User:Octofone

OCTOFONE: This 8-string "Plucked Stringed Instrument" was patented in !931 by Albert E Hunter, the registered agent and President of the Regal Musical Instrument Co. ("Regal"). He was also the son-in-law to Frank F. Kordick, the inventor of this instrument, originally from Austria. Developed in Chicago, it is one of the few musical instruments invented in the U.S.A. and is part of the American Heritage. Because the instrument could be tuned similar to 8 other instruments such as the mandolin, guitar, tenor banjo, etc., no one type of musical instrument was sufficient to describe all the possible tunings claimed in the 1928 patent application, so Regal created the name "Octofone" (not "octophone") to help market this new instrument capable of at least 8 tunings. The name "Octofone" first appeared as a trademark on the headstock label which also showed the name had been registered. Later models had the Regal logo on the headstock as well as inside the sound hole. No serial numbers were used, thus making it difficult to track the vintage of each instrument.

The Regal Musical Instrument Company was incorporated in the state of Illinois on March 4, 1908 and was involuntarily dissolved on November 28, 1955 in Cook County Superior Court. General No. 154413 in Chancery based on information received from the State of Illinois, Office of the Secretary of State, Corporation Division. The name "Regal" has since been used by other companies and continues to be protected under US Trademark laws. It is estimated that Regal produced around 1,000 of these "guitars" in addition to all the other instruments it manufactured, many under various brands on a sub-contractor basis.

The word "octofone" became a protected US registered trademark in 1976 and again in 2010. The registered owner of the mark is (Louis) Richard Bochenek, president of the Octofone Guitar Company, and a professional musician performing as Doc Bochenek. The company is based in Santa Monica, California.