vega pictures

[ollaimh]

[ollaimh]

[ollaimh]

this is my new old vega, probably first world war era. maple back and sides and spruce top, this one has a straight flat top, my thirties one has a bent top. we had to replace about ten percent of the abalone round the top and much of the lower flower on the pick guard, plus the top brace was rattling around and had to be re glued, only one brace, we lifted one side, there was no evidence of their ever having been another top brace, no brace under the bridge, it is flat but this creates a little bulge around the sound hole. it has stayed in tune for three days, since re strung, except where I keep bumping the e string tuner on the case. great sound, fabulous for celtic, which is all I play.

[ollaimh]

[ollaimh]

second one is the thirties one, plainer but it only needed a new bridge. it's a cannon but not a deep and sweet as the maple one.

look m I just did multiple pictures

[DougC]

Beautiful mandolins. I love the color of the top on the Maple /Spruce with the flowery pick guard. I also like the shape of the instrument. It seems that the points have a nice proportion to the body.

[coldwar]

I love the two-point style

[billhay4]

These are cool instruments.
Thanks,
Bill

[LongBlackVeil]

Awesome! i really want one of these one day. I love the first one, never seen one like that

[Hudmister]

A few more pictures of the 30's one would be nice. Maybe a close up of the head and one of the sound hole and label. That mandolin has character.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I've got a 205(Maple) CB and a 305(Rosewood) CB... also pics of a 202, 203, 205 (Rosewood), and a top of the line 207.

[ollaimh]

nice pictures eddie. how do you identify the model numbers?

i'll do some more pictures, but the head stock has no inlay or star, but it does have a cut out. the back of the head stock is a sliver plate--my luthier was surprised by the silver. engraved with , made by the vega company 155 Columbus street boston. with a star engraved and nice filigreed border. the top was lifted on one side with some abalone missing so we took advantage of that to gently lift enough top to get a good look inside. we went for reglueing the one brace. I thought about moving it back, but went with where it was origionally. so far the instrument has held tune well and the action is great except for needing a little fret dressing. it has become my favourite player right off!!! I love the tone. I like the mahagony one as well but the maple is brighter and sweeter by quite a bit. it came quite chep, but unplayable, so we had to do some work. it had the original case as well , which is nice.

[ollaimh]

eddie, your 207 looks a lot like mine. could yolu do side pictures? to see if the sides are bent like the top? and like my mahagony one? I am still considering rebracing this to try and get a cant, but no hurry--and we'd probably have to raise the bridge a bit.

[ollaimh]

[Eddie Sheehy]

I'm not sure I follow you. The 207 above is pics 3, 4 and 5. Pics 7 and 8 is a 202. Pics 6 and 9 is the 10-string.

Numbers: 201 - flat top flat back
202 - Mahogany B&S CylinderBack, mahogany neck
203 - Maple B&S Cylinderback, mahogany neck
205 - Fancy pickguard, MOP on soundhole, Maple or Rosewood B&S Cylinderback, maple neck, fancy fretmarkers, engraved cloud tailpiece
207 - Flamed Maple B&S, flamed maple neck, very fancy pickguard, fancy fretmarkers, mop purfling, mop soundhole, engraved cloud tailpiece

I have a 10-string 15" Mandola/mandolin - I'm not sure what the number model is. These numbers do not appear anywhere on the instruments, just in the Catalogs

3-- Mandola - same appointments and uffix as the mandolins - 302, 303, 305, 307

4-- Mandocello - ditto but only two models: 403 like a 203,and a 404 like a 205

[ollaimh]

i couldn't get a good clear picture of the engraving. the chair is from the mother in law whose family were rich before the depression. they brought it to Toronto around 1870, it was made in west virginnia around 1830.. these aren't worth a lot but it is pretty

[Eddie Sheehy]

Are your tuner posts 'styled'? Is there MOP purfling around the edge of the top? Is your neck curly Maple, or plain, light colored, Maple?

There are clearly more models and variants out there than appear in my catalog.

[ollaimh]

the neck appears to be flame maple, as is the back(the back could be polished a bit to bring it out--we were concerned with structural issues). the purfling is around the sound hole and around the top, but it is abalone not simple mother of pearl. is shines with blues and turquoises and some beige-- it was hard to find replacement for the missing bits, but my lutheir had some left over from an old broken mandolin.

what do you wean by tuner posts styled? they have a bugle at the top and a ridge carved around above the string hole.

[ollaimh]

the abalone around the sound hole shows up a nice blue--i take poor pictures. that's the same all around the edge of the mandolin. about ten per cent was missing around the edge, from the bottom edge just on the bass side of the tail piece. it's a rather plain tail piece for such a fancy mandolin, but being a player i care most about the sound. however it's nice to restore it to the original condition.