ARCHIVED TOPIC: identifying Vega / Martin banjo

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Welcome to Banjo Haven! I specialize in banjo repairs, banjo restorations, and banjo consignments of vintage 4 string,5 string,6 string,8 string banjo, banjo guitar,banjo mandolin, etc. Banjohaven also sells vintage 4 string instrument parts. Vega manufactured these brass instruments under the Vega and Standard brand names, Standard having good popularity as a brand as well as a loyal customer base. They also crafted guitars and in the 1930’s began producing what was then becoming quite popular, the archtop guitars which looked a lot like big violins. Vega also acquired the plectrum instrument division of Boston's Thompson & Odell Company, which made bowl-back mandolins, guitars, and several types of banjos. The emphasis remained true to Vega's origins, however, with about 60% of business centered on stringed instruments and 40% on brass. Mine does not say Made In The Nederlands on the inside sticker, Any body out there know Vega's serial #s Please let us know. Reply; Re: 1970 Martin Vega Acoustic Guitar Model VDX-84. Posted by Mark Naro on Sat, - 02:31.: I was just wondering how much my guitar is worth.Date 1970 Martin Vega Flattop Guitar.SN# 10072 Model VDX-84.

Fernandes created faithful recreations of Fender instruments; and Takamine and Suzuki both made acoustic guitars nearly identical to certain Martin models. Interestingly, most Japanese copies of the time didn’t have serial numbers — a great way to tell if an instrument is truly a “lawsuit” guitar, even today.

Bassora - Posted - 08/28/2012: 20:59:07

Trying to date our 'new' banjo. Vega is imprinted on the front of the headstock, Martin and Co. logo is stamped on back of headstock. There's a Martin decal on the insideof the rim that looks like the Martin that is stamped on headstock. On the rim is stamped the number: 242.

With this information does anyone have any idea when it might have been produced or who I might contact to get information?

Bassora

'out with the old, in with the older'

Bill Rogers - Posted - 08/28/2012: 22:40:48

Check the Vega dating at mugwumps.com

beegee - Posted - 08/29/2012: 05:56:06

Contact C.F. Martin. They should have the Vega productions records for their ownership period.

mikehalloran - Posted - 08/29/2012: 19:09:39

242 by itself is meaningless. It was made by Vega and sold by Martin or made by Martin. In any case, it was sold between 1972 - 1979 but may have been made earlier. POST PICTURES! Please? There are many who can identify it if you do. Include pictures of any labels on the inside.

Jmiller71 - Posted - 11/27/2012: 11:26:21

I also have a martin Vega and Vega is imprinted on the front of the head stock, Martin and Co. logo is imprinted on back of head stock. Also a Martin decal on the inside of the rim that looks like the Martin on the head stock and under that, is the number 993. I sent an E-mail to Martin Co. asking the age of my banjo, Martin replied saying they had built 2000 Vegas with the Martin name prior to selling the banjo business and according to my serial number, the banjo was manufactured between 1975 and 1976. I hope this helps you.

mikehalloran - Posted - 11/27/2012: 22:32:34

Whoever sent that email is guessing. 993 is in the middle of the serial number list so '75 - '76 is as good a guess as any other. The Martin-Vega numbers give a clue as to when they were sold but will not tell you when they were made - or even by whom, Martin or Vega.

Post pictures including the label and inside the pot where the co-rods attach to the neck. There are a few of us who know these well enough to be able to tell you who made what.

wrangler - Posted - 11/28/2012: 10:38:16

I have a Martin/Vega that I bought new in the spring of 1970. At the time, I didn't know that Vega was bought out by Martin. The banjo does not say Martin on the back side of the head stock. According to sources that I can find the serial beginning with M didn't come out until 1972 but serial number 130095 would have placed it in 1971. http://mugwumps.com/acf_date.html I bought this banjo brand new in 1970 and the store had to order it. Martin/Vega seems to be mysterious to me. It is a very good sounding banjo though.

Edited by - wrangler on 11/28/2012 10:40:04

rexhunt - Posted - 11/28/2012: 15:06:24

quote:

Originally posted by wrangler

I have a Martin/Vega that I bought new in the spring of 1970. At the time, I didn't know that Vega was bought out by Martin. The banjo does not say Martin on the back side of the head stock. According to sources that I can find the serial beginning with M didn't come out until 1972 but serial number 130095 would have placed it in 1971. http://mugwumps.com/acf_date.html I bought this banjo brand new in 1970 and the store had to order it. Martin/Vega seems to be mysterious to me. It is a very good sounding banjo though.

I believe any Vega with a yellow label like this was made by Vega in Needham MA. If it said Martin on the label, it was after the buyout but before manufacture moved to Nazareth. The one in the picture is a Bobby Joe Fenster model which was exactly the same as the Pro II but renamed by Martin. I've got one from 69 without Martin on the label.

Rex

mikehalloran - Posted - 11/28/2012: 18:29:25

Among the 2000+ Vega banjos that Martin made and / or sold were about 250 or more completed banjos including all 100 of the Bobby Joe Fenster model named after a comic character created by Eugene Levy - otherwise, it's the VIP II. Are you sure of that 1970 date when you purchased it? That would be 2 years before Martin purchased Vega. Many of the Vega made, Martin sold banjos do have earlier serial numbers from 1969 - 71 and the Boston label.

wrangler - Posted - 11/29/2012: 06:28:35

I graduated from under grad Kent State in June of 1971. During the winter quarter before my graduation, I did student teaching. I played the Vega at a school assembly and have a picture someone took. That would have been Jan. or Feb. of 1971. I rembrer buying the banjo in the spring just before my senior year. That would have been about May of 1970.

