1956 Vega E-201 Hollowbody Electric Guitar

How about this beautiful beast? The cutaway, the small sunburst finish, the "glowed-edges" pickguard, the gold back-sprayed pickup cover, the big dots in the fretboard -- this is all good stuff. I'm a Vega fan and so it's fun for me to have this in the shop so soon after working on an E-202 (the 2-pickup version). They made some great stuff, for sure.

Just like the other, it's got a Harmony-made body with a Vega-made neck, harness, bridge, and fittings. The pickup is a "Franz" single coil that sounds vaguely DeArmond-like with good mids and a "lush" but clean sound to it.

The idea of these instruments is that they were "convertible" from an electric to an acoustic and so all of the electronics are pickguard-mounted and remove with a couple screws and a tug on the pickup. That said, the acoustic tone is "pretty OK" but the electric tone is where it's at on these guys. It stinks of mid-'50s hollowbody charm and will do jazz, blues, and some earlier-style rock, rockabilly, and country as well. It sounds great with Chet-style fingerpicking, friends...!

The owner told me he spotted a 1956 build-date under the label in the f-hole.

One last note: the bridge is compensated for old-fashioned wound-G stringing. I can cut a second set of string slots in the bridge adjusted for unwound-G stringing if desired.

Repairs included: tweaking of the pickup and pickguard mounting positions, restring, and setup. Previously someone did a good level/dress job of the frets and replaced the pots and cap in the wiring harness for 500k modern (good quality) ones.

Body wood: solid spruce top, ply-maple back and sides

Bridge: rosewood adjustable

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Pickups: 1x Franz single coil

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 52w, 38w, 28w, 22w, 16, 12 custom set

Neck shape: medium C/soft V (Martin-like)

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 25"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 16 1/4"

Body depth: 3 1/2" + arching

Weight: 5 lbs 10 oz

Condition notes: it's relatively clean save for weather-checking on the back and some on the front and sides. It's all-original, too, save replacement pots and cap in the wiring harness. One of the knobs was previously broken and reglued, unfortunately, but seems fine. The pots are push-on so any Gibsons-tyle speed/bell knob would fit easy-peasy if a swap-out is needed. Also, the low E string frets-out on the pickup cover on the last two frets. All other notes are clean. Who would be playing a low E that high up? I have no idea. I got it to this point after a long struggle tweaking the pickup positioning and am very happy I got it to this point.

It comes with: a good hard case.