Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/339570/3
Page: 1 2 3
llrevis - Posted - 02/16/2018: 11:52:33
I am the original owner of Ken’s PS5. I am from Noblesville Indiana which had no music store in 1963 the year I purchased the banjo. I was a drummer and had never had a banjo in my hands before then. I traded a set of Ludwig drums for that banjo from a guitar store on the south side of Indianapolis more than thirty miles from home. It was the only banjo I played for forty years, except for a brief encounter with a Gibson RB 250. I played for over ten years before I ever heard anyone play a banjo. The area around wgere I live was not a hotbed for oldtime banjo and still isn’t. To the best of my knowledge there were no banjo mechanics of Ken’s caliber in the area and there still aren’t.
I played that banjo for over fifty years and it was not hard to play and it sounded better than any other open back that I ever played. I made the pilgrimage to Elderly Instruments about ten years ago and played a Wildwood a Reiter; I would no trade the PS for eiither. I have also played a Deering Vega Two recently and thought it superior to the PS but it was priced at over three grand.
In 1963 I was 22, single,had a decent job, low rent, and afford to buy about whatever I wanted.
If Ken had been available I would have had him fix the damn thing just so it would have been right.
BTW. That PS didn’t come with rotomatics in it. The originals were U think Grover pancake tuners. I replaced then with Ode planetary pegs probably about 1965 and they were in it until about five years ago.
llrevis - Posted - 02/16/2018: 12:39:50
One more thing. When I was at Elderly, I had the
them evaluate it for a possible trade. One of their technicians looked it over. He asked why I changed the coordinator rods. It had the same rods that came on it; ie the 1/4 and the 5/8 tube. He also said it needed a refret. I don’t think he had ever seen a Vega Pete Seeger Model before then.
Later Elderly had a couple of them in stock identical to mine priced at over $3500.
Ken LeVan - Posted - 02/16/2018: 13:11:52
quote:
Originally posted by llrevis
One more thing. When I was at Elderly, I had the
them evaluate it for a possible trade. One of their technicians looked it over. He asked why I changed the coordinator rods. It had the same rods that came on it; ie the 1/4 and the 5/8 tube. He also said it needed a refret. I don’t think he had ever seen a Vega Pete Seeger Model before then.
Later Elderly had a couple of them in stock identical to mine priced at over $3500.
It does look like the frets had been filed down a lot -I think I asked you about that. As for the coordinator rods, they are the ones typical of that period,- nothing unusual about them. Apropos of your previous post, If I had seen that banjo in 1962, I would have had no idea there was anything unusual about it. I got to play one that year, and honestly, I had no idea about the action, setup or anything - I just accepted it as the way they were. It played fine for you all those years. I am absolutely certain that was not the only banjo that came out of the Vega factory with that neck setup - luck of the draw.
llrevis - Posted - 02/16/2018: 13:38:54
Ken. The frets are exactly the way they were when it left the Vega factory except for normal wear They have never been filed by anyone. I was told that was the type of fret that Vega was using at the time as opposed to the type that Gibson was using.
Ken LeVan - Posted - 02/16/2018: 16:41:08
quote:
Originally posted by llrevis
Ken. The frets are exactly the way they were when it left the Vega factory except for normal wear They have never been filed by anyone. I was told that was the type of fret that Vega was using at the time as opposed to the type that Gibson was using.
That was why I asked you about it - they were flat on top as if they had been filed down and not crowned afterwards. When you told me that's the way they were when you bought it new, I figured "OK, that's the way they did it at the factory", and it just seemed like another odd thing like the neck height. I will say that they are all level and no buzzing. My normal tendency would be to crown them, but apparently, they didn't do that.
These pics were taken before I did anything to the banjo, and I probably won't crown the frets because the current condition is original.
Joe Connor - Posted - 02/16/2018: 16:48:17
Ken, for what it's worth, the frets on my FR-5 are the same (low and uncrowned), and it has never been refretted. I've played that banjo a lot, and those frets seem to have held up a lot better than the frets on my other guitars and banjos.
llrevis - Posted - 02/16/2018: 16:57:51
I found the post from Joel Hooks about Vega doing everything on the cheap to be quite interesting especially the way they made the rims. I never dreamed that they were sliced off a tube as opposed to making them one at a time.
mikehalloran - Posted - 02/17/2018: 08:10:44
> The originals were U think Grover pancake tuners<
Elton made the tuners. Fender and Gibson used them as well during the ‘60s. The PS-5 arm rest with the two posts and adjustable height was also made by Elton.
Ken LeVan - Posted - 02/17/2018: 08:36:54
quote:
Originally posted by llrevis
I found the post from Joel Hooks about Vega doing everything on the cheap to be quite interesting especially the way they made the rims. I never dreamed that they were sliced off a tube as opposed to making them one at a time.
CraigRison - Posted - 02/19/2018: 16:39:30
The neck on my 60's Plectrum Wonder has what at first look like "flat frets" - also - but they really have a slight arch from their finishing process (I'm guessing? ) - and they played fine! Probably started with "extra tall" frets and leveled them all rather then messing around with making sure they all hammered in "perfectly flat".
Nothing wrong with "Good,Fast & Cheap" if we really can deliver all THREE! Looks like Rockefeller somehow made it happen on both ends, customers got a good value and he made more profit while banjo's were ppoular (I'm guessing again? ) than probably any other U.S. banjo mfgr. in history.
Ken LeVan - Posted - 02/19/2018: 17:10:48
quote:
Originally posted by CraigRison
The neck on my 60's Plectrum Wonder has what at first look like "flat frets" - also - but they really have a slight arch from their finishing process (I'm guessing? ) - and they played fine! Probably started with "extra tall" frets and leveled them all rather then messing around with making sure they all hammered in "perfectly flat".
Nothing wrong with "Good,Fast & Cheap" if we really can deliver all THREE! Looks like Rockefeller somehow made it happen on both ends, customers got a good value and he made more profit while banjo's were ppoular (I'm guessing again? ) than probably any other U.S. banjo mfgr. in history.
That's exactly what they look like on the PS5. They must be extremely hard because they have no grooves in them from the strings
CraigRison - Posted - 02/19/2018: 17:39:30
I don't know the history on this Plectrum - but their is a average amount of finger dirt on the board and JUST A "little" wear on the frets , mostly the 1st fret of the B string - but I doubt of it's even .002 deep! I really had to mess with the camera angle and light to get this shot
Page: 1 2 3
