1922 Vega Tubaphone 5-String Plectrum Banjo

This is one of the most strange banjo projects I've had through the shop! It's a 5-string plectrum banjo. Did I just blow you mind? Probably not! But still, it's an odd thought -- who would play one of these and how did they tune it in the first place? It certainly wouldn't be a standard plectrum tuning, I'd imagine.

The owner of this banjo waited 6 months while for Remo to send him his custom-size, FiberSkyn head as the rim is an odd 12 1/2" and not a standard size in the aftermarket-head market. He told me it'd arrived and I ordered-up a set of Waverly tuners from Elderly Instruments which arrived just on time for fitting today.

As you'd expect for an instrument of this caliber, it has a top-notch build and is awfully gorgeous. The heel is carved, it has the heavy-duty ply-maple Vega rim and Tu-Ba-Phone tonering, and the 2-piece mahogany neck is fronted with a bound, ebony fretboard. The pearl dots in the face are simple but the pearl inlay in the stained-maple-veneer headstock is fancier.

Work included a lot of fuss to get the new head fitted, a fret level/dress that was complicated due to a light S-curve of warp, installation of the Waverly pegs at the headstock, and a setup that finished-up with the install of a 5/8" tall (ideal), compensated bridge. The owner has it strung-up for DADGC (fifth, fourth, fourth, fourth) low to high (he's used to this peculiar tuning in various iterations) with the lowest note a step below guitar and the highest a half-step above guitar's B string. With the gauges on it that retunes to DADAD or CGCGC pretty easily for modal craziness.

Action is just a hair above 1/16" on the treble side and 3/32" on the bass and the neck has just a hair of relief in it under-tension. With a long 27 1/8" scale length and 5 strings, you might expect that, though. He had some Argentine gypsy-jazz strings and the gauges are 46w, 36w, 23w, 15, 11 low to high. Tonally it is awesome! It has definition, punch, and an absurdly-good, focused "reverb-ish" sustain to its sound that really suits the fingerpicked, oud-like playing the owner uses. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get a soundclip! Grr!

The real magic of this instrument is in its 12 1/2" rim -- that gives breathing room for the low tuning. 

This banjo appears to be mostly-original, too, save for the new Waverly 4:1 geared pegs, the nice adjustable tailpiece, head, and bridge. The rim hardware is all there from the factory.

Oops! The nut is unoriginal, too -- but a good-quality bone one.

The silverplated-copper windings of the gypsy-jazz loop-end strings gives the basses a vibrant, saucy, semi-classical (but brighter and punchier) vibe on a banjo. If you look carefully you can see my guitar-ish compensation at the bridge.

We were thinking of using the original buttons, but they were proving too difficult to re-work and fit on the larger shafts of the Waverly pegs.

Isn't the heel carving sublime?

The serial number corresponds to 1922 per the Vega serial list I have on hand.

Vega's use of celluloid binding in three places on the rim gives it a deluxe look.

The last fellows to work on this bent the tailpiece's hanger-bolt so the string path would align to the neck a little better.