jake Wildwood

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Been away from the forum lately as I haven't worked on a lot of ukes recently. But, check these beauts out... the first one is a local customer's teens/20s Hawaiian...

tabu-1.jpg


The full post for that can be had by clicking here.

Next up, a '30s Regal I did for my own inventory. Fun little box with a nice balanced tone. Extra frets are nice, too.

reghou-1.jpg


The full post for that can be had by clicking here.

And last, these nice Japanese-made Lunas (50s on this one, I think) don't pop up all that often but they sure do sound awesome:

lunjaptok-1.jpg


The full post for that can be had by clicking here.
 
Jake, thanks for posting these, I really enjoy going to your website and admiring your work! I'm so glad you are a member here.
 
Jake Wildwood said:
Next up, a '30s Regal I did for my own inventory. Fun little box with a nice balanced tone. Extra frets are nice, too.

reghou-1.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice ukes Jake!
That "regal" is probably a J. R. Stewart Design. Regal bought the JR stewart company in 1932 and keep making his ukes.
The "Le Domino" is the most popular line made by JR Stewart (my favourite ukes)

From a Tonk bross catalog:
au6xqf.jpg


and here is a pic from a private collection:
2qa7rlu.jpg
 
Jake Wildwood said:
Thanks for that, Gaspar. You're certainly right. Here's a "June Days" of similar ilk:

http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2012/03/c1930-regal-made-june-days-soprano.html
Click to expand...

Yes! "June Days" was another design from JR Stewart. The one you got was made by regal after Stewart went bankruptcy in 1930.

These are some other examples of Stewart Designs and later reissue by regal:

"La venicia"
341201.jpg


"sphinx"
headegypto.jpg


and here you can see a "june days" banjolele with the Stwart logo on the head:
330316101196-3.jpg
 
Do we know if JR Stewart actually had a factory?

I'd always assumed the products for the line were made either in the Regal or L&H factories, because they're almost identical to Regal/L&H models. I just thought the distribution/brand was sold off around 1930.
 
Jake Wildwood said:
Do we know if JR Stewart actually had a factory?

I'd always assumed the products for the line were made either in the Regal or L&H factories, because they're almost identical to Regal/L&H models. I just thought the distribution/brand was sold off around 1930.
Click to expand...

I found this online:

Stewart was only in business for a few years. The company, which was located at 2541 W. 22nd. Street in Chicago, is best known in banjo uke circles for its "Le Domino" model, a very distinctive instrument which featured dominos in a circle on the back of the resonator, the sides of the rim, and the fingerboard.

Following Stewart's bankruptcy in 1930 Regal acquired the "Le Domino" name, which they continued to use on guitars, ukuleles, and mandolins in addition to the banjo ukes.

I also found an interesting rumor about the origin of the "Le Domino" design:
There is a beautiful black vintage ukulele called a Le Domino which, rumour has it, was named after Josephine Baker as that was her nickname in France where she was very popular.

Let´s see, Josephine Baker was:
-French
-Black
-Her nickname was "Le domino"

It looks more than a rumor to me :)
 
I´ve made an extensive research about JR Stewart and no one seems to know very mucho of him or his company.
He worked for the Harmony company in the early 1920´s and then he found his own business in 1925.
In 1929 JR Stewart bought the lyon and healy company and then in 1930 he went banktrupcy.
When regal bought the JR Stewart company also bought lyon and healy with it.
 
Yup, my understanding was that Stewart was just a distributor/holding co. and the instruments were made by Regal for Stewart, for the most part. Then, when both L&H and Stewart went under, Regal grabbed their brand-names up. All these companies were sort of "in the family" so to speak. I'm pretty sure I remember reading about the owners of them all being related somehow.

Ohhh memory.
 
Nice stuff Jake, I just got done restoring a 30's ? Hog soprano La Venicia with the same gondolier silkscreen on the top as the Banjos have. Not all the clouds however (smaller palette I suspect). Sounds pretty good. I was wondering if anyone here would make a guess on the value. I'll probably try and flip it soon; has a little tweaking left to do. Did a fair amount of research on it the other day and came up with near nuttin'. This is the most informative thread I have found yet. Here's a look see at it before restoration:
 
Jake Wildwood said:
Yup, my understanding was that Stewart was just a distributor/holding co. and the instruments were made by Regal for Stewart, for the most part. Then, when both L&H and Stewart went under, Regal grabbed their brand-names up. All these companies were sort of "in the family" so to speak. I'm pretty sure I remember reading about the owners of them all being related somehow.

Ohhh memory.
Click to expand...

Nice stuff, Jake!

I think Tonk Brothers acquired the Washburn and Stewart lines and had Regal build For them. I've seen some Regal branded ukes that are amalgamations of previous Washburns and Regal styles. While I am an admirer of both, especially L&H, the hybrids look weird.
 
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