My Tubaphone

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Vega Banjos

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A group for all things Vega.

169 Members, Created 1/27/2011 -

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From Crusty on 2/11/2014 6:39:19 AM

My 1917 Tubaphone is together finally and I love it. It was assembled from parts that I collected here and there so I named it Phoenix. You can read more, see pictures and listen to a sound clip here .

I put Waverly V2 tuners on it including the planetary 5th tuner and they're the smoothest tuners I've ever tweaked. The Fielding tailpiece provides a little bit of down force that significantly improved the tone plus it looks appropriate on that banjo. The raw brass wire arm rest that I got from Bob Smakula works well and looks appropriate too.

I put a Vega resonator for a 10+15/16" rim with flange plates on it and it's a tight fit on the tension nuts on my 11+13/16" rim without flange plates. It hugs the pot close and the small aperture emphasizes the lower tones. I've added some sound dampening under the head and inside the resonator to take some of the high end off and reduce the huge volume for OT music.

The Vega Professional Artist scale (28") is going to take some getting used to but I've got good sized hands and I do stretching exercises daily.

After listening to the clip, tell me if you think I should put a Renaissance head on it or not. I've got them on all the rest of my banjos but I'm undecided about this one because it's pleasantly plunky as it is and the harmonics are rich and sweet.

4 Comments
	gottasmilealot says: 2/11/2014 8:38:21 AM I think it sounds good as it is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Enjoy the banjo.
	Crusty says: 2/11/2014 9:16:16 AM Yeah that was the dominant thought to me too. I just absolutely love playing it because it's so rewarding of finesse in technique. Thanks for the input.
	Marc Nerenberg says: 2/11/2014 10:26:07 AM First off, I agree with the sentiment that "if it ain't broke don't fix it". there's plenty of time in the indefinite future to make changes, if you so desire, at that time. I'm curious, though, as to how much, and which parts, of the banjo is from 1917, since you descibe it as being assembled from parts that you collected here and there.
	Crusty says: 2/11/2014 10:42:44 AM The rim (s/n 33995, 1917), bracket band, tension ring and dowel (same s/n) is from one Tubaphone and the tone ring is from another. I think that's enough to call it a 1917 which is how Bob Smakula represented it when he sold it to me but admittedly it isn't all original since it got a conversion neck, new tuners, tailpiece, bridge, hooks, nuts and armrest. The resonator is from a 1923.
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