Vega Baritone Ukulele

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.

As described in a Vega brochure from 1951:

”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.