Vega Style 307 Cylinder-Back Lute Mandola #29556



In my view, Vega did the best job of any of the 'teens-20s makers in producing a bent-top instrument worthy of the concert stage. Max McCullough, Past President, Classical Mandolin Society of America and narrator on
The Sound of the American Mandolin video.

[Vega Cylinder-back] mandolins produced a very warm tone and are the only such instruments
with this beautiful and unique [structural] feature. David Grisman.

Background: The mandolin has a long history, dating back to 17^th century Italy. Its antecedents, such as the gittern date from the 13^th century. Antonio Stradivari built mandolins as well as violins and contributed to the design we now recognize as the standard bowl-back version of the instrument. Different regions of Italy developed different styles of mandolin, some having 12 and others 8 strings. Naples is the origin of the 8-string bowl-back instrument style that found its way to the United States in the 1800s and soon established itself as a musical mainstay.

Among the performers to spur interest in the mandolin was Giuseppe Pettine (1876-1966), an Italian immigrant whose family settled in Rhode Island. He was known as a child prodigy in his native country before his arrival in America. Pettine went on to become a concert performer and prolific composer of music for mandolin. Mandolin superstar David Grisman (Frets, January, 1980) described him as, "largely responsible for spreading the popularity of the instrument in America." In response to this popularity, several American companies began to manufacture bowl-back mandolins. Grisman (Frets, July, 1980) lists the C. F. Martin Co., Lyon & Healy, and the Vega Co. as the three companies in America that made high quality bowl-backs.

The Vega Co. was one of an illustrious group of musical instrument manufacturers trading in Boston, Massachusetts at the latter part of the 19^th and early part of the 20^th century. According to music historian Christine Merrick Ayars, the company was founded in 1881 by Julius Nelson, a native of Sweden, and a group of associates. They had previously worked for a guitar firm run by Pehr Anderberg, in nearby Somerville. Nelson had served as foreman of the guitar and mandolin manufacturing at Anderberg's shop. Vega eventually acquired the banjo manufacturing company previously operated by A. C. Fairbanks and, thus, the Vega name is often associated with that instrument. Its origins, however, are rooted in the guitar and mandolin.

Vega produced a full line of mandolin family instruments, including mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos and mando-basses. By the1910s, mandolins were produced in two general types.

The above cartoon of a Ciani-built mandolin from around 1915 shows an obvious stylistic similarity to the Vega lute mandolins, although the Ciani did not have a cylindrical back.  According to Tony Bacon, Raphael Ciani was the great uncle of renowned luthier John D'Angelico, who worked for Raphael in the New York shop before taking over operation of the business and eventually opening his own guitar and mandolin shop.

The first was the conventional bowl-back instrument. These ranged from an entry-level 15-rib example to the exquisite 45-rib "Pettine Special Artist" named after the Italian-born mandolinist mentioned earlier. Vega Pettines are highly prized. Because of their scarcity, they are the instrument many bowl-back mandolinists wish they could own.

The other general type was paradoxically called a lute mandolin and featured a bent top (like the bowl-backs) but a single piece back. The least expensive model, Style 201, had a pear-shaped body with a flat mahogany back. All models above the 201 had a distinctive Vega feature now referred to as the cylinder-back. Their date of origin is in dispute.  David Grisman (quoted elsewhere) describes them as first appearing in 1918 but other sources date their appearance to the early 1910s.  The patent (below) was awarded on Nov. 4, 1913.

This is the original patent for the cylinder back,
assigned to legendary Vega designer David L. Day.
It is noteworthy that this is a patent for the appearance rather
than the functional benefits of the cylinder back design.  A design for a 
"cylinder top" mandolin was issued 20 years earlier to James Back and
was used on Howe-Orme mandolins manufactured in Boston in the late
1800's and early 1900s.

