Univox Hi-Flier

Kurt Cobain's Univox Hi-Flyer

Sounds like Bleach.

As modified by KC

Not really good for live. I do use it from time to time when recording. But I've left it as I got it. Apart from me converting it back to RH and taking his strings off, putting them away and putting my set on.

i have over 25 guitars and basses plus mandolins, ukes,ect..

i think its an 1969 univox hi flier. made in japan.
frets? enough! think its made from solid wood. you can see the wood shine through. one vol, one tone, input jack. it has two p90 style pus, noname. think the body is basswood, since its light. sunburst finish. has that jazzmaster-tailpiece-bridge-thing.
its a crazy body design, flipped strat, which i love.
tuners are noname plastic. neck is nice, a bit thinner than my usa strat. got the suitcase with it.

i love the sound coming out of this sweet piece of japan workmanship.
first i used the original p90, but i decided to swap the bridge pu out for a seymour duncan jb. sounds great. the original pus are a lil on the thin side. lots of treble, but great if the tone knob is at 5.
with the hum this guitar is a killer. you can get every tone you want, twangy, led zepply, nirvana...the only thing u have to to is to turn the tone knob the right way.
love it. sustains like...a mix between gibson and fender.

the set up was really nice, very low with almost no buzzing.
pus were adjusted great.
neck fits nice into the body, which??s very important.
since the guitar is 40 years old, sure, there are some nicks and scratches and a lil bit of rust, but nothing that would bother me.
electronics are okay, had to fight with the pots...but...hey, its very old!

i played it live, means jumping around, jumping into the drums...
no doubt it will withstand all stuff i do on stage.
dont worry about the thin neck...
i can depend on it as on every other guitar i have. (fender strat, squier jag)
i never play without backup...

...

love it, just love it.
i??m from germany, they??re very rare. love the looks, the sound...i just LOVE it. my new number one.
get one, they can be pricey, but...man, they??re too cool to ignore.

1971 Univox Hi Flyer Custom. Not sure what's "Custom" about this except for maybe the natural finish (solid wood) and the 4 ply pick guard. Solid wood body (I know because it is finished in natural), maple 1-piece neck, 2 p-90 pickups, a three-way pickup selector switch. Bought used and it's very old...no case, no whammy bar.
All original which I was looking for. Everything seems to work and DAMN, the tone...I'll get to that. I knew what I was getting, everthing works, and it's all stock so I'm giving it a 10.

Like other posters here, I can't quite figure out where this tone comes from! It weights about 5 1/2-6 lbs. yet sounds like a 12-pound Gibson. Unplugged, this is the most vocal guitar I own, and I own a few. I was strumming it uplugged last night, and my family was wowed! This guitar flat sings! A bolt-on-neck guitar shouldn't sound like this. I've been playing good Fender Telecasters for over 25 years, and NONE of them had the soul and vibration that this little Jap cheapy has. Unbeleiveable!
This guitar fits right into my playing of Roots Rock, Rock and Roll, Punk, Pop. It'll do anything I want it too. It's a little noisy, but the single coil pickups are old. The sound is FULL. The bridge pickup is warm and nasty, yet clear as a bell. The neck is ballsy, thick, and loud. Combined, this thing will honk better than my two Teles and better than any Telecaster I've ever heard. I can't get over it!

I got it off of ebay, unplayed by me. I knew I was taking a chance. It arrived with 9's and played well. The finish has been through years of playing and abuse, yet the neck was awesome...smooth, Tele-like, and pretty stable. Everything was in tact, and I kind of knew what to expect when I opended the box. I then proceded to re-string with 10's, do a complete set-up, and just get everything tight and in playing order.
This little guitar proved to be a challange! As soon as I tuned up the 10's, the action went south. I had to eliminate the adjustable thumb wheels under the bridge (about an 1/8th of an inch height) to get the strings reasonalby close to the fretboard. The frets were in great shape. I tightened all the screws and added dowels and super glue where and when needed. I inspected the neck pocket, and like others have said here, small cracks were present. Nothing major and the neck fits tight, but I'll have to watch this problem area. The neck is shifty, and can cause some problems.

