Vega Martin Stories | Banjo Rehab Center, Banjo Restoration

It`s A Wonder

January 16, 2021

From the BRC Mailbox:

Dear G.G.

Thank you for the prompt and detailed photos of your Vega Martin Wonder banjo (Model VW-5 or sometimes Wonder-5) with serial number 1009. This instrument was manufactured in Nazareth, PA, per Workshop Order #2213 in mid 1974. It features a metal tone ring, white fingerboard binding, a 10 ply rim, a 3-piece maple neck, pearl dots, a resonator with 4 section flanges, nickel-plated metal parts, and a shady mahogany finish. The suggested retail cost in the 1971 Vega Martin price list was $345 without case. The Wonder banjo line included a plectrum and tenor model in addition to the 5-stringer.

In its early Boston beginnings, the Wonder banjo was an entry level instrument that featured a mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, a 5 ply maple rim, a metal tone rim, and resonator as described in a 1961 Vega flyer. It sold for $195 back then. In the 1963 Vega catalogue, the Wonder was converted to a maple neck, with a blackwood fingerboard, and a 5 ply rim. Vega introduced its cousin the open-black “Folk Wonder” model (FW-5) in 1966. In the 1968 Vega catalogue, the Wonder line was upgraded with a 10 ply rim. C. F. Martin purchased the Vega brand in 1970, and the Wonder resonator banjo remained unchanged as did its less popular cousin the open back FW-5 model of which only 124 were made in Nazareth. Both the resonator and open back models appeared in the 1972 Martin catalogue, but the folk style FW-5 production ended in 1976. It is absent from the catalogue of that year. In the 1976 Vega Martin catalogue, the resonator VW-5 instrument was upscaled with a brass tone ring and ebony fingerboard..

The Martin Company sold the Vega brand overseas to the Galaxy Conglomerate in 1979. Vega banjos were then marketed in the US by TMC (Targ & Dinner 20 Century Music Conglomerate), but a version of the Wonder line was not advertised in their catalogue. Galaxy went bankrupt in a few years, and the Vega brand was rescued in 1989 by Greg Deering who revitalized the Vega legacy. The Deering Company revived the Vega tradition of the open back Wonder line of 5-stringers with a nostalgic “Little Wonder” model of yesteryear and a special “Old Time Wonder” banjo for clawhammer enthusiasts.

Thanks for your query to the BRC Mailbox. Be safe, be well, and keep on picking. Barry

CD songs, Jamming, Vega Martin Stories

The Iron Horse is Gone & Down Under- Vega

October 10, 2020

The Salamander Grill proprietors relocated their business up river 30 miles and renamed it the “Cowboy Toad.” Our Bluegrass jam emigrated to a nearby and newly built restaurant called the “Country Club” which was a two story wooden structure across the highway from the Eagles Bluff Conservation Area- a wildlife preserve beautifully photographed in the nature book “Where Pelicans Fly.” The Club was situated in the almost abandoned old railroad town of McBaine, Missouri, population 10.

The jam session area sported a “MU” wall placard and an emblematic Tiger visage beside it because the highway out front eventually coursed all the way back into town accessing the University of Missouri campus. For several years, the Country Club was a popular Sunday afternoon rendezvous site for pickers, patrons, and bicyclists pedaling along the nearby Katy Trail. The BRC founder wrote a bouncy blues tune entitled the “McBaine Boogie” for the listeners.

Late one night, the Country Club sadly burned down. After the conflagration, an anonymous music fan wrote a nostalgic poem that appeared in the local newspaper.

Attached is a sound file of the “McBaine Boogie.” All parts are performed by the author on this opening track of his 2004 CD benefitting the University of Missouri Children`s Hospital. Enjoy.

From the BRC Vega Martin Mailbox:

D.M. from Australia writes-

Hi there, just found your page; what a fantastic site for resources about Vega Martin Banjos! I’ve just recently picked up a Vega Plectrum Banjo here in Australia which has turned out to be a bit of a mystery. It’s a Pro-II which is in quite good condition; it even has the original Lifton case, complete with all the case candy! From what I can see, everything about it suggests that it’s one of the later Instruments made prior to the buyout (it has the reshaped headstock).

However here’s the interesting part; instead of the usual yellow label inside, it has a white label marked Needham Heights with a 5 digit serial number!

At first I was worried that I might have scored a fake; however I managed to google one other banjo with the same label (& a similar serial number) that the owner seemed to think was from 1970, which I believe would make it a transitional model. Interestingly, the 5 digit serial number is preceded by the letter “B” handwritten on the label (I’m guessing that this may have been so the serial numbers don’t overlap with serial numbers from the “print error” models in ’63-’64?). Have you come across the white labels before; and if so, would you have any idea when & where the Banjo might have been made? If I can get an email for you I’ll send you some pics. Cheers, D.M.

