Tone: rich, clean, sweet, warm, full, articulateĪction height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass to hair-over 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on) Repairs included: a neck reset and bolt reinforcement (it's a tenon joint), fret level/dress, bridge reglue and patch-up of damaged top under bridge, new ebony bridge pins, cleats for two hairline cracks, cleaning, side dots install, and setup.īack & sides wood: solid Brazilian rosewood These were not cheap guitars when they were built, either - it would've been in the price range of a Martin, Washburn, Weymann, or the like. I only had to cleat a couple of small hairline cracks below the bridge and all the bracing was tight and good to go - something very surprising for a guitar of this age. What more to say? Despite finish flaws and the mentioned needed repairs from a century-plus of use, it's really otherwise in pretty good shape.
So, yes, I think the timeframe is accurate to the serial on this guy. It has the non-screwed-in gears for the tuners and the build style, trim, details, and gold/silver-black/shiny label all correlate to bowlback mandolins of theirs I've dated to the same time. While Vega guitar serial numbers are often a little vague timeline-wise in the '20s, I believe that the serial on this matches their banjo serial numbers charts - placing it at 1899 or perhaps 1900. Luckily, Thomastik makes the hybrid KR116 set which is rope-core-steel but classical-string tension/intonation - so you can get a fingerpicking steel-string sound/practicality without killing an old gut-strung guitar. It was made for gut strings and so classical strings are what a guitar like this needs to stay healthy. The sound is lush, full, warm, and pretty deep for its size and time. It needed some work (the neck joint was damaged and the top under the bridge was damaged, among other things), but now that the work is done it's just lovely. And let's be frank: it's a lovely guitar. I mean, really? I know tons of people who would be tickled to their demise to have a 00-size, Brazilian-rosewood-backed, Boston-made Vega from the turn of the century. Now that's a guitar, right? Compatriots of mine basically rescued this (via a luthier friend of theirs) from a dumpster, essentially.
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