It's a 1971 Japanese toy guitar, and it's lasted this long. How many new, and perfectly-playing Korean/Chinese guitars will be around in almost 40 years? I have no choice but to give it a 10, do I?
I wouldn't trust this without a backup, only because it is so old. I find myself handling this really carefully.

What?

I finally have one...and not because Kurt Cobain played one. This guitar is an amazing little thing. Rich and full, yet trashy and cheap. I'll keep doing whatever is needed to keep this functional. I love it and it will always be a part of my guitar sound.
It sits in the company of Gibson Firebirds, Les Pauls, Fender Telecasters, Vintage (Japanese) Ibanez's, and old Epiphone hollowbodies. A great player that I'll be looking for more of. I hope it dosen't break on me!

TO THE GUY BELOW...THOSE ARE SINGLE COIL P-90 STYLE PICKUPS...

MINE IS THE CUSTOM WITH THE ROCKER ARMS INSTED OF A 3 WAY TOGGLE SWITCH.

PHENOMINAL

PRETTY DARN GOOD. THOSE JAPS BEAT THE HECK OUT OF THE MEXICAN OR CHINESE BUILDERS.

KURT PLAYED THEM

LONG GONE

MY FIRST ELECTRIC GUITAR AS A BOY BACK WHEN I 14...IM OLD BUT NOT GONE.
THESE ARE GREAT LITTLE GUITARS. GRAB ONE (NOT THE HUMBUCKER MODELS) AND I BET YOU WILL BE SUPRISED. I JUST GOT ANOTHER ONE (THE CUSTOM) IN NEAR MINT CONDITION FOR 700.00 SHIPPED...AND I DIDN'T THINK TWICE. GET LUCKY ON EBAY AND THEY RUN 300.00-500.00.

this guitar was made in japan in 1976. it has 21 frets.there is 1 volume and 1 tone there are 2 humbuckers. the brand is univox. they are the factory pickups. i think the wood is plywood and the neck wood is maple on maple.

this guitar definitely fits my style. i am a grunge fan and the world's #1 nirvana fan. i run it through a fender sp-10,a fender fm212r,a fender rumble 15 bass amp,a marshall mg15ms2 micro stack,a fender mini tone-master,but not my roland ac-60 acoustic chorus amp.i also run it through my two pedalboards which contain: mxr phase 100,boss ds-2 turbo distortion,danelectro chicken salad vibrato,behringer ut-100 tremelo,electro harmonix big muff pi fuzz nyc version,boss dd-3 digital delay,boss bf-2 flanger,electro harmonix polychorus,boss ds-1 distortion,electro harmonix small clone chorus,boss ps-5 pitch shifter,boss aw-3 dynamic wah,boss rc-2 looper,ibanez tubescreamer,proco rat 2 distortion,tecch 21 sansamp classic,fender pt-100 tuner,and a dunlop original crybaby wah.it has a replica sound for the album bleach and 3 songs on in utero.this guitar has the early nirvana sound.

the guitar is perfect,but it will rust a little like on the tuners and bridge

once again the guitar is perfect

i have been playing guitar for 5 years,keyboard and drums since christmas, but i have been playing air drums for many years.i own 12 guitars,6 amps,2 pedalboards,keyboards,digital drums,19 pedals,etc..i would buy every single univox hi-flyer in the world.i love the look of it, but im more of a single coil kind of person,but im not sayin the pickups suck.extremely highly recommended guitar.

My Father, the intrepid Yard Sailor, bought a Phase 3 or 4 for $1!!! It's purple, and looks like the original paint unless it was stripped. Obvious mods done: neck pickup changed to a Gibson, don't know if the brige is original but it's got square magnets, and a phase switch was installed. I put $55 Grover turners on it. It fed-backed like crazy, popped it open, saw the sodder joints loose or held on with masking tape. Once that was tightened up, it's been solid. Neck feels fatter that it should for the body, original tremelo with no arm.

Thinner, cheeper sound than I normal go for, but it's probably my drummer's fav of all my guitars (fenders and gibsons). I play it through fender tube amps with all types of distortion boxes. The clean sound is weak, treblely. Phase switch and tone knob do help.

