Vox Guitar

One of the most unique and individual designs of guitar you will see and remember from being used by bands such as The Beatles is the the range of guitars made by Vox.

The Vox company has a long and established history in the making of musical instruments including organs, guitars, amps and accordions - but it is their amplifiers and guitars that really stand out amongst the rest and continue to be highly collectible today. The amps were used to take artists such as The Shadows and Bert Weedon right to the top of the record charts in the 1950s and 60s.

The first 2 Vox guitars known as The Stroller and the Clubman were produced in 1961 and were based on the standard type guitars that were available at the time. Although this was the first outing for Vox into the guitar manufacturing world, they played it safe. In 1962 after deciding not to copy guitars such as Fender or Gibson, the Vox team hired EKO, the Italian guitar maker to help them design something new. They came up with the Vox Phantom and had a trapezoid shaped body. The Vox Phantom went on to become a very popular model, being used by the Dave Clark Five and bands like The Hollies.

In 1963, the Vox Phantom MK 3 guitar was produced which turned out to be a totally different shape to its predecessor. The design was known as the teardrop guitar due to its unique shape and design. The Teardrop shape and sound and also the fact that it was used and made popular by musicians such as Brian Jones and Bill Wyman from the Rolling Stones propelled the Vox Phantom Mk3 into the history books.

Due to the success of the Vox guitar range, it was expanded to include Bass versions and 12 string versions of the their popular Phantom and Teardrop ranges. The 12 string Phantom model is probably the best 12 string electric guitar ever made - even to this day. Vox also released signature models such as the Bill Wyman Bass, used by the Rolling Stones guitarist and other unique designs such as the mandolin inspired Vox Mando.

However, due to investing heavily in their very popular AC Vox amp range, the Vox group ceased production of guitars in the late 1960s and did not start again until 1982. Once they have restarted making guitars, Vox released the Vox Custom and the Vox standard models which went on to become perhaps the best guitars they had produced. 3 years later the Custom and Standard models were rebranded and remade by a Korean manufacturer under the name White Shadow.

Vox continues to still be one of the classic guitar makers of the 20th century and has its name in the history books as laying the foundations for the rock and electric guitar genre with its range of AC amplifiers, Phantom guitars and classic and unique designs.

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