Can You See the Real Vox?

dadagoboi · July 30, 2010, 06:52:28 PM

Phantom that is. Made in UK, neck stamped Jan 65, body Dec '64. Flame maple neck, substantial, very similar to my '55 Precision but with ebony board. Fender type 'threaded' bridge, ebony thumbrest and sc P pups. Perfect balance with a 2" strap. The Brit bodies are heavier than the Italian ones. The PG is almost 1/8 inch thick and has not warped or shrunk. My first Phantom was a late model Italian (no back pad) I bought in '73. I drilled holes in the body and jammed lead sinkers in them in a vain attempt to cure the hellacious neck dive. Only thing worse I've experienced is a Tbird but I've never played any other long scale Gibsons. I sold it in'77 when I got my white 'bird. This one I bought in '06 on the bay. It weighs 8.6 lbs.

The Phantom was designed by students at the London School of Art (or some such) with the participation of Vox. After that they came up with the teardrop, etc on their own. In '65 production was moved to Italy to save money.

I know a lot of people dislike Phantoms but they've always knocked me out since the first (red) one I saw through the window of a closed music store around Xmas '65. Definitely an example of Swinging London and a truly unique design.

No Pencil Neck here

Gut cut and no back pad

Rotary switch allows only one pup at a time. All Brit components except for jack- Japan.

gweimer · July 30, 2010, 07:15:03 PM

I always thought the Phantom was cool, but I have a sore spot with Vox basses. I learned to play on a Vox Teardrop Mark IV bass. An awful bass with a neck that should have had "Louisville Slugger" stamped on it. I ended up chiseling a slot and replaced the bridge pickup with a mini-bucker from Gibson about 1973. Still, it was the bass that taught me how to play, but I wouldn't pay $100 for one now, even for nostalgia's sake.
If that Phantom has a pencil neck, I'm glad for you.

Chris P. · July 31, 2010, 01:40:38 AM

Very cool! Love 'm!

dadagoboi · July 31, 2010, 06:28:40 AM

Quote from: gweimer on July 30, 2010, 07:15:03 PM
I always thought the Phantom was cool, but I have a sore spot with Vox basses. I learned to play on a Vox Teardrop Mark IV bass. An awful bass with a neck that should have had "Louisville Slugger" stamped on it. I ended up chiseling a slot and replaced the bridge pickup with a mini-bucker from Gibson about 1973. Still, it was the bass that taught me how to play, but I wouldn't pay $100 for one now, even for nostalgia's sake.
If that Phantom has a pencil neck, I'm glad for you.

I can understand your feelings about your teardrop. I feel that way about my first real bass, a japanese Kent just like this one. No truss rod, major banana neck. This one came up on Ebay a few years back, went for around $150, I had no interest in bidding. Mine cost $90 new in 1963 which is equivalent to $640 in 2010 money. Cheap basses are definitely a better value today, at the very least they are playable.

I ended up sticking the surface mount pickup on my '60 EBO a few years later before putting a Tele bass pup in the bridge position

Dave W · July 31, 2010, 09:14:46 AM

I always associate the Vox Phantom with Phil "Fang" Volk in Paul Revere and the Raiders, although he played a Hofner Club and Epi Embassy onstage with them too.

Rob · July 31, 2010, 09:23:53 AM

Quote from: Dave W on July 31, 2010, 09:14:46 AM
I always associate the Vox Phantom with Phil "Fang" Volk in Paul Revere and the Raiders, although he played a Hofner Club and Epi Embassy onstage with them too.

Same here! I think it was a great TV prop that helped make their image.

Any shots of the body sans the guard? Just curious about the routing.

Lightyear · July 31, 2010, 10:10:04 AM

The Phantom was always my favorite Vox and yours is just too cool!

I would love to have a tracing of the body and pickguard along with a few measurements - there's really no good reason to build one but that's never stopped me before

dadagoboi · July 31, 2010, 10:39:12 AM

Quote from: Rob on July 31, 2010, 09:23:53 AM
Same here! I think it was a great TV prop that helped make their image.

Any shots of the body sans the guard? Just curious about the routing.

Here's mine

Early Italian, you can see how little there is.

I think the logo is a die cut stick on

dadagoboi · July 31, 2010, 10:44:46 AM

Quote from: Lightyear on July 31, 2010, 10:10:04 AM
The Phantom was always my favorite Vox and yours is just too cool!

