1957? Vega model 200

SouthernSounds(aka Bruno) asked, as I figgered someone might, so here are some seller pics of my new old guitar:









Tuners & pickguard/finger rest are replacements. I raised the bridge wheels just a tad to lessen rattle & buzz(maybe due to my hard right hand); but the action's still pretty low & easy. Plays good & sounds better day by day.
And I LOVE that case!

Elrod,

WOW, she looks great: Congrats!

Would be great to hear how she sounds, but I bet, just from the appereance, that at least she sounds as good as she looks. Beautiful guitar and an interesting case!

Curious minds: what led you to find one of these? What's the story behind her?

Thanks for the pics!

All the best,
B.

SouthernSounds said:

Elrod,

WOW, she looks great: Congrats!

Would be great to hear how she sounds, but I bet, just from the appereance, that at least she sounds as good as she looks. Beautiful guitar and an interesting case!

Curious minds: what led you to find one of these? What's the story behind her?

Thanks for the pics!

All the best,
B.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I was shopping the classifieds here at LTG & Mandolin Cafe, & on ebay, and this showed up in a link, I think, on one of the ebay pages I looked at. I placed a maximum bid, was high but didn't meet the reserve. After a day or two my watch page told me it had been relisted with my previous maximum bid as the opener; I waited until the last 45 minutes, bid, and won it. It was supposed to be on track to arrive Tuesday, but came Monday, instead. It sounded okay Monday; but I was worn out. Tuesday it played & sounded nice; Wednesday I think I was getting used to it. I'm anxious to wear out the strings & try something else on it! I think I'll be happy with it for awhile. It has a 24 & 3/4 -25 inch scale and is 16 inches wide at the lower bout; and very comfortable.
I've always had a soft spot for archtop guitars; they look like sculptures, & done right, make awesome sounds. It sounds good now; I want to hear & feel what happens with different strings, though.

Well: Congrats, once again, Elrod!

All the best,
B.

Tanx, Bruno!

Cool guitar. I have owned a mid-1950s Vega E201 archtop but am not familiar with the 200.

That serial number definitely places the guitar in the later 1950s probably 1957-1958.

Vegas from around 1950 on are tough to get a handle on. While they stil made their own guitars they were also serving as a wholesaler and buying bodies from other builders and assembling the guitars in their Boston plant. Harmony, as example, supplied bodies for the Vega FT series flattops as well some of their archtops. So the guitars really vary model from model.

Congrats and have a blast playing it.