Beater Guitars That Sound Good

[TKennedy]

I just got done doing some major work on a couple of instruments that initially made one wonder if it was worth the effort. One was a very overbuilt 70's LoPrinzi that needed a new bridge, refret, and a neck reset as well as a neck refinish. The other was a 70's all laminate (top too) Japanese Cortez dred that needed a new bridge and a mild neck reset as well as major fret work. Bar Top finish.

To save money I made a new lower bridge for the Cortez to avoid a neck reset and had to grind the frets down a lot to get them level but trying to save the cost of a refret.

I had low expectations for both but they turned out to be great sounding guitars, set up well and were good players. The Cortez especially surprised me, it was loud and had a very acceptable sound.

Both had had the shit played out of them over the years with finger divots in the fretboard, pick damage on the tops, and finish worn off the neck. I think that may have been the reason for the surprisingly good sound. It was totally unexpected. When I first saw the Cortez I told the owner maybe he should make a birdhouse out of it.

Whatdaya think Marty?

[Marty]

I think you made the right choice on the Cortez as some of those old Japanese guitars have doweled not dovetailed neck joints. Another aspect of old Japanese guitars is very wide fret slots making fretwork difficult. For non-luthiers the standard fret slot is .023 wide but the old Japanese slots are .026 or wider meaning modern .023 wire will not stay put.

The LoPrinze is built like a tank, like most 70s acoustics. You're lucky, that LoPrinze had a dovetailed neck, the one I just finished working on had a Spanish heel and was a complete nightmare. Some LoPrinze's were bolt on. Nice guitars, Augie and his daughter Donna still make them.

I know you did a good job on both, you always do.

I have a 70s Yamaha FG180 that needs a neck reset. Price wise these are not worth putting that much work into, but, if you do the tone is really, really good. The last one I did was a total cannon, absolute banjo killer. 

[jdd2]

Has anyone heard of Regal--my brother had one, it seemed to play and sound pretty nice. Probably a hundred dollar guitar when he bought it.

[PaulKay]

I used to have three of the 4 Cowboy guitars that Gretch made and these were basically plywood. They sounded surprisingly good. Then I recently bought a $50 Recording King to have around for the grandkids. What a dog guitar that thing is.
Some are better than they should be, and some are just as bad as their price would suggest.

[Marty]

Feb 22, 2019 16:44:13 GMT -5 jdd2 said:

Has anyone heard of Regal--my brother had one, it seemed to play and sound pretty nice. Probably a hundred dollar guitar when he bought it.

The Regal name got moved around a bit. I don't remember what company used it as their house brand but the name goes back to the early 1900s. I do know the brand finally ended up being owned by Fender (1960s) and they had Harmony make guitars under the Regal name. 
 I reset the neck on a Regal 235 a short while ago. This is basically the same as Millring's Harmony 1260.

[david]

Played a few LoPrinzis in the early 80s and some were great sounding guitars. Over the past several years I have seen only a few and they had need of a neck reset or had a pulled up bridge.