NTGD

[spoox]

So this arrived today. For years Robert Armstrong had told me how great these small Regal tenors were, and I of course threw a low bid on this really not expecting to win it on eBay.
Tuned GDAE. Surprisingly loud for its small size.

The seller had upgraded the tailpiece and nut and replaced the friction tuners with Westerl--uh, WAVERLY banjo tuners! After I'd won it I found he had made several videos on YouTube, one before the upgrades and several after.
Here's one:

 

[dreadnut]

Tuned the same as the mandolin.

 

[Westerly Wood]

Cool!

 

[GGJaguar]

Tiny tenor. Congrats!

 

[walrus]

Nice!

walrus

 

[davismanLV]

That's sooo cool!!!

 

[ReevesRd]

Very cool!
Elderly Instruments has this neat blueprint of a Regal tenor.

https://www.elderly.com/products/tenor-guitar-regal

 

[spoox]

"Elderly Instruments has this neat blueprint of a Regal tenor."
Neat--but I believe that's for one their larger mahogany guitars that came with patent tuners instead of the friction ones that these little birch
tenors had.

 

[wileypickett]

So this arrived today. For years Robert Armstrong had told me how great these small Regal tenors were. . . .

Is this the same Robert Armstrong who was in the Cheap Suit Serenaders?

 

[spoox]

Yep! We became friends over 30 years ago when I had him do a painting of Sol Hoopi being chased by a drunk Mickey Rat in a Studebaker bulletnose.
Had he not been in Pasadena while I was in Redondo Beach we would have become friends in high school due to the fact we both were into '20s and '30s music. He and Al Dodge have stayed at my house and Al made me a concert uke 25 years ago. Robert is one of my favorite artists and I have several of his paintings.

 

[wileypickett]

Cool!

I have a 30-year-old Mickey Rat T-shirt in my underwear drawer -- too small for me now, but I can't bring myself to part with it!

I bought one of Armstrong's original illustrations for *FretBoard Journal* from him directly a few years back. Nice guy.

Huge Sol Hoopii fan here too. Possibly the most versatile lap steel player ever. I have every one of his reissue reordings, acoustic and electric.

 

[spoox]

One night I was listening to his "Farewell Blues" and as what often happens when I listen to music with eyes closed, I had a sort of vision.
It was Sol Hoopi being chased by a bulletnose, his tricone in his hand. I thought "who is that driving?". Ah, Mickey Rat! So I got Robert's address and wrote him to ask what he would charge for a custom painting. In his reply he gave me his phone number, so I called him to say to go ahead.
He replied "Wow! You were serious about a painting like that? That's like all of my favorite things combined!". And we've been friends ever since!
King Benny Nawahi also one of my favorites. Because he played such fast jazz licks he favored a single cone National as opposed to a tricone as he didn't want the sustain that the tricone had. Chester Crill of Kaleidoscope was the one who wrote the stories for the Mickey Rat comics.