Vega® White Oak Banjo 12″

“The quality of the tone is what matters. If it doesn’t move you when you play…if it doesn’t move something in you then it doesn’t matter what its made out of. In the white oak, I found yet another voice that I hadn’t heard in any of the banjos that I own.” – Rik Barron, Deering Artist

The Vega White Oak banjos are ideal for clawhammer and folk music and players will marvel at the bright tone and distinct note clarity from a banjo that weighs less than 6 pounds!

The two models offer the choice of a traditional sound in a 22-fret Vega open back with an 11” rim and frosted top head or the grand bass response and grand tone of a 12” rim with a renaissance head.

The Vega openback models are made with a white oak neck and 3-ply white oak rim which gives these banjos a crisp and rich tone. These banjos also feature an ebony fingerboard and peghead overlay, a sleek satin finish and are adorned with a gryphon inlay at the peghead – Greg Deering’s own tribute to the incredible inlay work of the late Icilio Consalvi.

Born in 1865, Consalvi worked mostly in the Boston area and is responsible for some of the banjo world’s most beautiful and intricate inlay work. In particular, Consalvi’s work can be found on many early Fairbanks, Cole and Vega banjos built in Boston at the time. As the son of an Italian family of jewelers, Consalvi is perhaps best known for a one of a kind exquisite banjo that currently resides in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Aside from the lavish engraving and stunning detail, the banjo is said to contain over 39,987 individual pieces, each inlaid by hand over three years.