NGD: Vega Power Les Paul

[Firecat]

Traded a couple of pedals I wasn't using for this pretty Japanese Les Paul copy today. Branded 'Vega Power', it has a nice open book headstock and a bolt on neck with the typical 'Made in Japan' neckplate. Can't seem to find another one like this online. If anyone knows more about it, please let me know

I never really cared for Gibson-style guitars and it's my first time owning a Les Paul, but it feels solid and plays nicely! Haven't been able to plug it in yet though, and probably won't be until after the weekend, so can't comment on how it sound...

[LVC]

Congratulations! I'm not a particularly huge fan of LPs myself, but I'm fascinated by '70s Japanese guitars, and this one looks really nice.

I found several sources mentioning Vega Power guitars were made in the Matsumoku factory in the mid to late '70s. There are a few pics floating the web of guitars bearing the same brand logo, essentially Lawsuit-style Strats, JBs and PBs.





I did find a LP somewhat similar to yours, but with a different headstock shape, different logo and altered body shape. The distinctive tuners and block inlays are the same though, so my guess would be post-Lawsuit adjustments.





I have no idea whether any of those are related to the historic Vega brand which started manufacturing acoustic guitars and banjos in Boston in the late 19th century. Interestingly, this Vega brand was bought by Martin in the '70s to sell budget instruments, which according to the Wikipedia page linked above were manufactured in the Egmond factory in the Netherlands, but also in other (unspecified) locations.

[Firecat]

Thanks LVC!
I actually had one of those strats for a bit. The logo was gone, but I was told it was a Vega Power:



It was an ok guitar, but nothing special. This Les Paul feels much more solid. And I think it looks better than the one you found and it was much cheaper than what they're asking for it

[ohm-men]

Vega Power, mostly 70's stuff on the "cheaper" side.
Export brand for Japanese guitars.
I think Vega Power was mostly exported to Europe later part of the 70's early 80's.

Quality differs, not even sure all instruments came from the same factory. (I don't think these came from the famous Matsomuku plant )
I've seen solid wood guitars most some kind of Asian lightweight mahogany. The ones I had were a pancake construction (two thinner solid wood pieces glued on top of eachother)
But most Vega Power guitars and basses I played were plywood. Also the sort of mahogany plywood kind.
But these have a very nice sound to them (as have a lot of these older MIJ Plywood guitars imho)

I used to own a Vega Power P-bass that sounded and played really good (pancake construction body). This one had quiet nice pu's.
But the neck was not so good, hard to keep straight. Same for the J-bass I had.
Never had that problem with their guitar necks though...

Never the less, still pretty cool instruments, a bit wonky and not top quality, but a lot of fun.
They are in the same catagory as "Maya", "Diana" & "Hondo" .
Most likely originating from the same factory....

[Firecat]

I used to own a Vega Power P-bass that sounded and played really good (pancake construction body). This one had quiet nice pu's.
But the neck was not so good, hard to keep straight. Same for the J-bass I had.
Never had that problem with their guitar necks though...

Thanks Jerry!

That's the experience I had with the strat: it would easily go out of tune in general and notes would go out of tune while playing if you pulled the neck too hard. The neck pickup sounded lovely though.