That's the headline the seller has used. Interesting instrument with a great case which someone can definitively identify, I would hope..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/25525182811...31cd95:g:~ugAA
That's the headline the seller has used. Interesting instrument with a great case which someone can definitively identify, I would hope..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/25525182811...31cd95:g:~ugAA
Looks a lot like my Vega mandocello, except with a different neck and head stock. Is this originally Vega as a 4-string something or other, or was the original neck replaced?
I am a luthier specialising in historical and world stringed instruments. You can see more info at my website.
Planetary banjo pegs, same as my Gibson TL. Definitely (IMHO) attempts by both companies to reach out to tenor banjoists, in search of a guitar/mandolin/wood-bodied sound.
Were there many tenor guitars that used the planetary pegs? The two I have owned, Gibson and Dobro, both used guitar-ish tuners.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Joe, this is indeed an original 4 string. They didn't make many of these, but I have seen at least one other.
Gibson did use planetary tuners for a while, on at least some of their earlier tenor guitar models. They also used them on some 6 string guitars around 1929 - 1930. Maybelle Carter's L-5 originally had planetary tuners on it. She replaced them pretty quickly.
The Mound City Blue Blowers in 1931 playing "St Louis Blues" with two of them! I believe thats a young Eddie Condon on the left...
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
Buying an instrument unseen and unplayed from an unknown source is nervous-making. Nevertheless, this Vega is now on its UPS-way to me:
First time bidding and buying on ebay. I'm doing my best not to fret, so to speak.
When it arrives I'll make a little report in the Tenor Guitar forum ... or thereabouts.
And from the when-it-rains-it-pours department: I saw this morning that Bernunzio's has just listed a Gibson version of same.
Last edited by Mandolin Cafe; Dec-07-2021 at 4:59pm.
Well done! It does have its original case, which will protect it during its journey and also means you do not have to try to find a case. The seller appears to have what one would hope are all the credentials to be accurate about the instrument- and he has worked on it, so one hopes there will be no surprises, other than delight, I would trust. I have just bought a fantastic mandolin on eBay but for less than one tenth of what you have spent and I could not be happier with it on arrival, so it is not always a leap in the dark.
Nice looking instrument and nice looking case. It's cool that you'll have a matched pair
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