View Full Version : Vega F style Mandolins
Dan McIntyre
Feb-19-2005, 5:09pm
Has anyone ever heard of a Vega F style mandolin? There is one on Ebay with 18 hrs. left with a hand built case. It's probably just a cheap copy? Just wondering if anyone else saw it and what it was? Thabnks,
Dan
Bob DeVellis
Feb-20-2005, 10:11am
They're Asian knock-offs and share only their name with the original Vega Company of Boston. I've never played one but would expect them to be roughly equivalent to other Asian f-styles, which (with some exceptions) often have favored appearance over tone.
Dan McIntyre
Feb-20-2005, 2:26pm
Thanks Bob for the info. I did'nt bid on it and I'm glad I didn't now. I am watching the classifieds here and some other sites, and Ebay for a move up from my present mando. I started about a yr. ago on a Vantage 2-pointer that my son traded for and have since moved up to a nice sounding and playing "Strad-O-Lin" that I bought here on Mandolin Cafe. I've saved up about $1500 toward my next mando and I'm starting to look at some F9s and Flatirons and Webers and I'm even considering the Eastmans since reading some good reviews here. I might keep saving and go after something in the 2K to 3K range. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Dan
mike_c
Feb-24-2005, 1:31am
a while ago there was a very very old looking f-4 style mando for sale on ebay.it looked 80-100 years old. they said it was a vega??? it was news to me
Bob DeVellis
Feb-24-2005, 9:16am
Hmmm. That would be news to me, too. I wonder if maybe somebody stuck a newer Vega neck onto an older body or if he seller just had it all wrong. Or perhaps it carried a Vega label from repair work? Maybe a "distressed" Asian Vega? I'm pretty darn sure that Vega wasn't making f-style mandolins anywhere near 80 to 100 years ago.
Eric F.
Feb-25-2005, 10:32am
The F-4 style Vega was one of the Asian ones. It had a rather large gash in it and some highly florid description by the seller. Apparently, this Vega was every bit as good as a Loar. It didn't sell the first time or two it was listed. I don't know what ended up happening with the auction.
If you've got $1500 or so for a mando,I would certainly start looking at some of the builders here.Bill Bussman's A styles start at $1850.You can have a mando built to your specs.
Don.
RJinRI
May-15-2005, 10:04am
FYI, here's a 1989 Korean made Vega, F which may be on the selling block soon.