1975 Martin-made Vega VIP Resonator Tenor Banjo

A customer of mine brought this rare bird in for consignment the other day. This has a 1502 serial number that I think puts this at around 1975. I have a small thing for this-period Vega because a friend of mine played a VegaVox of this era for some time and I always enjoyed the sound of it when I heard it. This one is no slouch, either, and has a peculiar tone that's very pleasing -- it sounds like a hybrid between a flathead Mastertone Gibson ring and a White Laydie or Tubaphone sound. It's clean, loud, bright, and poppy but has a nice, velvety-sounding middle/bottom (for a banjo!) that gives it a little extra mwah. Did I mention it's loud? Did I also mention it's lighter than a Gibson?

This one is all-original save for replacement frets (done in '79 per a note on the back of the resonator) and, presumably, the Grover 2-foot bridge. My work on it was just a fret level/dress, minor cleaning, and a good setup. These Vegas have a coordinator-rod setup under the hood that makes them just as practical as a Gibson setup-and-stability-wise and they also have super-slim, fast necks that remind me of the speedy '50s Gibson tenor necks.

While the branding reads as Vega, this was actually built by Martin in Pennsylvania after they'd taken-over the remains of the Vega company and were building the banjos entirely home-brew. As a result, the quality control is quite high and these instruments handle every bit as "pro" as they look and the finish has that nice, subdued, Martin vibe.

Specs are: 23" scale, 11" head, 13 5/8" resonator diameter, 3 3/4" depth overall, 1 1/8" nut width, 15/16" string spacing at the nut, and 1 5/16" spacing at the bridge. Action is set a 1/16" at the 12th fret, the neck is straight (and has a truss rod), and the back of the neck is a slim, soft, C/V profile. The board is flat. String gauges are currently 30w, 20w, 13, 9 and it's tuned CGDA standard.

Woods are: 3-piece maple/mahogany neck, figured-maple resonator, multi-ply maple rim, ebony fretboard with pearl inlay, and rosewood headstock veneer. The hardware is mostly nickel-plated and has average tarnish but still looks good. The hooks and tailpiece are chrome-plated.

How about that pickin' spot?

The inlay in the headstock is nice, too.

The consignor thought the trussrod had the owner's initials but, no, it's just the model name -- V.I.P -- for Vega in Pennsylvania at this point, maybe???

It has geared, 4:1 tuners installed.

An original hard case comes with it and it's in good shape and includes tuning wrenches and whatnot in the pocket.

Here's the inside of the rim. The coordinator rod setup makes action changes on-the-fly easy-peasy.

Here's the tonering design.