I would love to have a tracing of the body and pickguard along with a few measurements - there's really no good reason to build one but that's never stopped me before

Will do, send me a PM w/your address.

Lightyear · July 31, 2010, 07:53:18 PM

Quote from: dadagoboi on July 31, 2010, 10:44:46 AM
Will do, send me a PM w/your address.

Thanks, you have mail!

dadagoboi · July 31, 2010, 08:07:07 PM

Got it, reply sent.

rahock · August 01, 2010, 05:45:36 AM

Quote from: Dave W on July 31, 2010, 09:14:46 AM
I always associate the Vox Phantom with Phil "Fang" Volk in Paul Revere and the Raiders, although he played a Hofner Club and Epi Embassy onstage with them too.

There were a lot of bands back in the day , who were sponsored by VOX. When the cameras were on , they were playing their Vox instruments. When the cameras were off, they were playing their REAL instruments. The Super Beatles remained in place, the guitars and basses did not

.
Rick

dadagoboi · August 01, 2010, 06:03:34 AM

Quote from: rahock on August 01, 2010, 05:45:36 AM
There were a lot of bands back in the day , who were sponsored by VOX. When the cameras were on , they were playing their Vox instruments. When the cameras were off, they were playing their REAL instruments. The Super Beatles remained in place, the guitars and basses did not .
Rick

Care to name any names?

rahock · August 01, 2010, 06:57:42 AM

The whole band Paul Revere and the Raiders had Vox guitars, amps and a Vox Continental organ. The Vox bass was seen quite a bit, the organ was pretty much always there, but the guitars got ditched as quick as they could. I had some buddies who toured with them for a short period and they used to joke about it quite a bit.
Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones had a Vox bass named after him that he didn't play a whole lot. There were a bunch of less popular but big at the time bands that Vox sponsored that did the same thing. They would pose for promo stuff all decked out with whatever Vox would give them but when it was time to play , all you would see was the Super Beatles.
There was a local music store, back in the day, that was a huge Vox distributor so I got to see a lot of this. the majority of the big name bands were playing through Super Beatles but the guitars and basses were only in pictures . On stage and in the studio in was nothing but Gibson and Fender.
Rick

dadagoboi · August 01, 2010, 09:07:13 AM

Quote from: rahock on August 01, 2010, 06:57:42 AM
The whole band Paul Revere and the Raiders had Vox guitars, amps and a Vox Continental organ. The Vox bass was seen quite a bit, the organ was pretty much always there, but the guitars got ditched as quick as they could. I had some buddies who toured with them for a short period and they used to joke about it quite a bit.
Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones had a Vox bass named after him that he didn't play a whole lot. There were a bunch of less popular but big at the time bands that Vox sponsored that did the same thing. They would pose for promo stuff all decked out with whatever Vox would give them but when it was time to play , all you would see was the Super Beatles.
There was a local music store, back in the day, that was a huge Vox distributor so I got to see a lot of this. the majority of the big name bands were playing through Super Beatles but the guitars and basses were only in pictures . On stage and in the studio in was nothing but Gibson and Fender.
Rick

So basically, the usual suspects. Don't forget James Brown with his twin bass players on Phantoms. Show Biz, baby!

It's good that the Raiders could joke about it, pretty much THEY were considered a joke by guys of my generation. Probably didn't wear those outfits off stage either. It's not very easy to balance a Phantom or Teardrop on your lap in the studio. Though I don't think they did that much studio stuff anyway, it's the Wrecking Crew on all the great singles. Possibly John Entwhistle might have let Gibson name the RD as his signature bass but by the time they brought it to him he didn't need something he didn't like with his name on it. Wyman barely made any money into the '70s with the Stones, it's in his book.

As far as studio work in general, major label studio engineers and producers preferred to work with instruments they were familiar with. Fenders and Gibsons were a known quantity. Tommy Tedesco might be given some latitude, an unknown had better take direction.

I posted this Vox in part to show that the originals are legit instruments. Very few of the Brit ones got to the States, the vast majority we see here are the pillowbacks. Unfortunately Vox outsourced their gits and basses to EKO to cut costs and gain market share. Luckily they didn't do the same with the AC30.

Thunderbirds, LP basses and RDs also got little love back in the day. Not to mention Grabbers and Rippers.