Vega Whyte Laydie banjo-mandolin conversion

[almeriastrings]

This just joined our little collection.... as far as I can tell the 10 1/8" pot is from a 1920 Whyte Laydie banjolin and the neck is by Doug Unger. It is a really fine sounding instrument. Much louder than expected, with nice clarity. Lovely inlay and carving...






It kind of turned up by chance, as these things tend to...

[Mandocarver]

Amazing inlay work, some of the best I've ever seen. Lovely carving too. Looks like a real treasure.

[allenhopkins]

Unger sure "pretty up" an instrument. Bernunzio here in Rochester used to get one or two of his creations every year; not so much lately...

[Jim Garber]

Yes, Doug is one of the very best. Elderly has three instruments of his, two banjos and one mandolin.

[almeriastrings]

I'll bet these things were awesomely loud as a mandolin-banjo. That 10 1/8" Whyte Laydie pot absolutely pumps out the volume. Really surprising. We had it side-by-side the other day with some really good standard resonator banjos (Deering GDL, etc) and this smaller, lighter instrument was by no means overwhelmed. It has a tone that reminds me quite a bit of an ODE or OME resonator... sweeter than a typical Mastertone, but by no means "tubby", with quite a lot of clarity. Probably that smaller head. Although it is most suited to old-time, I think it would do a passable job for melodic picking too. A very versatile instrument. The pearl engraving is a hallmark of Doug Unger and is just beautiful. We don't see too many like this out here....

Incidentally, we happened by it because we were "babysitting" it for a friend of ours who did not want to leave it 'home alone' while he went on a lengthy trip. When he got back, we were having an instrument room tidying up session and he took a strong liking to a certain vintage Martin. We liked the banjo. He liked the Martin and that was that. We have at least achieved a small space saving as the case for this is quite a bit smaller than the 'dread it has now replaced