1920 Vega Cylinder-Back Mandocello

Overview: I posted about this earlier this year as we worked on it a bit for a friend of the shop. I didn't get a video at the time. I'm going to borrow the text from my first post and expand on it for this one. The owner was really excited to pick this up as he's a tenor banjo and tenor guitar nut, but he realized that he actually doesn't have a use for it in ensemble play, so he's letting it go. His loss! This thing is alarmingly good.

Vega Cylinderback mandolins and mandolas are on the rarer side but a mandocello version? Sheesh!

It's feather-light, built to Vega's usual high spec, and extremely curious. Its serialization and build style seems to date it to 1920 or very close to it (around the same time lots of Cylinderback mandolins were being made) but it has a 1930s/40s-style decal on the headstock. I'm guessing it must have gone back to Vega for some sprucing-up around then, perhaps?

It has some rough patches, too -- various old repairs to cracks, some finish touch-ups and overspray, and the usual old-instrument woes including a top that has sunken a bit over time considering the amount of shims we needed to fit to the bridge base. It's also got a very long, 26 1/8" scale length which means one can't use the quite-heavy normal mandocello string sets (74w-24w or so and intended for 24" to 24 3/4" scales) as they would completely damage the top due to their excessive tension. We've modified a mix of guitar strings (54w, 42w, 32w, 16) for use instead and that's still what's on it.

Post-repairs it sounds phenomenal -- warm, full, round, and with excellent sustain.

Repairs included: Our shop's work included a level/dress of the frets and some crack re-repairs that Ancel did and then a whole bunch of glorified setup work that I did. It's playing like a champ.

• Weight: 3 lbs 1 oz
• Scale length: 26 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 9/16"
• Neck shape: medium-big soft V
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 0.96"
• Depth at seventh fret: 1.13"
• Body width: 14 1/4"
• Body depth: 3 1/2"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid mahogany
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: ebony
• Fretboard: ebony
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 54w, 38w, 28w, 14 (or close to it)
• Truss rod: none
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: narrower/low

Condition notes: It appears as if all of the hardware is completely original. There's are a few smaller, tight hairline crack repairs to the top and back. The finish has alligatored a bit and seems to have had overspray on the top, at least, at some point. The neck and back look right for stock finish. The frets are on the lower side but they work just fine. There are scuffs, scratches, and light usewear throughout but nothing too significant. Since repairs, it has remained stable in service. For someone wanting to travel around with it a lot, I might suggest having an adjustable bridge fit to make it easier to setup on the fly as climate zones are crossed. I would install one free of charge and stow the old one in the case if that's desired.

It comes with: It has an old chip case.

Consignor tag: MBUO