-Nice low action, frets are in pretty good condition, and I play with telephone wires (thickest strings I can find).
-Pickups are well adjusted and firmly in place.
-Pots crackle a little bit, but the sound doesn't die out at all.
-Dinged up scratched all over but all there.
-Suprisingly wide neck, easy to chord on.

-Never gigged with this guitar, but it's been solid in practice.
-Would not trust it with out a back up.

I'm my own custumer support!

Well worth the $1 that was paid for it. And probably only worth the $55 I put into it. I'd like the arm, I know the trem works other wise from sticking an allen wrench down the hole! If you find one in a usuable condition for under $100, it's a great toy with a unique sound.

I have an early original Hi- Flyer custom, as far as I can tell. It has the original pickups,original double rocker switches,case(el cheapo),black-reddish orange to yellow sunburst, tortise shell pick guard, tremolo, and is still an absolutely fantastic guitar.

I got the guitar used in early '71, played a lot of Sabbath back then, met my needs very well.

Everything that's always wrong with one of these cheap Jap guitars, was wrong with this one. It took a lot of tinkering to get everything set up the way I wanted it.

In college I played almost every weekend at some bar or other,so---It's been dropped, thrown, used fer a weapon, and I'm still playing it now (although I play a strat or taylor much more).

Huh? Wass dat?I've been playing

I've been playing 37-38 yrs. This guitar is the FIRST one I owned. Since my playing has evolved over the years, I still find that every time I pick it up- Sweet Leaf just jumps out if it. I will never get rid of it!!!

I think this one is a 78' phase IV model. Maple neck/board body au-naturale, two buckers (one dimarzio super distortion in treb position)and leo quan badass swapped for standard univox compensated stop tail. Lightweight guit., easy on my back. Crap tuners hold tuning for days, somehow. I think this is a strat scale guit, 25.5. 3 way toggle, master vol/master tone.

I bought this off ebay and had no clue about the model's sound, playibility ect. I have owned supposed hi-end axes, including a 2001 1960 USA Les Paul Classic that would never hold tuning and pickup that were so hot...all they could do was melt faces. Even death metal player have to have turn down for cleaner rhythm parts...whatever. This guitar smokes...PERIOD. Bright and clear in a strat-like way, but ballsy and fat like a paul, great sustain, feeds-back easily. Slightly microphonic...but not in a bad way. If you find one of these, GET IT. It can cover a HUGE spectrum of sounds in a convincing way.

Biggest drawback is in access to high register. I was playing the lead to Free - Alright Now and the ending triplet phrase is REAL tough to get to, hand position wise. Depending on how often you play above the 17th fret, you may want to look elsewhere. For me it's not a huge issue, since I have great facility anywhere on the fretboard..but it kind of shocked me when this happened. Most electrics have acceptable access in this range. All else has good workmanship, nicely grained body, medium frets a pleasure, neck just right. Tight neck pocket

Definitely gig-worthy. But NEVER gig without a backup. Neck joint is probably a weak link, but unless you're a mindless ape, will be just fine.

NONE

I love it. It covers clean to "How much distortion can you handle?" The replacement of the treble pup with the Dimarzio definitely helps this thing scream and gives good contrast to the stock univox pup (this pup is good!) ...and I'm sure the wrap-around bridge creates that amazing sustain. The simple control layout is superior to gibsons, 2 vol, 2 tone. A winner in my opinion and that rating doesn't come easily from me. I'm a lover of cheap, underated axes...people should be wary on purchasing expensive guitars, when cheapos can sound and play superior to them.

Japanese made Phase 2 High Flyer
21 frets, one volume, one tone, 3 way toggle switch
Sunburst finish
Floating tremelo

I play blues and 60s rock and the High Flyer is perfect for both. I use it with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp, Vox Wha Wha, Guyatone Fuzz, and a DOD Grunge pedal. The sound from this guitar is simply amazing, beats any other guitar I've ever played. It sounds bright and trebly and hits the blues/rock sound dead on. The P-90s give it a Robbie Krieger type sound on a clean channel, Pete Townsend sound with the Guyatone Fuzz on and when played through my friends Marshall it gave a Cream era Clapton sound. Other than that it can make surf rock type sounds with the Spring Reverb turned up on my Fender amp and has a garage rock sound with the DOD Grunge pedal.