The back of these instruments has a cylindrical bulge running longitudinally from the neck heel to the butt. As the above patent reveals, the designer of the cylinder-back was none other than David L. Day, best known for his banjo designs as a member of the Fairbanks, Vega, and Bacon companies.  There is also some confusion regarding whether the cylindrical bulge was pressed or carved.  Although I had assumed they were pressed, expert luthier Steve Carmody, who has repaired several, claims emphatically that they they were carved.  The silhouette of the cylinder-back lute mandolins is also different from that of the flat-back 201, featuring a sort of double cut-away shape with graceful points symmetrically placed to either side of the neck-body joint. Lyon & Healy may have been the first to introduce this general body silhouette. Several other makers later copied the "pointed shoulder" shape and modern makers continue to do so. P. W. Crump's line of large-bodied octave mandolins, for example, have a shape that was explicitly inspired by the Vegas. Mandolin models 202, 203, 205, and 207 featured this cylinder-back and double-pointed body style. Paralleling these were four cylinder-back lute mandolas, designated as styles 302, 303, 305, and 307. The features of the correspondingly numbered lute mandolins and lute mandolas are identical. (There was also a line of lute mandocellos, numbered in the 400's.)  In referring to these equivalent models' features, I will use only the last two digits of the style designations.

The cylinder-back instruments fall into two tiers. Styles 02 and 03 are relatively plain, with open tuning gears and unornamented pickguards made of what Vega calls "art tortoise" (which is to say, celluloid). Body edges and soundholes are edged with plastic binding and wood marquetry on the 02 and 03, respectively. They also had simple pearl dots at frets 5, 7, 10, and 12. The lesser model has a body of mahogany while the 03 has back and sides of maple. The models in the higher tier feature tuning mechanisms recessed into the rear of the "scroll headpiece" and enclosed behind engraved silver-plated covers; pearl inlayed pickguards; abalone soundhole trim; fancier pearl position markers; and ivory bridge saddles. The 07 models added abalone top binding with wood purfling, more numerous and fancier engraved pearl position markers, and a lighter-finished maple body. Neck material varied, with mahogany used in some years and maple in others.

As with the better grades of bowl-backs, the nicer cylinder-backs are very well regarded instruments. One prominent dealer has described the 207 as follows:

This was the top of the line and competed with Martin's fanciest mandolins.
Not only are high quality woods used in the back and sides but the abalone inlay
on the top is exquisite including the inlaid pickguard a'la theMartin Custom 45 series....
The projection and cut of this mandolin is quite astounding for a flat top.
Especially in the G and D strings.
It cuts like a great archtop guitar does. Quite remarkable.

In a similar vein, David Grisman, in the booklet accompanying his celebrated Tone Poems CD (which featured significant vintage instruments, including a Vega cylinder-back), observed:

Although the Vega Company of Boston was known primarily
as a manufacturer of high-quality banjos, they also made
very fine mandolins of several varieties.
In addition to a full line of bowl-back and flat-back instruments,
Vega introduced a new design in 1918 [sic] that they called the "Lute Mandolin."
The spruce top was made in the traditional bent-top manner with a 2-point design,
but the back had an unusual curvature
referred to as a "cylinder-back" by many contemporary collectors.
This design was employed on several models,
from this style 202 with its mahogany back and sides
to more elaborate models with Brazilian rosewood
and curly maple (styles 203-207).
These mandolins produced a very warm tone
and are the only such instruments with this beautiful and unique feature,
a missing link between the traditional bowl-back designs of the past
and the more contemporary arched tops and backs.

In fact, the cylinder-back Vegas are so admired that a current manufacturer, Rigel, offers an exact reproduction of the mandolin (partial view at right) and mandola (side view, left) as custom-ordered instruments. (The only other vintage instrument that the company duplicates is the equally classic Lyon & Healy Style A mandolin, featuring an eye-catching fiddle-scroll peghead.) Rigel aptly describes the original Vega cylinder-backs as "having a larger sound chamber than a carved mandolin and a brighter, more bell-like tone." The Rigel copies feature a carved back and the price of the mandolin and mandola begin at $4500 and $5500, respectively. (Rigel may have taken inspiration from Vega in another sense: Whereas Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation Orion.)

