1973 Martin Vega V45-5 with flight case. Brazilian rosewood skin on the inside and outside of the resonator walls and back, the rim, and headstock overlay. Abalone inlays on the edges of the rim, resonator and neck heal. D45 style inlays on the fretboard and headstock and butterfly inlayed on back of the resonator. Mahogany neck with ebony (I think) fretboard. The tension hoop, 4-flange pieces, tailpiece and armrest are nicely engraved. The buttons on the tuners are mother-of-pearl. I understand the cast bronze tone rings for these banjos were made by Steve Ryan.
The plating is in great shape. There appears to be some slight wear at the edge of the armrest near the tailpiece although it is hard to tell. There is an area on the back of the neck where the laquer was marked by a case strap. Instead of securing the neck with the strap in that area the neck was rested on top of the strap. The 5th string button was broken (included) and replaced by another mop button. The replacement button wasn't fit completely to the shaft of the tuner leaving a gap, however it is functional. The fifth string sliding capo was removed (two small holes in binding) and is in the case.
The case is a flight case which is in the style similar to cases made by Mark Leaf. I'm checking with Martin to determine if the banjo came with the case or was changed later. There are a couple of areas of lining/padding that have come unglued. The case appears to be fiberglass with a vinyl covering. It looks like leather but I doubt it is.
One of 22 V45s made which included tenors and plectrums. This is an earlier one. I noticed on later examples do not have the diamond volute and the abalone trim on the neck heal.
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