I bought the guitar used of course and the action was perfect after a few adjustments, Ive very low with no fret buzz. Pickups were adjusted fine along with the bridge. Whomever owned it before me took care of it well, no scratches or rust. Near mint condition, the pots are a bit scratchy but thats perfectly acceptable due to its age and the condition of the rest of the guitar.

I dont play live but I do play for at least an hour or more a day. Its held up fine and I'm shure it would do the same if I was gigging. Hardware looks solid along with the finish and strap buttons. I depend on it every day for at least an hour so its dependable by my defintion, not a single problem as of yet.

Never dealt with them, out of buisness from what I know.

Ive been playing for 3 years and I think this will be my main guitar for the rest of my life. If it were stolen or lost I really do think I would cry, I shudder to even think about that. If it somehow was lost or stolen I would desperately try to hunt another down. I've played Fender Stratocasters, a few Gibson SG's, an Epiphone Casino, a Gretsch hollowbody, a Rickenbacker John Lennon model and own a Telecaster, the Univox High Flyer beats them all in terms of playability and sound, at least for me it does. The perfect guitar by my definition.

i have the 70/71 model (golden univox logo painted between the tuners - like mosrite's) with 2 P90s in a 3 tone sunburst finish.
the body is made of some wood - i have no idea what kind. as those guitars were quite cheap back in the days i guess some cheap

it sounds killer!
very crisp punchy P90 single coil sound. it does great feedbacks and has massive sustain.
distorts easily - i don't even use pedals - i just play thru the overdrive channel of my fender twin and it roars like hell...

nice low action - fender feeling - keeps in tune

it is noisy - but i play punk/garage so why care?
i added some more string trees so the strings keep in the nut and i killed the trem - coz i hate tremoloes...

man i always wanted a mosrite! because they look so cool, and fred smith of the mc5 had one, and johnny ramone, and so on.. of course i'll never be able to afford a real mosrite so i kept looking for a univox coz i heard they sound cool and exactly like the original plus they were kurt cobain's guitars of choice in the early days of nirvana..
i've been playing in bands for like 15 years doing hundreds of gigs and played on about 10 albums almost entirely using telecasters. for recording i also use an sg and a danelectro 59 dc occaisonally.
this guitar slays them all! it replaced my favourite tele as my main guitar. it never goes out of tune and sounds just amazing - not to mention it's looks!

Bough this Bad Boy in say 1977/78
Black
It had Humbuckers
Stop Tail Piece
Basic Guitar

Ok, I sold this after completely wearing it out in 1983ish. I was in college and needed money. I ran this through an all tub Earth halfstack 100 watts. I played Purple, Kansas, Zep, Tull at the time. The guitar was awesome. When I cranked the amp up and played the sustain and feedback and distortion was awesome. I did not use any effects...I used the gain on the amp and pure tube driven high volume. I litteraly could be heard for mile :) My neighbors would call begging me to STOP!!

I remember the Fenders and Gibsons were all priced out of my range. This was a good second tier starter with some great tones, great action, and playability. It looked great too.

I see a lot of the glowing reviews...and I remeber my guitar fondly...but I think its a bit overrated by some.

No issues. I played this guitar every day and hard for many years...the Fret board was about worn when I sold it.

Oh yes, this guitar was tough. It never failed me and never had a problem.

After college I completely stopped playing for about 12 years. In 1997 I started up again by buying a Fender Mex Strat ( a decent guitar), an Epi les Paul Custon ( a beauty but lacking in sound - which I got rid of), a Blackmore Signature Fender Strat (I'm a Purple person - great sounding guitar but spotty quality), a Gibson les Paul DC Standard (awesome), a Carvin DC127 Custom (awesome), and finally a EVH Wolfgang (awesome for heavier stuff). Where does the hi flier rate? Hard for me to say since it was so long ago. Clearly not comparable to my Gibson, Carvin, or Wolfie. Even the Blackmore Strat is not a fair comparison. I like it better than the epi for sure and would rate it above the standard strat...close call though. If I could find one I would buy it...same for my earth amp for nostalia more than anything else. I know Nirvana and Curt loved these things and so did I. It was a great starter with some great tone and playability.

