1909 Vega Bowback Mandolin

This sweet old Vega is just like many of the other old Vega bowlbacks I've worked on in the past -- lightly-built, a great player once the work is done, and equipped with a rich, lively, loud sound. When talking about old American-made bowlbacks, for me it's either Vega or Larson for lead position in the bowlback tonewars.

The reason both of these makes sound so good, though, is that they place the bridge below the cant in the top. This puts it on the unreinforced area of the top (and thus roll the dice a bit on structural integrity) so it's giving these instruments a big boost in extra vibration pushed into the top compared to instruments with the bridges fit above the cant where all the bracing is.

For the most part, the designs hold-up just fine with just minor sag to the area as the instruments age. This one has a bit more sag than most but has stayed-put since stringing-up so I'm not too worried about it.

My guy Andy did the work on it and it got a fret level/dress, bridge compensation/adjustment, a replacement pearl inlay, side dots, minor cleaning, and setup work. It's now playing bang-on and the owner agreed with me that it would be interesting for her to have it strung-up in octave courses on the bass side of the strings. This gives it a bit of a jangly, bouzouki-like, latin-like, springy sound that shines on open, ringing chords.