Vega 5-String Banjos

Versatile, bright, responsive banjo with a very modest price made in America. This banjo features a violin grade maple neck and a 3-ply violin grade maple rim. Together they create a beautiful tone.

When you step up to a Little Wonder you get a banjo featuring a durable ebony fingerboard which gives you the look and feel of a professional instrument. Both the comfortable neck and quality rim are stained a deep warm brown. The pot has a coordinator rod that easily and accurately adjusts the banjos “action” or string height for easy playability. The peghead of the maple neck is overlaid with black and is inlaid with a white Vega logo and beautifully engraved star.

The Little Wonder is fully adjustable through the truss rod in the neck, the coordinator rod, and the Deering True Tone tailpiece. Planetary tuning machines come standard on the Little Wonder. It is bright, responsive and full of life and easy to take with you anywhere because of the light weight.

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For Clawhammer or Frailing banjoists who prefer a scooped neck to ease plucking their banjos over the fingerboard we make the Vega Old Tyme Wonder. We build in a traditional “scoop” that allows more room for the fingers and thumb of the right hand to pluck the strings over the fingerboard. We steam and bend our violin grade maple rim and install a fiberskyn head over the rim, attaching a classic “no knot tailpiece” for a traditional old time sound. This is a light weight banjo that is made especially for musicians who want the warmer tones that go well in a string band with a fiddle and bass. It is the mellowest banjo sound, a lovely full tone. The Old Tyme Wonder is reliable and exceptional in tone, playability, versatility and responsiveness, with a round wooody tone perfect for old time string bands. Learn More

A Mahogany, warm and woody, light weight longneck banjo, the Woodsongs Campfire Longneck is a collaboration between Michael Jonathan of Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour and the Deerings to create a banjo like the one Michael plays that is affordable for his broad audiences.

Featuring a violin grade maple rim without a tone ring, you get a warm, round note that is great for singing along. Perfect for the up and coming musician, this banjo opens the doors to a broader range, allowing you to play in the lower key of E in addition to being able to capo the strings at the third fret and also play in the standard key of G.

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Only 7 lbs, the Bluegrass Wonder banjo is a traditional style instrument, with a sweetness and purity of tone that gives both the professional and beginning banjoist a fabulous sounding banjo that is light, fast and easy to play. The stained violin grade maple neck and 3-ply maple rim are the same as the popular Vega Little Wonder, We combined a resonator with a traditional 24-piece butterfly flange to facilitate the strong projection demanded by bluegrass, country and folk musicians. Any style of music can be played on it whether you are strumming, or fingerpicking. If you want strong tone with lighter weight, this banjo is ideal for you. As one artist said to us in his letter: “ It has a beautiful understated appearance, top quality components and workmanship. It is beautiful to look at and beautiful to play." Learn More

A Spun brass tone ring, ideal for Old Time, Classical, Folk, Civil War music, over 100 years of Vega tradition and Deering’s innovative approach to banjo crafting went into the creation of the Vega Senator model. The spun brass tone ring gives it a bright yet warm tone. The Senator has the time honored vintage Vega peghead profile, and a rich warm brown stained maple neck with adjustable truss rod and a 3-ply rim with dual coordinator rods. The hard, dense, naturally beautiful ebony fingerboard is inlaid with pearl dots, and a Vega star at the fifth fret. This open back Vega Senator has the ease of playability that all Deering banjos are noted for, and the light weight desired by many banjo players without sacrificing sound quality and sustain. Learn More

Born from the need for a lighter weight bluegrass banjo that sounds and plays great, the Vega Bluegrass Senator weighs considerably less than most other bluegrass banjos as it has a spun brass tone ring. This provides a warm, melodic, but still crisp sound.

Vega Senator banjos are adorned with a star at the fifth fret and feature our spun brass tone-ring creates the brilliance often desired in stage performance. A coordinator rod provides a stable and adjustable string height.

Like all of the high quality banjos we make at Deering, it can be strung with gut, nylon, or steel strings for various styles of music. It does have that distinctive “ring” of a “Bluegrass” banjo. It is bright in the highs and has good bass, it may not be as loud as a heavier banjo, yet that depends on how you play it.

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The tubaphone tone ring creates that unique Vega tone in this professional quality maple banjo. The Vega No.2 is a top grade banjo made of curly maple stained light amber and buffed to a high gloss.   We make genuine Vega Tubaphone tone rings of brass to create a beautiful quality of tone and projection. We precisely fit the tubaphone tone ring to the 3-ply violin grade Maple Rim, which we also fit with a brass bracket band and frosted top head to create a crisp tone for all styles of music.

Whether you play ragtime, classical, bluegrass, old fiddle tunes, blues, jazz or compose your own music, the Vega No.2 offers a timeless classic reborn with traditional appearance, world renowned craftsmanship, and classic tone.

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Pete Seeger invented the long neck banjo when he decided to have a luthier cut his neck and insert 3 additional frets into the length of it. Instead of tuning the newly revised banjo in G, he was able to tune it to an E (Tuned E,B,E,G#,B) which allowed him to sing in that lower key. A capo can be put on at the third fret and the banjo can be played in standard G tuning. With 3 extra frets, this low tuned (E) banjo not only sounds beautiful as a solo instrument, but it accompanies the voice with a deep, full and sparkling sound. The Vega Long Neck is made with Deering's hand made, classic Tubaphone tone-ring. The solid brass bracket band is hand fitted to the violin grade three-ply rim. This pot design gives the Vega Long Neck Banjo a round full tone that sustains with a pure and clear sparkle.

Whether you want to re-create the folk music of the 1960's or musically travel into unexplored banjo territory or simply have a superb instrument to accompany vocals, the Vega Long Neck banjo will provide the versatile, sweet, beautiful banjo voice that has inspired generations of singers and players with its sparkling, deep and full sound; This banjo is one of the true classics of the 20th century and the new millennium. Learn More

Tuned in E or capoed in G, and great for deep singing voices, the Kingston Trio Long Neck celebrates the success of one of the longest living popular folk bands. If, like Greg Deering, you first found a love of the banjo from listening to the Kingston Trio, having one of these wonderful banjos makes you a part of something very special. You have a choice of color in selecting your Kingston Trio Long Neck banjo, you also get the beautiful Kingston Trio inlay in the fingerboard as a special commemorative model that celebrates their wonderful music. The curly maple of the neck can be stained according to your color preference like the Vega banjos of Kingston Trio banjoists: George Grove – Rich Brown, John Stewart – Blond, and Dave Guard- Vintage Yellow & Brown.

The Kingston Trio Long Neck is made with Deering's hand made, classic Tubaphone tone-ring. The solid brass bracket band is hand fitted to the three-ply rim. This pot design gives the Kingston Trio Long Neck Banjo a round full tone that sustains with a pure and clear sparkle.

Whether you want to re-create the folk music of the 1960's or musically travel into unexplored banjo territory or simply have a superb instrument to accompany vocals, the Vega Long Neck banjo will provide the versatile, sweet, beautiful banjo voice that has inspired generations of singers and players with its sparkling, deep and full sound; This banjo is one of the true classics of the 20th century and the new millennium. Learn More