1974-5 (not exactly sure), phase 3 Univox Hi Flyer, Made in Japan (in the Matsumoku factory, same as 70s Epiphone, Aria, etc. Ibanez too? Pretty sure on that, but don't quote me. GREAT STUFF all around), Mosrite Copy, etc etc... This thing's got 2 humbucking pickups, toggle switch, one volume and one tone knob. Pickups? i dunno who made em... has got a tremelo unit (jazzmaster style) installed, good tuners (original), very fast neck, smallish frets, low action, etc... i give it a 9 cos its got what I need and i'll talk about the rest later.

OK, I may be biased as this is my absolute favorite guitar... i have two of em (the other is a Phase 4 with a stoptail/wraparound bridge. i switched that out for a Badass). Totally suits my musical style... I play a lot of Garage (Troggs, Seeds, etc), Psychadelia (Spacemen 3, Hawkwind, Blue Cheer), Stoner/70's (Grand Funk, Sabbath), Punk (Black Flag, Stooges), etc.... Sounds excellent through my Traynor MkIII 2x12 (damn, forgot the year. 1970 i think). The Pickups are rich and full, but not muddy like some other humbuckers i've heard. for humbuckers they're kinda bright and crisp sounding, but just enough, you know? I usually prefer p90's but these pickups have got a great reputation and it's clear to see why.

well, this phase 3 was practically dead stock when i got it. muta been in a closet for 30 years. a FEW nicks in the body. but all the hardware is clean and minty and the pickguard and pickup rings are totally fresh looking. i lucked out on this one.
needed a BIT of setup, but overall, it plays VERY well and didn't need too much.
the guitar has a natural finish.
everything is made very well. i've heard people complain about the tuners, but this stays in tune just fine. the hardwars is all good, good nut, etc etc...

I'm a little overprotective of this one and tend to use my other Hi Flyer for gigging. But, will it withstand countless gigs, the road and abuse? Sure. I wouldn't push it too far, but it's totally solid. gotta watch out for the neck/body joint as the body is very thin. Cracking in this area is common with these, but not a problem. most i've seen (like my other one) appear to have only cracked a bit in the finish, so no problem...
the finish will last as will the hardware, no question.
i would play this without a backup (usually don't bring one anyway), without a doubt.

i wish! but www.univox.org can be very helpful and informative.

been monkeying around for 13 years or so. like i said, i have two Hi Flyers, another Hi Flyer bass, and a Hagstrom Bass.
If this were stolen or lost i would run out and get another one or maybe two more. Perfect guitar for me. Very lightweight, fast neck, great sound, great look... The original Mosrite Ventures guitars are great too, but they sound WAY different (more twang... they're SURF guitars!). the Hi Flyer suits me much better. fairly versatile and all that. other Mosrite copies are cool, for sure, but the Hi Flyer has a sound and character all it's own. Grab one while you can as they prices are getting astronomical. 500 to 600 bucks for one is just way too much... it kills me when i see them listed as "RARE"... Univox PUMPED these babies out and there must be thousands and thousands of em out there.

Mid to late '70's phase 4 Hi Flyer. (What a crappy name.)22 fret maple on maple fretboard, black dot markers, and it's a bolt on. Standard crapenese button tuners, plastic nut. Clear gloss finish on a poplar double cut-a-way body. Gibson styled trapeze tailpice, master volume and tone controls and a 3 way switch. 2 "Magnatone" humbuckers, and a top mounted output jack. The neck is a 24 3/4" scale, that is round, and yet comfortable.

You have to remember that this was not a high end guitar. Keeping that in mind, it's surprisingly nice soundind. The pickups, which were the standard for Matsumuko, are really quite toneful! No, they aren't high output, but will fill the bill quite nicely for blues and jazz. There a richness here that doesn't seem possible considering the thinness of the guitar's body. (A little more than an inch thick.)

Since it's used, there's no way to comment on it. But...

