Hey all,
I'm a longtime Regal Tip Artists, and in fact was the companies Artist Relations Manager in the mid-2000's. While I don't have ALL the inside info, I do have some and would like to share what I know.
A few months back the factory went through some regular machine maintenance. Rather than take down one or two machines at a time to re-tool them it sounds like they did them all at once. This caused just about every stick model to eventually hit a backorder. That's why everyone online is out of stock. They skipped the NAMM show in January (first time in like 60 years) to focus on getting all the machines back up as quickly as possible.
Due to the restrictions being put in place on all non-essential businesses right now they factory is closed for manufacturing. I spoke with Carol Calato via Email just over a week ago. She said they were at first running with 50% staff, then down to 25% and at the time of the Email she sent me I was informed that they would be closing entirely by order of the state.
I don't know if they got all the machines back up and running before the State ordered "safer at home" ordinance in NY, but it sounded like they did, as a few other RT Artists informed me they were able to get their stick orders in. Hopefully this means once the ordinance is lifted in the state they will be back up and running as normal.
So the lack of product is really just bad timing. They shut down machines for re-tooling, and then once they get them back up, the government shuts them down due to Corona Virus.