Baritoners: 1950s Vega Arthur Godfrey De Luxe Model Baritone Ukulele

1950s Vega Arthur Godfrey De Luxe Model Baritone Ukulele

Anybody have one and care to share an opinion?

They made some nifty mandolins. Sadly I never played a Vega uke. But they had such neat advertisements for their trumpets and cornets that the uke has to be great.

I've only seen one and the build quality was somewhere between a Favilla and Martin, not bad if you can find one in good shape.

They used to call a Vega a "poor man's Martin." The deluxe model is great. the regular model is "eh".

There's one on Flea Market now for $299. Don't know if Deluxe. I've seen them many times on eVilbay.

https://www.fleamarketmusic.com/marketplace/default.asp

I have my Dad's Vega Arthur Godfrey De Luxe Baritone. I'm pretty sure he bought it new in the '50s. I was born in '63 and I remember it from when I was a kid. It had a crack on the top and I had that fixed about a year ago, and it plays and sounds great. I would love to know exactly how old it is. The serial # is 6824.

I have 2 AG's. One deluxe [SOLO LUTE]. the other a "regular" . they are completely different. THE SOLO LUTE has a 21 inch scale, full binding, sunburst, bar inlays on the fretboard, nice geared tuners, both are solid mahogany. unfortunatly someone changed out the bridge. I bought the other one as a fixer upper to possibly replace the bridge on the deluxe and restore it to original. Mine IS #7605. It has a deep , complex tone and is a real looker. The regular is smaller and a lighter build, more like a Favilla. I think it may be a real nice player so I may just have it repaired. the neck is loose and the top cracked on both sides of the neck. I'll take a picture and post it later today.