1930s Regal Le Domino “Big Boy” Archtop Guitar

This Le Domino guitar from the late 1930s, was made by Regal of Chicago, and was the biggest and boldest-looking archtop in that line of instruments. It’s roughly 000-sized with a flat back, and a big old press-arched top. It features all solid woods – a Spruce top, with Birch back and sides, Poplar neck and an ‘Ebonized’ Maple fret board. These Depression era guitars are becoming quite desirable, and with the Domino decals and dark sunburst finish, this is a real head turner. It has a very comfortable 1 11/16” wide nut and a V-shaped neck which, combined with the balanced, honky, gutsy mid-range tone, makes an excellent fingerpicking blues guitar. The sound is very woody and bluesy. The pick guard is original too. The action is very comfortable, making it a really enjoyable playing experience. Surprisingly for a guitar of this age, there’s just one tightly repaired back crack, and overall it’s in excellent condition – so good that it is featured in ’The American Blues Guitar’ book by Rick Batey.

History: The Le Domino line of instruments, which consisted of Ukes(see my other listing), banjos and guitars, was originally made by J.A. Stewart, a now obscure builder that went of business in the late 1920s. When Regal took over the Le Domino brand they added the Big Boy to the line. The Big Boy was very likely inspired by Martin’s early arch tops which also had round sound holes and flat backs. Regal made these guitars with solid spruce tops, birch backs and maple fret boards that were dyed black. They were also decorated them with domino decals, which looked great on the top but didn’t really hold up too well on the fret board. I’ve played quite a few of these over the years and I really like the way they sound. I have two of them, one from this book and one from Fret Board Journal article. I don't need two, I'm kind of sad to say good buy to this one as I love the big dry sound, and how the neck feels and the decals are perfect plus the kind of inspiration this guitar creates while playing.

The guitar comes in it’s super cool original hard case. It has been in humidified room since I've had it and adjusted by a trusted luthier.