Regal 3/4 Upright String Bass 1940s

Here is a circa 1940s 3/4 bass made by the Regal Musical Instrument Company.

This is a 3/4 laminate bass that was worked on by Lisa Gass at Los Angeles Bassworks.

I was looking for a nice solid bass that might be resistant to feedback and had a very focused sound when amplified for Alt Country, singer songwriter gigs, Bluegrass, rockabilly, as well as jazz.

The bass is strung up with Thomastik SuperFlexible Solo Upright Bass Strings.

Lisa Gass dressed the fingerboard, put in a new bridge with string adjusters, replaced the endpin with a new Lemur Music ONYX adjustable endpin, as well as a new tail gut.

It's set up with a low easily playable action and is great for bowing as well as pizzicato.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that this bass would probably be a good starter bass for someone jumping from electric to an upright bass because of the action and the Superflexible solo strings.

I also have done a lot of slap with this bass, but some prefer a higher action which is no issue with the bridge adjusters if you'd like to adjust the string height.

The bass has had an interesting life in that it has some cosmetic issues, including a few impressions on the side of the fingerboard which were probably made to mark the first few positions, a small 2" chip to the laminate, and a small crack on the bottom back rear of the headstock that was repaired with a screw, but Lisa said the bass is sound and none of these items are a concern and she didn't need to address them for any reason.

Regal made many instruments sold through Montgomery Ward and in my research on this bass, a Kay expert that I contacted stated, "Kay made basses for a lot of people, both companies and individuals. My sources include people who worked at the Kay factory, historians from Selmer, and a former Vice-President from an instrument manufacturer, and the Cleveland Musical Instrument archives. My sources say all basses for Sears and Montgomery Ward were manufactured by Kay."

I've also had a few people say differently, but whatever it's lineage, I enjoyed researching it.

It's solid and has good resistance to feedback as well.

This Bass is labeled:
THE MARK OF BETTER INSTRUMENTS
TRADE MARK
REGAL
MADE BY
REGAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CO.
CHICAGO

The only Regal bass that I could find was one that I found further down on the webpage below, (just search for Regal), stating that the bass was made around 1940 as well as information about that bass:



Here's some other references about Regal, including Regal guitars:





I'm only selling this bass because of family issues, and wouldn't be selling otherwise as I put a lot into it and it has served me well.

It's a great bass that needs to be played more.

Included here is the Regal bass strung up with Thomastik SuperFlexible Solo Upright Bass Strings, the underwood pickup, and the clicky mic.

I won't quote Lisa's price for the setup and work because that varies from bass to bass, but she does great work and I was glad to pay for it.

Looking for local pickup here in Los Angeles.