I have had this unusual little instrument for decades now, and have never seen another. I have had experts tell me this neck isn’t original, but I’ve continued to believe it is. It’s a perfect fit and it just looks and feels right. I recently did find a listing for a little earlier Fairbanks banjo mandolin this exact size with the identical neck and peg head. I’ve often wondered about the serial number, and upon seeing the aforementioned old Fairbanks with this neck, I’m now inclined to believe the number is the year 1895 and not a serial number at all, and that whoever punched the number onto the stick had misplaced the number 9 and substituted the inverted number 5 to get the job done. I’m told the Tubaphone tone ring first appeared in 1909 and that the last year the metal nameplate like this was used was 1909, which dates the instrument to that year. My theory about it is that the unused neck was hanging around the shop since 1895 and got fitted to the new little Tubaphone rim 14 years later. The only other reference I’ve seen to the existence of another one of these was a number of years back when I saw one listed for sale on the Bernunzio website.
I am always interested in information about how many of these were made and why they didn’t continue making more, because there are ways in which it’s a perfect size for a banjo mandolin. I string all my banjo mandolins with GHS A240 ultralights to get the brightest banjo character on the lower notes, and they play beautifully on this little instrument.
Note: This is my first attempt to post on this site, and I uploaded one incorrect photo of the label, because I meant to post the one that shows the stamped number. I can't find a way to replace that image with the correct one, so I have repeatedly tried to post that picture with a comment, but I have now confirmed that including a photo with a comment is not permitted. Sorry about that!
Edited by - RickVK on 04/29/2025 07:48:02
Have you gone in to your classified ad and found the edit button (pencil)? If not, try that and then try deleting the incorrect picture. See if that will work for you.
Wow! That's very nice! I have a Whyte Ladie with the same dimensions.
LOVE it. What a cutie!
Does it have the same headstock or the conventional Vega style with the little cutout? Any idea what year it's from?
quote:
Originally posted by FirkindogWow! That's very nice! I have a Whyte Ladie with the same dimensions.
Even though the terms banjo mandolin & mandolin banjo are used interchangeably by modern players & sellers, I understand that originally the small headed instrument was called the mandolin banjo, & that the later large head (10"+) was known as a banjo mandolin.
I don
t think that these Fairbanks-Vega banjo mandolins are all that uncommon. I have a Little Wonder version and know that Vega made these with Whyte Laydie and Tubaphone versions.
Hi Rick- If you provide the serial numbers on the rim and dowel that should help determine if the neck is original. I've catalogued a number of these small rim Vega banjolins over the years. They were made in all their various rim configurations ( Tubaphones, Whyte-Laydies, Little Wonders, etc. ).
Hi. There's no number on the rim, and the only number is the sort of haywire "1895" on the stick, in which the 9 is actually an upside down 5 stamp. Being a first year Tubaphone, I think they were just sticking it together with an older Fairbanks neck that was handy in the shop, because I have found pictures of the identical neck on a couple 19th century Fairbanks mandolin banjos this size without tone rings.
Am I correct it's not possible to post a photo in a reply here? I'm new to the site as far as actually posting here.
quote:
Originally posted by Jim BollmanHi Rick- If you provide the serial numbers on the rim and dowel that should help determine if the neck is original. I've catalogued a number of these small rim Vega banjolins over the years. They were made in all their various rim configurations ( Tubaphones, Whyte-Laydies, Little Wonders, etc. ).
The mandolin-banjo/banjo mandolin appeared elsewhere years earlier, but according to Herb Fandel, musician, band leader, long time Fairbanks and then Vega employee, rising to Vega's sales manager in the 1920's, he introduced them to Boston in 1909, playing one in a dance orchestra. He recalled they were made at the Sudbury Street factory.
Former Vega sales manager David Day recalled seeing mandolin-banjos made by others, during his Fairbanks years, in the mid-1890's, "but they certainly were not very much in evidence until some years later". According to Day, Vega began making them as a regular product around 1910 or 1911.
The above info (from The Cadenza, Feb. 1924) does not support the notion that the neck was made by Fairbanks (or Vega) prior to 1909.
The above info plus the presence of a plate and lack of serial stamps, suggest this was possibly made between the time Fandel introduced the mandolin-banjo in Boston in 1909, and the start of regular production around 1910.
Edited by - esmic on 04/30/2025 19:01:31
Regarding the OP's question about the switch to larger rim size :
The dance craze was taking hold in the US around 1909 and dance band mandolinists found themselves struggling to be heard over the thunderous din of shuffling feet on the dance floor.
Fandel's early Vega mandolin-banjo had greater cutting power than a regular mandolin and it wasn't long before other dance band mandolinists caught on, creating a demand surge. However the small rim was found to have its limitations for serious band work, so at some point Vega switched to the larger rim model which offered even greater cutting power.
I agree that the bigger one is louder, and I have ten inch ones, both in the Tubaphone and Whyte Laydie models, both with Mylar heads. Those can be played so loudly that they become overwhelming in a jam! I find the sweet spot and most authentic proper banjo sound comes from ultralight strings, which would have been about what was around at the time these instruments first appeared on the market. Heavier strings start to sound more dull on the bottom notes.
I used to play for some square dances at our local folk club, always an acoustic situation with five or six musicians onstage and the caller and dancers on the wood floor below, and any ordinary mandolin would have been dead in the water there. I would sit in the middle of the lineup of players, and I could always hear the fiddle plus be heard at both ends well enough that my instrument would provide a solid anchor for the melody by everyone.
Probably the ultimate best tone is a calfskin head on these things, but I’ve opted for the long term practicality of the Remo heads on the bigger ones. This seven and a half incher is more prone to the skin head breaking than a bigger one in climate shifts, so it has to be watched very closely in winter even though our climate is very moderate in Victoria. If I could find such a thing as a Mylar head for this one I’d probably use it. The best sound is with the head pretty tight, and I find myself adjusting it every other time I bring it out to play.
Several years ago I got a deal on a beautiful full size 10 15/16” (is that right with Vegas?) Whyte Laydie with a resonator and a Mylar head, and that instrument was so unbelievably loud I literally couldn’t use it anywhere! I know that if I had to play in a large theatre with a full orchestra that would be a sensible instrument, but I’m a small venue and jam musician, so I eventually sold that one.
According to David Day, the tenor banjo was offered as an even louder alternative to the M-B with its larger rim, longer scale and greater range. Sales were slow at first. By 1914 it was "coming to the front", soon surpassing the MB in sales, followed by a prolonged boom of its own.
A couple of possibilities for the stamped digits on the stick :
1. Not a serial number, but an identifier of sorts. Fandel was hired by Day at Fairbanks in the mid to late 1890s. Perhaps the stamp commemorates the first year of employment by whoever made it. The inverted digit may have been used deliberately to confirm it is not a serial number. It's unlikely a serial with inverted digit would ever pass muster with D. Day.
2. The digits were stamped post-factory.
Ooooohhhh.... I want a 4 string Melody version of that little guy.
