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Vega - Correct pronunciation?

From phdm on 5/19/2015 9:57:13 AM

As a long-time Vega long neck player and great admirer of Pete Seeger, I have always pronounced the name as "Vay - guh", although I know that Pete insisted on pronouncing it as "Vee-guh". I learned that the 4th brightest star in the northern hemisphere is the star Vega, historically pronounced "Vee-gah", and I know that the original logo for the banjo company was a 5 pointed star with the word Vega in the center. I also just learned that there is some debate in the astronomy world as to what the correct pronunciation for the star is now.

So my question is - how did the owners of the Vega company, back in the 1890-1900's pronounce the name of the company? Anyone have any source for figuring out this historical question? (And, am I right that most of us now say "Vay-guh"?

Thanks in advance.

Peter McKee - Seattle

6 Comments
	Tatersoup says: 5/19/2015 9:35:02 AM They pronounced it "Vega". LOL sorry I couldn't help it.
	phdm says: 5/19/2015 9:55:36 AM Tater - Nice!! ;-)
	banjopa says: 5/19/2015 3:06:54 PM I am just south of Boston where they were made and have always pronounced it Vay-Guh. My Dad did also and other older banjo players that I knew when I was younger in this area also said it that way.
	phdm says: 5/19/2015 4:40:55 PM Banjopa - Good to know. At least I haven't been mispronouncing all these years. It may be that Seegar was just being his iconoclastic self. I just started to question all this when I learned of the star Vega and how it has been pronounced, and figured it was not by chance that a star was the logo for the banjo company. I am assuming that the Deerings pronounce it Vay-guh? Love to hear any other thoughts.
	phdm says: 5/19/2015 7:30:06 PM Banjopa - I had another thought on Pete's pronunciation of Vee-guh. As you are from the Boston, what about the possibility that the answer to this question is actually a regional dialect question. When you hear Pete's elder brother talk in the 1997 documentary "Pete:The Power of Song", you see that he and other family members had a fairly pronounced upper class East Coast accent, somewhat like the Boston Brahmin accent. Pete, of course, worked hard to lose his accent. But the brother did not. So is it possible that Vee-gah / Vay-guh is the to-mah-toe / to-may-toe issue of the banjo world? Vee-gah is the lingering trace of the birth accent that Pete never lost, combined with the erudition that might have led him to know that, usually,the star was pronounced Vee-gah. How the company would have pronounced it, back in the day, may have depended on the class-based accents of the company owners back then. Just wondered what you think of this theory. Thanks again, Peter
	rbergesch says: 7/21/2015 8:20:35 PM I've said 'Vay-ga' for most of my 60+ years, whether referring to the banjo or the star. But as I've spoken to more informed banjo people, I'm now coming to the conclusion the 'Vee-ga' is correct when referring to banjos made in Boston from 1910-1970. Jim Cox, a great banjo builder and player, who made parts for 'Vee-ga' in the 1960s and early 1970s (after it had been sold to Martin,) is resolute in his pronunciation of 'Vee-ga'. This is in spite of the fact that his own speech strongly reflects his native Kentucky upbringing. A longtime and frequent BHO contributor told me that when he visited the Vega factory in his younger days, all the craftsmen who worked there referred to their employer as 'Vee-ga'. So in the future I will try to refer to these fine old instruments by the name their makers called them: 'Vee-ga'. The Vega Company made many world class banjos for 60 or more years; I'm pleased and proud to have two examples of their craftsmanship.
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