Vega Vegaphone Soloist tenor banjo (1929), made in Boston, serial # , with shaded maple finish in very good condition. Beautiful AAA grade tiger maple neck and pie crust resonator. A good playing example of one of the finest “Industry Standard” Orchestra tenor banjos from the 1920’s. The Vegaphone Soloist is essentially the second model in a 4-banjo line. The Soloist was solidly professionally priced, selling originally for $200.00 with Vega’s high-grade construction features and a medium-fancy level decoration. Many parts were gold-plated including the hoop, tuners and multi-piece flange (with “Pat. Apl. For.” marked on one flange piece). The soloist is unusual in featuring a mix of gold and nickel plated hardware. The pie-section resonator with beautifully shaded figured maple sections and tortoise shell celluloid outer edge. The fingerboard is in good condtion with star and diamond shaped position markers and frets are in perfect condition. The pearl headstock inlay is Vega’s fanciest floral pattern with the logo on a banner in the centre. The gold-plated Oettinger tailpiece has individual arms engraved with “Vegaphone Soloist” and the company’s Boston address. These Vegaphone banjos were extremely popular with period Jazz musicians and can be seen in many period photographs.

Banjo details

Overall length is 33 1/2 in. (85.1 cm.), 11 in. (27.9 cm.) diameter head, and 3 in. (7.6 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 23 in. (584 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/16 in. (30 mm.). Hardware is original and plating is excellent.  A very fine sounding banjo, set up with a remo white head with a little wear through. I decided not to change the head as I quite liked how this one sounded. Comes with original case in fair condition.