In 1967, towards the end of the folk music revival era, C.F. Martin Co. mirthfully invented a geeky guitar endorser who they named Bobby Joe Fenster. The Vega Martin Pro-5 banjo was quietly re-deisgnated as the “Bobby Joe Fenster” model for a few years until 1972 when the tongue-in-cheek ad campaign was retired. 
Yellow stickers enscripted with the BJF name were adhered to the inner rim of those Pro-5 banjo pots , and these rare birds are occasionally sighted on eBay.
Over the intervening decades, a small mythology has evolved around this humorous footnote in Martin lore. It has been suggested that comedy actor Eugene Levy, supposedly a favorite comic of the Company vice-president, invented a skit character named Bobby Joe Fenster, and so C.F. Martin Co. adapted this imaginary persona and name for the ads. Copyright infringement notwithstanding, there is no mention of BJF on the Wikipedia page devoted to Eugene Levy or anywhere else online. In the 2003 hilarious mockumentary film “A Mighty Wind”, Levy skillfully portrays a nerdy folksinger named Mitch Cohen. This book-wormish BJF look-alike prompted some enthusiasts to muse that the Canadian actor Levy is actually the guy in the old BJF ads, despite the photographs being taken over 35 years prior to the movie.
It appears Levy is not BJF, and that there was more than one model who sat for the ad photos.
Look at these pictures and decide for yourself-
In the Boston pre-Martin days, Vega banjos were endorsed by 5-string legends Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs, and Sonny Osborne. Only the long-neck Pete Seeger model transitioned into the 1972 Vega Martin catalogue, and it was replaced by the No. 2 Tubaphone XL in the 1976 product list.
It was, nonetheless, a whimsical and endearing moment in the too-short Vega Martin banjo epoch. Although C.F. Martin now has over 80 special edition and signature model guitars, the only banjo endorsee established during the 1970-1979 VM era was the uniquely amusing and fictitious Bobby Joe Fenster. What other stringed instrument endorsee is so enshrined in mystery and shrouded by the mists of Time?
P.S. To learn more about one of the two above photo models, please click-on the below link and scroll way down to Comments(1). Since this posting, the identifying data have been deleted from the below Lehigh University Digital Library graphic. Sorry (Ed.).
http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/cdm4/beyond_viewer.php?DMTHUMB=0&searchworks=cat22&ptr=014210
After visiting the BRC website in the Spring of 2015, the guy in the bottom and upper left photos graciously contacted us to confirm that the data footnoted in the above link was factual. The identity of the fellow in the upper right picture remains unknown. Let`s hope that he visits the BRC website someday, and we will hear from him. Barry
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