The Style X Tubaphone vs Other Vega Tenors
This 1926 short-neck, extended-fingerboard Tubaphone No. 9
open-back
tenor is a transitional instrument, retaining most of the
classic features but sporting a gold-flecked finger rest.
The same Vega Company that acquired the A. C. Fairbanks company persisted until 1970 (when the name was sold to the C. F. Martin Co.). Not surprisingly, as time passed, Vega became more self-assured and self-directed with respect to banjo design and marketing and began to build instruments that departed from the designs it had acquired from Fairbanks. In fact, the manufacture of classically "Fairbanks"and more characteristically "Vega" banjos overlapped in time. The application of more of a "Vega touch" undoubtedly was stimulated by two events already mentioned: the shift in production away from 5-string to tenor models (thus necessitating some change from Fairbanks 5-string designs) and the company’s loss of David L. Day to the Bacon Banjo Co. By the time of Day’s departure, the tenor banjo began to establish itself as a jazz-oriented instrument played by professional musicians who required maximum volume and desired more visual flash (see below). Nonetheless, the traditional Fairbanks/Vega models were much sought after for their proven design, superb workmanship, and aesthetic refinement. In response to these different customer preferences, Vega pursued the 4-string market with two different strategies: Vega manufactured tenor banjos in essentially "old" traditional Fairbanks styles and newer Vega styles. The traditional styles retained the Tubaphone name, 17- or even 16-fret necks, and open-back construction of the earliest high-grade tenors. They were essentially tenor versions of the Fairbanks 5-strings. Sold along side them were newer-style instruments equipped with 19-fret necks and flanged resonators. After 1923, these models were referred to as Vegaphones. In 1927, tenor banjos departing still more from the classic specifications were added and called Vegavoxes (see below). However, the Tubaphone, according to a history of Vega/Fairbanks written by Bollman, Kimmel, and Unger in 1978, "is considered to be the last instrument produced by Fairbanks-Vega which was still consistent with the turn of the century quality."
Long necks, resonators, and musical styles. The utility of the two chief Vega-esque innovations, namely, increased neck (and scale) length and added resonator, each bear examination. Although the longer-neck Vega-style tenor banjo was designed to afford greater flexibility for chordal playing styles such as ragtime or dixieland, its value for melody playing is questionable. Most melody players rarely, if ever, ascend the neck beyond the 12th fret. Short-neck Fairbanks/Vega tenors with 16 frets have a scale length of 20¾ inches whereas other tenors models such as the Vegaphones had 23-inch scale lengths. That scale difference translates into the fifth fret being about .56 in. farther away from the nut on the longer-scale instrument. A longer scale length also results in a greater span between any given pair of frets. This, in turn, requires a longer stretch or greater movement of the hand when fingering successive notes. Ironically, although the longer scale length accomplishes its goal of facilitating chordal playing up the neck, it actually makes chording down the neck more difficult; for certain chord shapes, the frets may be uncomfortably distant on a long-scale neck. Thus, the longer necks are disadvantageous for some players. They may also be more susceptible to warping than their shorter counterparts. Shorter necks are subjected to less leverage (because of their shortness) and less string pressure (because a shorter string achieves a given pitch at less tension) and, thus, are less likely to warp over time.
Like a longer neck, a resonator offers an advantage primarily in jazz band contexts, where very loud strumming is the style of play. Instruments with resonators were really produced in response to the growing popularity of that musical style. For melody work, however, the benefits of a resonator are less apparent. In groups of relatively few musicians, a resonator may be a distinct disadvantage, in fact. Thus, in some playing styles, such as Irish traditional and "old-timey" music, it is common for tenor banjo players to forego resonators or even to place a cloth between the dowel stick and head, thus dampening sound to avoid overpowering other musicians.
Above, Irish traditional musician Mick Moloney with a large-pot, short-neck, extended-fingerboard Tubaphone Style X No. 9
It is instructive to examine how jazz-style tenor banjoists describe their playing techniques, as this further reveals the motivation behind the longer necks and resonators added to tenor banjos. In his premiere column on Dixieland tenor banjo for Frets magazine in 1979, Charlie Tagawa provided the following characterization of that playing style:
Generally speaking, the tenor banjo is a rhythm instrument rather than a solo instrument....When you play the tenor banjo as part of a group, you should always keep in mind that you are a member of the rhythm section (not a solo player), and that your job is to keep a precise beat with the drums and the bass.
The Tenor Banjo (seen on top of piano,
right) was probably
Part of the Rhythm Section of this Jazz Ensemble.