Jmiller71 - Posted - 12/05/2012: 12:41:46

quote: I'll try to load pictures you requested.

Originally posted by mikehalloran
Whoever sent that email is guessing. 993 is in the middle of the serial number list so '75 - '76 is as good a guess as any other. The Martin-Vega numbers give a clue as to when they were sold but will not tell you when they were made - or even by whom, Martin or Vega.

Post pictures including the label and inside the pot where the co-rods attach to the neck. There are a few of us who know these well enough to be able to tell you who made what.

The Vega Company was a musical instrument manufacturer that started operations in Boston, Massachusetts in 1881. The company began under Swedish-born Julius Nelson, his brother Carl, and a group of associates that included John Pahn and John Swenson. The founders had previously worked for a guitar shop run by Pehr Anderberg that made instruments for John C. Haynes, another Boston musical instrument company. Nelson had served as foreman of guitar and mandolin manufacturing at Anderberg's shop. Subsequently, Julius and Carl Nelson bought out the other founding associates and established the Vega company.

In 1904, Vega acquired the instrument manufacturing firm (primarily building banjos) previously operated by A. C. Fairbanks. Vega also acquired the plectrum instrument division of Boston's Thompson & Odell Company, which made bowl-back mandolins, guitars, and several types of banjos. The emphasis remained true to Vega's origins, however, with about 60% of business centered on stringed instruments and 40% on brass.

The Vega Company is best known today for its banjos, such as the Vegavox model they co-developed with famous plectrum player Eddie Peabody. Vega continued to build and sell A.C. Fairbanks banjos after it acquired that company. Vega initially labeled these instruments A. C. Fairbanks, then switched to Fairbanks banjo by the Vega Co., then eventually to just Vega. David L. Day, who had been the chief acoustical designer at Fairbanks, became general manager of the Vega stringed instrument division and continued to develop innovative and successful banjo designs. For example, the Vega Tu-ba-Phone, which first appeared in 1909, featured a perforated metal tone ring—a ring-shaped, square-sectioned metal tube that lay between the instrument's wooden rim and calfskin head. The Tu-ba-Phone tone ring provided a volume and tone still admired by many banjo players.

Another noteworthy Vega instrument line was the cylinder-back mandolin family. This included mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos and a limited amount of acoustic guitars.

Vega Guitar Serial Numbers

Vega also produced a line of brass instruments.^[1] In 1909, Vega purchased the Standard Band Instrument Company of Boston incorporating their line of horns. This company had previously operated under names including Quinby Brothers, Hall & Quinby, Hall Quinby Wright Company, and others. It had been founded in 1861 by David Hall, a band leader, bugle player and instrument maker. The name Wright came from E.G. Wright whose E.G Wright and Company merged with other investors to create the Boston Musical Instrument Manufactury in 1869. Wright was briefly a partner in the company between 1870 and his death.^[2] Vega built brass instruments under the Vega and Standard names well into the 20th century.

Vega also produced high quality guitars. In the 1930s, the company built archtop guitars with backs and tops carved in the manner of violins. These became especially popular with jazz musicians. Eventually they produced electrified versions of these guitars. They also produced a guitar with a longitudinal bulge along its back, like the company's cylinder-back mandolins, and a similar longitudinal bulge along its top. The top bulge is reminiscent of the design used on Howe-Orme instruments—from another Boston firm, the Elias Howe Company.

As the 1940s and 1950s unfolded, the quality of Vega instruments declined and it became clear that the company's most innovative and productive years had passed. In the 1970s, the C. F. Martin Company purchased Vega in the hope of capitalizing on the popularity of Vega's banjos among folk musicians. Under the Vega name, Martin produced guitars with the Vega logo on their headstocks in a Netherlands guitar factory (and probably others), usually with a label referencing 'C.F. Martin Organization.' These instruments were produced during most of the 1970s. The 'netherlands factory' was the Egmond factory which Martin had an agreement with at the time.

Perhaps the most visible Vega instrument in the 1950s and 60s was the long neck 5-string banjo designed and used by folk singer Pete Seeger, and later by several folk groups like the Kingston Trio and The Limeliters.

Martin also used the Vega name for a line of strings. The Vega name was subsequently licensed to a number of American and international companies. In 1989, the Deering Banjo Company purchased the Vega name. They currently produce Vega banjos reminiscent of the instruments Vega made during the 1960s folk revival.

Vega trumpets and cornets were on par with the highest quality brass horns of their time. Popular with jazz artists as well as later big bands and solo artists such as Miles Davis, who performed on the Vega Power Model before he endorsed the Martin Committee, they enjoyed a comfortable niche in the professional market. However, producing handcrafted professional horns without keeping an eye to increasing demand for student instruments, and with aging artisans retiring, the company dropped horn production to concentrate on stringed instruments.

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vega Instrument Company.

Vega Guitar Models

• Ayars, C. M. (1937). Contribution to the art of music in America by the music industries of Boston 1640- 1936. New York: H. W. Wilson Co.
• Gura, P. F., & Bollman, J. F. (1999). America's instrument: The banjo in the nineteenth century. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Notes[edit]

1. ^Horn-u-copia Internet Forum Catalog of user's instruments
2. ^Tom Turner, History of Vega and Standard cornets, http://www.trumpetmaster.com

Vega Guitars Serial Numbers Lookup