1898 Vega Rosewood Parlor Guitar

Update 2024: I've added a video, new photos, measurements, and updated the description as this is now here for sale.

Overview: This is the third or fourth Brazilian rosewood-bodied Vega guitar from the 1890s that I've worked on and the builds on them all remind me of also-Boston-made period Bay State/Haynes guitars with their tenon neck joints, orange-stained tops, gorgeous rosewood, and quality construction. These Vegas feel a "cut above," though, and certainly sound great for small-body instruments. This one is roughly "Martin size 2" in specs with a 12 1/2" lower bout.

Tone: It's clean, sweet, and mellow with good balance across the spectrum.

Feel: There's a very light radius to the rosewood board and it's inlaid with pearl dots. The frets are all in good order and only needed a light level/dress job. The scale length is 24 1/2" which gives it a "Gibson" feel to the fret spacing. The nut is ebony and has a 1 3/4" width. The back of the mahogany neck on this is like a period Martin with a shallow, soft-V shape. It's very easy to play.

Interesting features: I think guitars of this period that lack binding are terribly elegant -- especially ones like this with "rolled-over" edges. The red-colored rosette is a nice touch. The back is excellent, in the looks department, too. It's hard to beat the aesthetics of Brazilian rosewood. As you can see, the back and sides are polished to a high gloss. The headstock veneer is Brazilian rosewood and the fretboard is, too. The original tuners are still going strong and there's a Vega stamp on the inside, too. The serial dates it to, apparently, 1898 -- which makes sense as I'd guesstimated it at around 1895 per its hardware and build style. This was definitely intended as a gut-strung guitar when it was made.

Repairs included: I worked on this one for a customer and it came to me in quite good shape. It needed some seams and minor cracks repaired, a fret level/dress, and the bridge got a very slight bridge shave to adjust action. It's turned-out wonderfully and has a sweet, silky sound to it without the dry spank that many period gut/nylon-stringers tend to have. I set action at "easy classical" 3/32" at the 12th fret and it's strung with Thomastik KR116s which are a "classical" string that intonate  the same as and have nylon-style tension, but are actually steel rope-core strings with flatwound outer layers. They're a perfect choice if you want a bit more steel-string sparkle (or flatpicking-friendly tone) out of a nylon/gut-strung guitar but don't want to ramp-up the tension and modify the saddle area to suit steel.

• Weight: 2 lbs 13 oz
• Scale length: 24 1/2"
• Nut width: 1 13/16"
• Neck shape: slim-medium V
• Board radius: 12-14"
• Body width: 12 5/8"
• Body depth: 4"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid Brazilian rosewood
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: rosewood
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: classical (Thomastik KR116 hybrid strings currently)
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: lower/smaller

Condition notes: The spruce top only has one tiny little crack on it, at the lower bout. There's mild wear and tear to the finish but overall it looks grand. One or two of the vintage bridge pins are mismatched but old. It has a (pictured) little punched-in tiny crack (repaired) on the side/back seam near the widest point of the lower bout. The bridge is lightly shaved (less than 1/16" removed off the top deck). Stability-wise, this guitar has remained the same since I originally worked on it in 2017. The owner brought it back for resale and all I had to do was put it in the shop hangers...

It comes with: It has a nice, new, hard case (not pictured).

Consignor tag: BSM