Mandola. The mandola is customarily tuned a fifth below the mandolin and has a larger body and longer scale length. Mandolin family instruments (not just mandolins) have been around for centuries. The Hungarian National Museum in Budapest holds a 12-string mandola (shown above) attributed to Vicenti of Verona dating from 1696. But it was the Gibson Co., in 1902 (the mando-bass came a decade later), that systematically manufactured a complete line of mandolin family instruments analogous to those of the violin family and successfully promoted their use in ensemble playing. This really marks the modern appearance of the mandola. Gibson was at pains to emphasize that theirs was a "tenor mandola," to differentiate their original member of the mandolin family from octave mandolas, what we would now call octave mandolins, whose history precedes Gibson's designs. The fact that music written for violin, viola, and cello could be played on Gibson's mandolin-family counterparts was an important element in the remarkable success of this marketing strategy. The mandolin orchestra craze of the 1910s and `20s, however, was largely a Gibson phenomenon and that company required members of orchestras it organized to play one of their instruments. Accordingly, the most effective mandolin marketing ploy of the period was largely closed to other manufacturers. If ensemble playing was a musician's objective, there were distinct advantages to owning a Gibson. The choice for solo playing was much less restricted and mandolins by other makers sold well, although not nearly in the numbers Gibson enjoyed. Thus, these other manufacturers found a stronger market for the mandolin, which had been enjoyed as a solo instrument by musicians for 2 centuries, than for their larger mandolin-family instruments, which most people thought of as ensemble instruments.

A consequence of Gibson's hegemony was that relatively few mandolas and mandocellos were manufactured by their competitors during the 1910s and `20s and such instruments are now quite scarce. Thus, as sought after as Vega cylinder-back mandolins are, the mandolas are even more highly prized. Although precise figures are not at hand, it is certain that substantially fewer mandolas were made. Indeed, even for Gibson instruments, the mandolin is by far the most numerous member of the family. In an article on "Mando-family Instruments" appearing in Frets (March, 1983), vintage instrument authority George Gruhn comments that, "...demand for mandolas and mandocellos remained very low in spite of their fine quality....Since mandolas and mandocellos are scarcer than mandolins, these beautiful instruments are now sought by collectors and musicians alike." Thus, for virtually any given manufacturer, a mandola will be both more unusual and more valuable than an equivalent mandolin in comparable condition.

For many years, Americans overlooked the structural, aesthetic, and tonal qualities of Vega instruments. Folk music was the musical force that fanned interest in older instruments. The styles most closely associated with mandolin were bluegrass and old-timey music. Gibson instruments had a firm foothold in both these styles. A review of Pickin' and Frets magazines from roughly 1977 to 1986 yielded not a single mention of Vega cylinder-back instruments. These magazines were the premier publications dealing with acoustical instruments and featured regular articles showcasing vintage models. Because early Vega and Vega/Fairbanks banjos have always been a top choice among musicians playing in the old-timey style, those instruments are mentioned on numerous occasions.

Musical tastes change, however. As forms of music less concordant with the cutting sound of Gibson f-holed mandolins grow in popularity, musicians are rediscovering the classic Vega cylinder-backs and responding with enthusiasm. This increase in recognition is by now well-established.

Description: This instrument is the top-of-the-line Style 307 Vega lute mandola, serial number 29556. This is an exceptionally beautiful instrument. The back and sides are solid maple with incredible figure. The birdseye and quilting patterns in the grain are easily the most striking I have ever seen on a musical instrument. Today, this type of figure would be extremely hard to find except perhaps in a decorative furniture-grade veneer. This is no veneer, however. 

Note the striking figure on the maple back.