In that same year, also in Frets, 4-string maestro C. C. Richielu contrasted the earlier melodic style for which the earliest "tango" banjos were intended and the Dixieland style that gave rise to the new-style long-neck, resonatored tenors:
Single-string, an intriguing style carried over from the mandolin, demands fast and precise wrist action and close coordination between individual note picking and fingering.... Another style, an outgrowth of the jazz band craze of the ‘20s, is genuine orchestra rhythm playing... This style calls for straight, full-beat strokes in complete harmony with very little in the way of embellishments....
George Gruhn’s assessment of the motivation for longer necks and resonators is consistent with the preceding view. He regards the Fairbanks-derived open-back, shorter-necked instruments of the sort under discussion as predecessors of the later jazz-oriented tenor banjos and retains the usage, "tango banjo" in describing them. Writing on the 1920's banjo boom in Frets in 1979, he observes:
Four-string banjos, the earliest of which are referred to in various catalogs of the period as "tango banjos" first appeared in the mid-‘teens.... The single-note lead style of playing for which the tango banjo was developed gave way [in the 1920's] to a style incorporating both chord and melody playing, which called for a banjo with longer scale length. In addition, the dixieland bands adopted tenor banjo as their primary rhythm instrument, producing a demand among musicians for banjos with more punch and power than the open-back tenors they were using.
He reinforces this point in a 1985 Frets article:
Banjoists at the turn of the century used a pick for single-note melody work, in a style similar to that popular on mandolin. The early tenor banjos had 17 frets and many of their owners also were mandolinists. [In contrast, later in the 1920's] the standard... "long scale" tenor neck of the day had 19 frets with a scale length of 22 e". It had been adapted for the chord-playing style most players used in dixieland and jazz ensembles.
These quotes illustrate that the advent of longer necks and resonators were motivated by a new, chordal style of playing in large ensembles that grew out of the emergence of Dixieland jazz. Because many modern, melodically-based applications of the tenor banjo are more similar to pre-jazz than to jazz playing styles, the structural changes associated with the latter may offer no benefit.
The three pegheads above represent different periods and ornamentation philosophies for Vega tenor banjos. The first, a 1922 Fairbanks/Vega No. 9 is ornate but conservative. the second, a jazz-era Vegavox IV is trimmed with red rhinestones and is clearly more flamboyant. The third is a 1970's Martin/Vega which clearly continues, and perhaps even enhances, the more flamboyant style.
Different looks for different audiences. The two types of tango/tenor banjo, even from the same manufacturer, also differ in appearance. Vega’s Fairbanks-tradition instruments successfully execute elaborate and intricate decoration with subtlety, refinement, and good taste. They are a continuation of a visual aesthetic that arose in the Victorian era and that graced the finest instruments of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Much of the ornamentation is placed and executed so as to be enjoyed by the player or by a small audience in proximity to the player. These instruments are finished in French polish, like violins, which gives the neck a silky touch rather than the "sticky" feel of some later high-gloss varnishes. The back of the pegheads, necks, and rims, of Fairbanks-style Vegas are intricately embellished with engraved pearl inlay, decorative carving, and elaborate marquetry despite the fact that someone viewing the musician from beyond a short distance cannot appreciate the delicate workmanship. In contrast, later instruments, such as the Vegaphone Moderne tenor, the later Vegavoxes, and especially several models by other manufacturers, were intended to wow the audience in the back row of an auditorium or on the far side of a dance floor. Although the workmanship on many of these flashy Gibson All Americans, B&D Montana Silver Bells, Weymann Orchestra No. 4 Deluxes, and other instruments is superb, their flamboyant, sometimes vividly-colored and rhinestone-and-pearloid-festooned, ornamentation is garish by today’s standards. It is worth noting that Paramount banjos refrained from the most extreme excesses of flashy ornamentation, although models such as the Super Paramount Artist with its gold-plated multi-tiered flange and resonator would certainly catch the eye at some distance.
A triumph of beauty and functionality. In summary, tenor banjos made by Vega in the Fairbanks tradition are instruments that collectors and players covet for both their artistic and functional excellence. Vega instruments less influenced by the Fairbanks tradition and the products of other manufacturers from about the same time (including post-1922 Bacon and Day instruments bearing the influence of David L. Day) also are superb instruments. They lack, however, the meticulous detail and understated beauty of the Fairbanks/Vegas. Bacon and Day Sultana Silver Bells, for example, are stunning looking and magnificent sounding banjos but both their visual and aural appeal are of a different type than the Tubaphones or Whyte Laydies that preceded them. The preference is subjective. For those who favor a strong but warm tone and an intricate but tastefully restrained appearance, the Fairbanks/Vega Tubaphone No. 9 is without equal among tenor banjos.
"This instrument is sure to arouse the enthusiasm of the most exacting connoisseur and critic of the banjo. Besides being a work of art it has the fine lines, proportions, workmanship and tone qualities that show studied thought of the master maker." — from a 1920's Vega catalog.