Vega Baritone Ukulele: Museum Object and Cultural History
Vega Baritone Ukulele: date made: 1950s. maker: Vega Company. Object Name: ukulele.
The object in the museum catalogue
This ukulele was made by The Vega Co. in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1950s. It is a Baritone Ukulele, Arthur Godfrey Model, Serial #6322, 4 course (4 x 1), with a mahogany body, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, nickel silver frets, pearl position dots, and metal friction tuners. There is a printed label inside the instrument:
The Arthur Godfrey 6322 Baritone Ukelele Created and Designed by EDDIE CONNORS THE VEGA CO. BOSTON 16, Mass.
”Arthur Godfrey uses this Baritone Ukulele on his famous radio and television shows and recommends it as the finest of all ukuleles. This ukulele with its extra large body and longer finger-board is not only easier to play but produces a big tone of enhanced mellowness and rich musical quality.”
Arthur Godfrey (1903-1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who popularized the baritone ukulele in the 1950s. Godfrey was inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum in Cranston, Rhode Island, in 2001.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: 1950s
- maker: Vega Company
- Object Name: ukulele
- Physical Description: mahogany (overall material)
- Physical Description: rosewood (overall material)
- Physical Description: metal (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 29 in x 10 in x 3 1/8 in; 73.66 cm x 25.4 cm x 7.9375 cm
- place made: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
- ID Number: 1987.0055.05
- catalog number: 1987.0055.05
- accession number: 1987.0055
- Credit Line: Adam Gallan
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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