The resurrection of my Vega (3)

Richard Lent: Fingerstyle Guitar

Solo acoustic instrumental performances and recordings

The resurrection of my Vega (3)

January 13, 2009 at 10:55 am · Filed under Guitar lore

In the 30 or so years that I have owned this guitar the tuning machines have become tarnished and the finish has become checked, but otherwise it has held up pretty well. I would like to replace the tuners with, say, gold-plated Grover Rotomatics, but the holes in the headstock are 12mm in diameter, whereas all acoustic guitar tuning machines take a standard 10mm hole. So this operation would require that the holes be plugged and redrilled, something that I am not willing to undertake myself at this juncture.

Some additional photos of the Vega (will replace these with better pictures, someday):

• Headstock, front
• Headstock, back
• Tuners, closeup
• Example of finish checking

(<< Page 2)

Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

Permalink

4 Comments»

peter bradley wrote @ March 10, 2009 at 7:57 pm

http://www.egmondguitars.nl/index.html

Alan wrote @ December 2, 2010 at 8:22 am

Great you’ve gone to the effort of bringing this one back to life. I own one myself (also the spruce top/ mahogany model), and also had to put quite a lot of money and work into it. Still, you end up with a great sounding guitar with an aged top for the price of a new Chinese guitar, without having the workforce over there exploited or having to feel guilty for yet more trees being chopped down. Personally, I don’t think Martin meant these guitars to be really cheap (they used quite expensive materials, and ran a factory in Holland rather than in Asia), but to have a mid-price brand of guitars that were better than the Asian imports but still cheaper than their D 18s. If only they hadn’t saved money on the neckjoint! Keep on enjoying your Vega, Alan

Gregg Barre wrote @ February 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm

One of the tuner keys broke off of my Vega (a result of strap knob failure). I went to Austin Vintage Guitars and rummaged through 100′s of old, assorted tuners and couldn’t find any 12 mm in diameter. Do you have any idea where I might find a G-string tuner? This Vega has been my sole acoustic guitar since 1980 and it tears me up to think that I may have to retire her.
Thanks,
Gregg

Richard Lent wrote @ February 7, 2011 at 4:11 pm

The luthier who worked on my Vega told me that to replace the tuning machines he would need to plug the 12mm holes and redrill them for standard 10mm diameter tuners. I have not been able to locate tuners that fit 12mm holes. Has anyone else had luck finding 12mm acoustic tuning machines?

Richard Lent: Fingerstyle Guitar