The binding on the top and back are ebony, as is the heel cap. The pumpkin-colored tight-grained, two-piece solid spruce top is no less dramatic. It shows lots of lateral rays (often called "silking") in its patterning and sports several highly decorative features. The first of these is the outrageously beautiful top purfling. The outermost edge of the top is a 3-ply ebony-holly-ebony sandwich, with each layer no more than a couple of hundredths of an inch wide. This sandwich is repeated on the inner edge of the purfling. Between the pair of three-layer outer borders is ⁵/₆₄" of heart abalone with high contrast and iridescence and highly figured patterning. The combined width of top-visible binding and purfling is about ¹¹/₆₄" in total width. Its visual impact is most impressive. The second decorative feature of the top is the soundhole treatment. It is trimmed with a slightly more elaborate version of the purfling. It features black-white-black-white concentric bands to either side of a band of abalone wider than that used for the edge purfling. The inner edge of the soundhole is bound with ivoroid, as is the fingerboard. The third decorative feature is the inlayed pickguard. This is tortoise-colored celluloid with a flower motif of highly iridescent pearl. The pickguard is recessed so that it is flush with the top surface of the soundboard and is underneath the high-gloss finish. The fingerboard is ebony and has ¼"pearl dot markers at the 3^rd and 15^th frets and " pearl "footballs" at the 5^th, 7^th, 10^th, and 12^th. All six of these are engraved. The bridge is also ebony, while the saddle and nut are both ivory. The bridge is an unusual design with a "negative saddle" mounted on the front rather than the top of the bridge The ivory saddle sits on a shelf on the face of the bridge, with the rear of the bridge extending past its top. String grooves in this top edge serve to position the strings while the ivory provides the bearing surface. Thus, not only the bottom, but the entire back surface of the saddle is in contact with the bridge. Unlike most other bent-top mandolin family instruments, the correct bridge placement for Vegas is behind the top crease. This is clearly illustrated in period Vega catalogs. The metal tailpiece and tuner cover are engraved and plated. The neck is mahogany with a dark headstock veneer, possibly rosewood or dyed pear wood. The serial number is stamped into the top edge of the headstock.

Condition: Overall, the instrument is in excellent condition. It looks exquisite, feels great, and sounds wonderful. Careful inspection, however, does reveal evidence of repairs or more accurately, restoration. Alterations to vintage instruments are always a sensitive topic. George Gruhn (Frets, December, 1982) described the important role that collectors and dealers play in rescuing vintage instruments:

Collectors and dealers locate instruments that have been in attics, closets,
pawn shops, or in the hands of musicians who don't give them the proper care.
Instruments that have been neglected or abused are carefully restored
with proper regard for their originality, and eventually go to new owners
who will, it is to be hoped, treat them with loving care.

             
The nicely intact label is visible in the first image while the second again shows the striking 
figure of the backplate.  The color of the back appears slightly more yellowish in this image   than the instrument actually is.

Although it is always regrettable when an instrument requires any deviation from its original state, restoration is clearly a worthwhile endeavor. Certainly that is the case with such a rare and wonderful instrument as this.

The neck heel has what appears to be a crack that has been carefully rejoined.  It is barely visible. The ebony bridge and ivory saddle are in perfect condition. Inside, all braces are intact. 

The top has been completely restored by Rigel Mandolins (the company that makes reproductions of Vega cylinder-backs, as mentioned earlier). I recently learned the following from  Rigel's Peter Mix, a former-owner of this mandola: 

I bought the cylinderback from a fellow in Washington state and it's top had been damaged long before he acquired it. It had two nasty cracks that were so bad Pete [Langdell, Rigel founder and luthier] recommended replacing the top. I had owned it for nearly two years before I finally got a chance to play it. He saved all of the pearl binding and the rosette, re-installing them when the new top was done. The neck is original as far as I know. It's certainly a spectacular instrument.  

The instrument is now completely structurally sound.

       
Note the unusual "negative saddle" bridge in the first picture and the robust back brace in the second.  
The first image better captures the true color of the top.

