1962 Vega E-30D
The Vega company of Boston was
both highly regarded and highly successful in between the turn of the 20th
century and World War II. Their banjos are considered some of the best made
during the period, their mandolins are prized among classical players, and their
flat-top and archtop guitars compete with the best of Epiphone, Gibson and
Martin. They were also a key player in the early field of electrification,
putting pickups in just about anything with strings (see my 1930s Vega electric
archtop, for example).
However, Vega never fully recovered their innovative
spirit (or their sales) after the War. They built some fine archtop guitars into
the 1950s, but their focus was increasingly on banjos and guitars were
eventually relegated to an afterthought. By the time the firm was bought by
Martin in 1970 (in order to capture Vega’s share of the banjo market), Vega was
buying acoustic bodies and entire electric guitars from Harmony and slapping
their name across the headstock.
While Vega did rely increasingly on parts from other
manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s, they still managed to assemble some
interesting guitars. This guitar, a 1962 model E-30D, was cobbled together from
fairly high-end components. The body was built by Harmony, and while Harmony is
remembered mainly for making cheap beginner-level guitars, they did produce a
number of finer instruments in smaller numbers. Built of laminated spruce and
maple, the outer veneer of wood is quite nice and attractive. The sunburst
finish is very well executed; it is tinged a slightly different color from the
neck, indicating that it was finished by Harmony while Vega finished their own
neck.
The pickups were built by the Franz company of Astoria,
Queens, NY. Franz built pickups appeared on guitars by a variety of brands
including Premier, Orpheum, Stewart, and even D’Angelico; these particular units
are mostly identified with early Guild guitars, which featured them from 1953 to
1963. In fact, the combination of a laminated spruce/maple body with Franz
pickups strongly recalls a contemporary Guild X-175; the sound is quite similar
as well. These pickups resemble Gibson P-90s both visually and structurally, but
there are subtle differences that give them a brighter sound and hotter output
than their Gibson equivalents. The bridge is a Hagstrom adjustable unit (another
component associated with Guild). The neck was the only major component actually
made by Vega. The profile is probably chunkier than necessary given the
adjustable truss rod, but its soft V is still comfortable for chording and lead
lines.
This combination of parts from Boston, Chicago, New York
and Sweden may sound like a jumbled mess, but it actually comprised a
well-built, good sounding, easy to play guitar that cost less than several of
the bigger names’ equivalent models. Lest we forget, the guitar is also a looker
– Vega custom-ordered backwards f-holes on a few models, making them visually
distinct from all other brands. The thick burgundy Lucite pickguard was a classy
holdover from Vega’s products of the 1940s and 1950s. There was also a version
with deluxe appointments, the E-40D, as well as a thinline version (the E-201)
and probably others. (Information on Vega banjos from the 1960s is readily
available, but little seems to have survived regarding their guitars. I assume
that the “D” stood for double pickups and that there were single-pickup versions
of each.)
My guitar is as close to mint as you’ll ever find for a
guitar in its fifth decade. The only indication of age is the slight thinning of
the finish revealing the parallel grain lines in the spruce top. The bridge is
all the way down, but curiously there’s almost no gap at the neck joint – not
enough to slide a slip of paper through. It plays perfectly as it is, with
smooth, low action all the way up the neck. The sound is a classic hollowbody
tone, perfect for rockabilly with a little slap-back echo. The neck pickup is
great for jazz and blues; the extra treble edge of the Franz pickups avoids the
muddiness that often plagues archtops. I have the original green-lined Lifton
case, which is nearly as clean as the guitar.