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A few things:

1. That's interesting that Bob had two plectrums. Before the Vegas, he had a Bacon & Day plectrum, which he played on "Tom Dooley."

2.For many people outside of the South, the first banjo they ever heard was Bob playing the intro on "Tom Dooley."

3. I believe Greg Deering now owns the Vega name, trademarks etc. In 1970, Martin bought Vega, and Martin sold it to an outfit called Galaxy Trading Co. in 1979. Greg Deering bought Vega from Galaxy in 1989.

4. Head tightening isn't that tough, Rick. Unless you live in a blast furnace or underwater, you shouldn't have to do it too often.

a. Get a good banjo wrench and tighten the nuts in sequence: 1 o'clock position, then 7 o'clock position, then 4 o'clock position, then 11 'clock position, and then go to the next nut etc. The idea is to get uniform tightness all around the head.

b. Don't fully tighten each nut the first time around. Go around two or three times until you've gotten the head as tight as you want.

c. Just be glad we have plastic heads. In the days of calfskin heads, tightening and loosening the head was a regular ritual because those heads reacted badly to humidity and dryness.