1930s Regal No 19/Angelus

When National and Dobro merged in 1932, the new company granted a license to Regal—a Chicago-based manufacturer and distributor—to start building instruments using Dobro resonators. Until 1937, many of the same resonator instruments were made concurrently by National-Dobro in California and by Regal in Chicago.  Offered from 1933 to 1936, the Regal Angelus—also known as the Dobro No. 19—is a straightforward wood-bodied resonator guitar. This Regal Angelus has stood the test of time and finds us in nice, playable condition with a throaty resonator sound. It has a 12-fret neck and a birch body. The Angelus is recognizable by the unique round holes punched into the resonator coverplate. It has segmented f-holes on the guitar's upper bout, and what looks like binding around the edges is actually paint.  The Angelus' resonator is the classic Dobro "spider bridge" design—essentially an inverted single cone. This design is what set Dobros apart from Nationals, which typically have either a si