Identifying a Chilcott Royal Guitar

GDLAT

https://www.flickr.com/photos/202242961@N05/54327179920/in/dateposted-public/

http://https//www.flickr.com/photos/202242961@N05/54325870117/in/dateposted-public/

http://https//www.flickr.com/photos/202242961@N05/54325870107/in/dateposted-public/

Hi, I bought this guitar some years ago.
It seems to be hand built and googling "Royal" it appears it may have been made by Keith Chilcott.
It probably needs a neck reset so I will probably sell it on but I don't want to falsely advertise it.
Can anyone help me decide if it is actually  an example of  Keith's work?

Thank you.

MartinB

I don't know, but I'd lean towards this being an imported guitar that coincidentally uses the brand Royal. What I can find on Chilcott suggests he was a British hand builder known for his inlay, and the silkscreen headstock logo, the appearance of the finishing and label and the fairly budget looking tuners don't quite feel right for that.

GDLAT

Thanks - can't disagree with that.

BillDL

I know very little about Kevin (not Keith) Chilcott or Chilcott Guitars other than the fact that he made some guitars with the name "Royale" (note the E at the end) back around the 80s.  A quick search of Google has revealed a plethora of obviously erroneous information that has just been blindly consumed, regurgited, and perpetuated by people on forums, and then sites that purport to index and provide details of different manufacturers just pick up on those details and present them as though they are factual.  There's even people using Kevin Chilcott's name in the description of your "Royal" (no trailing E) guitar model on eBay due to this host of wrong information.  Here's a web archive of Kevin Chilcott's Royale Guitars from 2009 or 2010 showing the stylised crown motif that would have been applied to the guitars, the vast majority of which were electrics:

https://web.archive.org/web/20101001122532/http://www.royaleguitars.com/royalehomepage.htm

My experience tells me that a proper "luthier" built guitar would not have a cheap gold silkscreened model or brand name like that on the headstock where it not only looks mass-produced but would be guaranteed to scrape off as has happened.  A good look of the build inside the guitar would give a really good indication of just how handcrafted it is.

The misnomer here is "handcrafted" as shown on the label as "Royal quality handcrafted guitar W-265".  Regardless of how automated a factory is and how many pieces are cut by CNC machines, with acoustic guitars there is always going to be "hand crafting" when doing final sanding, fitting and gluing the braces and kerfing, fitting and gluing the back and sides then binding, etc, etc.  It's hard to define when a guitar is hand crafted or factory built, because hand crafting is part of the factory process.

You may well have a guitar that looks and sounds great, but I suspect it was factory produced in Japan or Taiwan perhaps in the early to mid 80s, and possibly for a UK based retailer as an "own brand".  Loads of guitar brands came out of Japan and Taiwan in the late 70s and 80s under dozens and dozens of different "brand names" despite being produced in very few factories, such as the one that made Aria guitars.  Selmer was a very prolific importer of such guitars with all kinds of names silkscreened onto the headstocks.  I would guess your guitar is probably of the same kind of build quality as the early 80s budget Yamaha acoustics and is most likely of laminate body and sides (mahogany or sapele or nato) with a solid or laminate spruce top.

I am not trying to demean your guitar, because I still regard my early 80s Taiwanese Yamaha as one of my best sounding guitars, but I am sure it is nothing to do with Royale (note the E) guitars and therefore not a "luthier hand made" guitar.

FelineGuitars

It's not one of Kev's - most likely an imported guitar as has already been said 

Was it the one that got mentioned in this thread 
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/93977/royal-royale-guitars-luthier-kevin-chilcott

OilCityPickups

There's me thinking a Chilcott Royal was potato 

GDLAT

FelineGuitars said:

It's not one of Kev's - most likely an imported guitar as has already been said 

Was it the one that got mentioned in this thread 
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/93977/royal-royale-guitars-luthier-kevin-chilcott

No not that one.

My apologies for getting Kevin's name wrong.
I take no offence on behalf of the guitar it doesn't mean a great deal to me but thanks for the information.
Thanks all.

BillDL

Thanks for the link to that thread @FelineGuitars.   I noted from the discussions and some of the photos that Kevin Chilcott originally made and sold guitars under the name Chilcott  or "Royal" (no E) with the crown symbol, and then later returned to make them under the name "Royale".

ICBM

I couldn't see the pics earlier, and only the first one now, but that headstock is definitely a late-70s to early 80s Japanese-made guitar - it's identical in everything other than the logo to many others that were sold under many different brands around that time.

eg this Morris - notice the shape of the headstock with a very slight curve to the straight top edge, the distinctive truss rod cover shape, and the type of machineheads with oversized 'dished' collars. (The nut has been replaced with a brass one.)

https://reverb.com/uk/item/71767251-morris-w-603-dreadnought-flat-top-acoustic-guitar-80s-natural-finish-made-in-japan-vgc

GDLAT

Thanks - good spot!

Ijustadjust

I have a Royal acoustic made by Kevin Chilcott. Bought  guy just end of last year, its a D35 copy, nice inlays and nice work. I don't think he made that many acoustics. 

I will post pics so you can compare 

Ijustadjust

I have the pictures saved to my phone bur I can't seem to post themn its asking for image url  can anyone help me our as to how I post them? thanks in advance 

Soupman

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/56254/posting-pics-vids-soundclips-how-to#latest
See this post for info on posting pics.

I used Postimage which I found easy.