Reply from the BRC:

Dear D.M.-

Thanks for the prompt and detailed pictures of your Vega Pro II plectrum banjo #B-12163 with its serial number curiously recorded on an unusual white, rather than yellow, label sticker. Your banjo (seen above) was manufactured in 1964 during a brief period when Vega used 5 digit serial numbers because of a printer`s error and when a prefix of “A” meant an adjustable truss rod. The peg head on the Pro line of banjos seen in the 1963, 1966, and 1968 Vega catalogues is more squarish with somewhat pointy corners than the peg head shown on your 4-stringer. In the 1966 Vega/Boston catalog, the Pro fretboard replaced its blockish mother of pearl inlays with your instrument`s “football and crowns” designs. When the new VIP series was introduced in the 1968 Vega catalogue, it featured an identical MOP stye on its fingerboard but a more smoothly contoured peg head. For about 2 years after acquiring the Vega brand in 1970, C.F. Martin continued the traditional Vega yellow label sticker with the historic 6 digit serial number system but prefixed it with the letter “M” to signify new ownership.

Martin initiated its own serial number system decaled on the interior of the wooden pots starting in 1972. The so-called Bobby Joe Fenster banjo in the Vega Martin catalog of 1970, a thinly veiled Pro model, featured the more smoothly contoured peg head from the VIP neck series. In the C.F. Martin catalogue of 1972, the bona fide Pro model reemerged featuring the smoothly contoured VIP peg head with its rounded corners. The popular VIP model featured more elaborate MOP inlays in the peg head than its cousin the Professional (as seen below in the 1975 Vega Martin VIP-5 banjo #1364 in the BRC collection).

Of note, the Vega factory moved from Leon St. in Boston to Reservoir St. in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, in 1966. My primary theory is that your “B” banjo was a 1964 workshop prototype experimenting with converting the squarish original Pro peg head with its pointy corners to the more smoothly contoured peg head style of the future VIP series. To distinguish this prototype Pro II banjo from the regular inventory, a distinctive white sticker label with a “B” prefixing the serial number was installed to designate the instrument`s unique status to the Vega planners. Interestingly, no model identification appears on the original small Vega ID tag displayed in your photographs. My secondary theory is that your “B” banjo was built from parts manufactured or assembled in Boston, but it was not marketed until sometime later after the factory relocated to Needham Heights. A combination of both of these theories may be the actuality. Lastly, the unusual white sticker label seen in 1963-64 might be just another printer`s error. Hope this helps and thanks again for the photos and interesting supplemental data. Be well Down Under, Barry

D.M. replies, Oct. 2, 2020

Hey Barry, thank you so much for that reply. Wow, sounds like it’s an interesting one; I do remember reading somewhere that Vega weren’t afraid to experiment! Thanks for solving that; and thanks again for your info. D. M.

To All: Be well, mask-up, keep on picking.

CD songs, Vega Martin Stories

A Long Way & Long Neck- Vega Martin

August 15, 2020

In his high school days, the BRC founder dabbled in songwriting and performed his tunes at area talent shows. His first banjo was a Pete Seeger styled long neck that he built from parts procured at a fire sale. During his undergraduate years at a college in Massachusetts in the mid 1960`s, he performed at small venues like coffee houses, a pizza joint, and once with a rock band (the neighbors called the local constabulary to quell the noise).

Playing finger picking styles on both the banjo and guitar, supplemented with occasional harmonica, he was invited to demonstrate these techniques on the college radio station.

Attached is a sound track of the song “A Long Way” that he penned 1967 and did not recorded until 2005 when he made a CD entitled “Songs Mostly about the Heartland- a bonesetters tale” which was sold as a fund-raiser for the local Childrens Hospital. A folksy tune with lots of fun counterpoint, all the multi-tracked instruments and vocals are by the author (copyright 2006).

“A Long Way”Enjoy

01 Track 01 15 (2)

From the BRC Vega Martin Mailbox:

Hi there! Thanks for a wonderfully entertaining and informative website, I have owned (for years) a Vega long neck by Martin, serial #1807. It is in excellent condition, and I have enjoyed plinking on it for 40 years. I would love to know more about it, and possibly it’s current value. I would be glad to send some photos – is there an email to which they could be sent? Again, many thanks for your efforts on the banjo world’s behalf. B.B.

From the BRC:

Dear B.B.: Thank you for your kind remarks and detailed photos of your Vega Martin long neck 5-stringer. Your banjo serial number 1807 was built by C. F. Martin in Nazareth, PA, in 1977. Although styled like the iconic “Pete Seeger” long neck design (PS-5), it is actually a “No. 2 Tu-Ba-Phone XL” model or abbreviated as T2XL in the C.F. Martin shop logbook. Per my files, the Pete Seeger model first appeared in a Vega flyer from Boston in 1961. Apparently, Seeger`s endorsement agreement with Vega was very casual. After the sale of the Vega brand to C.F. Martin in 1970, the Seeger model appeared in the 1970 and 1972 Vega Martin catalogs but not in the 1976 catalog where it was replaced by the similar “No. 2 Tu-Ba-Phone XL” long neck. It is not clear why the gentlemanly Seeger withdrew his endorsement, but enthusiasts proffer that Pete believed the long neck banjo should stand on its own merit and not his name. C.F. Martin manufactured only 25 of the T2XL instruments, and this model was last advertised in a CFM flyer circa 1978. The No. 2 Tu-Ba-Phone XL featured appointments adopted from the Boston era Vega No. 2 banjo of yesteryear with a 3 piece maple neck, adjustable tension rod, fingerboard bound in white, and nickel-plated metal parts. The modern tube-a-phone tone ring has so-called dog bone or barbell apertures, but the #1807 banjo has vintage single hole apertures in the tone ring which is probably a left-over part from Martin`s discontinued Pete Seeger (PS-5) line. The large diameter tension rod is likely a Boston factory part inherited from the Vega inventory.