Its appearance, except for traces of the restoration work, is very close to how it would have appeared when new. All of the work is very well executed and, although discernable upon careful inspection, is by no means noticeable. Obviously, even this carefully executed restoration work is less desirable than an instrument in comparable original condition. (For an interesting glimpse of some minor repair work on a Vega 205 mandolin, visit this site.)  But it is extremely unlikely that very many such instruments exist. Few instruments of this vintage that did not enjoy either sustained or renewed popularity among musicians -- and the careful treatment that accompanies such popularity -- have escaped unscathed.  Realistically, the alternatives one faces with instruments of this vintage and scarcity are either (a) one that has been restored or (b) an unaltered specimen that may show evidence of serious wear and damage at best or may be completely nonfunctional, at worst. The irreparable top cracks put this mandola in the latter category, thus virtually necessitating restoration. 

In a recent exchange on the professional luthiers' section of the Frets.com website, Minneapolis guitar builder (and former Frets magazine columnist) Charlie Hoffman sought the advice of his colleagues in a similar situation involving a vintage Martin guitar with a badly worn top and other repair needs. Restoration would entail substantial alteration but was necessary to make the instrument functional. Hoffman wondered whether he should confine restoration to purely structural work or should try to make the badly-worn top look more like it did originally. The choice amounts to deciding whether to conserve or restore.  According to the International Committee of Musical Instrument Museums and Collections, the difference is as follows:  

To conserve an object is to attempt to arrest its deterioration and to preserve it in its most stable state....  Restoration, on the other hand, involves the return of an object by technical intervention to a previous condition.   

Conservators view old musical instruments as historical documents.  Their intent is to preserve the story the instruments tell, even if that means (as it often does) that an instrument must remain in an unplayable state.  Most musicians and luthiers would find this deplorable, unless perhaps an instrument had exceptional historical merit beyond its role as a musical device. We're talking Gabriel's trumpet here!  Master luthier Frank Ford offered the following, highly practical, advice to Hoffman about refinishing the top: 

I think originality of style should take precedence over originality of condition. That is to say, I don't think there's much point in worrying about whether the top is refinished [given the necessity for the other work].

This is restoration in the true sense and I find Ford's advice apropos to the present situation.

Playability and tone: The instrument plays very well. String-to-fret clearance is about ³/₃₂" on the bass strings at the 12^th fret. Scale length is about 15", which is well suited to mandola tuning (C G D A from bass to treble). Gibson mandolas have a longer 15¾" scale, which necessitates higher string tension. The sound is surprisingly full with a warm, woody quality. As a comparison, I played it and several high-quality mandolins, including a Loar-era Gibson A-1 and two Martin flat-backs. These are a fair comparison in the sense that they are all round (or, more precisely, elliptical) -hole instruments rather than f-hole styles. The Martins share the bent top design while the Gibson has a carved back for comparison to the Vega's cylinder-back. The comparison is unfair in the sense that none of the instruments are mandolas and thus lack the larger body size of this instrument. In any case, the sound of the Vega is quite different. The other instruments (all of which are fine sounding mandolins) sound thin and brittle by comparison. The Vega's sustain is not so great to muddy the sound or to sound overly guitar-like but it imparts a resonance and richness that even these first-rate mandolins cannot equal. Of course, the mandolins are intended to sound different and to play a distinct musical role. The observed differences don't necessarily mean that the Vega is a better instrument but that it is clearly a different one with its own musical purpose. It would be interesting to compare it to other high-grade vintage mandolas. Fundamental differences between mandolins and mandolas notwithstanding, it is clear that this Vega cylinder-back mandola is a superb, finely crafted instrument that produces a distinct and very appealing tone.

    
The headstock edge bears the serial number, 29556.

Dimensions: The instrument, as noted, has a 15" scale length and an overall length of about 27" It is 11½" across at its widest point, 3" deep at the butt, and 2" deep at the points. The neck is 1¼" wide at the nut.

                                                      

This image nicely shows the back's cylindrical bulge.  The black binding is not plastic, but ebony. 
The figure on the instrument's sides is as dramatic as that on the backplate.

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Contact me at:  rdevelli@bellsouth.net                                                                 last updated 11/23/02