The Martin Company sold the Vega brand overseas in 1979, but the franchise returned to the USA when purchased by the Deering Company in 1989. The Vega classic Pete Seeger long neck model from Boston in the 1960`s is a collector`s item and worth around $2.8K- 3.5K these days. Although a rare and beautifully crafted instrument, my estimate is that the T2XL is worth around $1.7K nowadays depending upon condition. Thanks again for your correspondence and photos enabling the T2XL story to be shared with the BRC readership. With appreciation, Barry

P.S. Although a Bluegrass picker, my daily practice banjo is an open back long neck Ode because of its mellow wife-friendly tone.

From the BRC: Be safe, observe social distancing, keep on picking.

Vega Martin Stories

MOP Ends & Gone Fishin`

July 25, 2020

As the Vega banjo franchise changed hands among various owners during the 1970-1980 decades, the mother of pearl (MOP) features on their mid-range banjos underwent several iterations. In the Boston 1966 Vega catalogue, the “Pro II” series made its debut appearance with a new and innovative football-and-crowns mother of pearl inlay pattern on the fretboard (left) to replace the blockish inlays on the fingerboard of the preceding “Professional” banjo marketed in their 1963 catalogue. These same decorative but somewhat unadorned inlays were inherited as the fretboard appointments on the “new” VIP model that soon emerged in the 1968 Vega catalogue.

After C.F. Martin purchased the Vega brand in May of 1970, the VIP banjo line surged in popularity. A single-stripe engraving (below) was added to embellish the appearance of its MOP inlays. During the 1970-1979 Martin era, over six hundred VIP-5 string, tenor, and plectrum banjos were manufactured in Nazareth, PA.

In 1979, C.F. Martin sold the Vega franchise overseas to the Galaxy conglomerate which marketed their newly-acquired banjo lines in the USA via the TMC vendor (Targ & Dinner 20 Century Music Company). To upgrade the MOP pattern on their VIP series, a double stripe engraving (left) was implemented.

Galaxy went bankrupt in a few years, and Greg Deering purchased the Vega brand in 1989 to restore the franchise to greatness. The football-and-crowns fretboard ornamentation was not revived, and the history of this unique pattern of MOP inlay ended.

While local jam sessions have been on hiatus for several weeks in response to recent Covid-19 data, the BRC founder spends time with grandkids on the dock behind his workshop. Each youngster has a grandpa-built banjo in their home.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, and be picking……or fishing.

P.S. In his workshop, the BRC founder has been listening to an audiobook of Tolstoy`s classic novel War and Peace, a prodigious narration of 55 hours duration. Only 18 hours of listening remain.

Vega Martin Stories

Bluegrass Special Order

June 21, 2020

From the BRC Mailbox:

Dear Reader- Thank you for the detailed photos of the vintage V-41 Vega Martin banjo. This item was initially announced in a 1971 C.F. Martin price list for $850 without case, and thereafter it appeared in the Vega Martin 1972 catalogue. The shop logbook does not record this model instrument actually being manufactured until 1973, and it was advertised again in the 1976 VM catalogue.

The V-41 was the less expensive version of the fancy gold-plated and engraved V-45 banjo (retail $1650) designed to match the D-45 guitar. Both these models of banjo were available by special order only and reportedly fathered by Mike Longworth to attract the Bluegrass market.

The V-41 had a rosewood resonator and pot, and the resonator had a pearl abalone trim on its back edge. The neck was mahogany with a bound ebony fingerboard that featured distinctive hexagonal mother of pearl inlays. The metal parts were chrome-plated, and the heavy flat head tone ring was brass. Your banjo serial number 785 was one of a pair of V-41 five-stringers manufactured in 1974 per Shop Order #2187 in Nazareth, PA.

The last V-41 parts were made in 1977 and shipped to Japan for assembly. C.F. Martin produced only twenty-eight V-41-5 banjos, two V-41-P plectrums, and one V-41-T tenor banjo.

My estimate is that your single-owner instrument is probably worth around $1450-1750 these days. Thanks again for sharing the story of your unique and historical banjo.

In this circa 1975 photo, the new V-41-5 owner visits an iconic site in Pennsylvania.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, and keep on picking.

Older Posts

Newer Posts