Remember how I said about the thin body? Well therein lies the problem. I've seen quite a few of these, and they all suffer from the same problem of the bolt on neck cracking and splitting the block where it's bolted to. It's a simple fix, but a pain to do. It has to be refinished after the repair. (This one, since it's such a girly looking guitar, will be redone in a Barbie pink._

With the first solid crack on the headstock, these guitars tend to crack. Other than that, which is kinda the same with most guitars, and the need for real tuners, it would withstand th rigours of the road. And I wouldn't play without a backup anytime.

Yea, right.

I like this guitar. It's lightweight, toneful, and has the unique look that I like. The pickups are great, and the neck is really comfortable. I've never cared for maple fretboards, and the output jack tends to get in the way. Otherwise, it's great.

I bought my Phase 3 off of eBay from a lady in Edmonton for $430 Canadian with shipping. I was playing a Westone Spectrum S before(it was my first guitar) and I am amazed at how well this Univox plays. I have tried out a lot of different guitars and I still love this guitar the most out of everything I have played. The tuners never go outta tune even when it's in the gigbag. It's got a tune-o-matic bridge on it, and the only really problem is that the volume knob scratches a bit, but I just haven't got around to cleaning it yet.

It has a really thin neck on it and plays amazing. The pickups are really loud and have a really nice distorted sound. It has really nice sustain and sounds really good. It's tone is so deep and rich, it was the first thing I noticed about it. The pick ups are very high output and are capable of holding a long note. I am using an Electro-Harmonix Small Clone and a Boss Ds-2 Distortion pedal and wow, I can get so many amazing sounds with this guitar.

It's got a sunburst finish. The action on this is really nice and low, but there is a little fret buzz here and there, but I love the tiny frets it has.

This guitar could easily withstand a live show, or as many as I could give it. The finish isn't going anywhere, and the strap buttons are solid. It's a very reliable guitar. I am not doing any "major" mods on this guitar, it's amazing the way it is.

I haven't had to deal with anyone cause I haven't had to do anything to it yet, but I would just go to a local store to have anything done.

I love this guitar. I am definatly buying another one of these guitars, only with P-90's instead of my humbuckers. I am also going to buy a Fender Jaguar. I really love the sustain this thing has, it's a hell of a lot better than any Strat I have played. I wouldn't trade this guitar for any Strat, it plays, sounds, feels, and looks amazing, and has a really light body. I love this guitar.

Probably late 1960's Jap made-volume, tone and 3 way selector switch and rather poor tremelo system (best not to use anyway). 2 P-90 style single coil p/u, thin neck sunburst finish on real thin body. Original case. You probably know by now..........

Gosh be darn........I really love these things. I would hold them up against a Jaguar any day. Action is great and the sustain is amaising. I've never had the humbuckers, so I can't say, but the P-90 single coils rock esp. with my Boss DS-1. The three way toggle sets neck, bridge and both. The bridge id extreemly bright and the neck is...well...mellow>go figure. Did I say I love this thing.

The action is to die for. Every note is effortless for me with this guitar and I'm rather a crude player. The p/u's can be height adjusted for var. sounds.

I hear alot of people say they can't keep these things in tune but I most emphatically disagree. I bend the notes all over the place with 10.5's and stay true as can be. The finish on this thing is P E R F E C T. Like someone stored it for years. Not a scratch front or back-a few dings on edges, but hardly noticable. Kurt played these things live and he was known for pretty abusive playing. Dont do a neck slam-for obvious reasons.

N/A

I've played off and on since I was fourteen (many years ago) and lo and behold, a Hi-Flier was the first guitar my parents gave me. It was pretty cheap back then and hardly respected (like it is now-ha). Just because some grunge hipsters took hold, these things have taken on a bigger than life status. Before Nirvana, you could have probably picked them up at the pawn shop for $100.00 (if your lucky, still can). Don't expect to on ebay though. But even for $400.00 these things are the real deal. I've played Fenders, Gibsons and the REAL bad Harmony guitars-and I will put this thing up to them all in a heartbeat. A very solid 9.5 on the richter scale.

I used own one of these baby.
I remember buying it for $110. Back in 1975.
Olyimpic white. rosewoods frett board. two black soapbar pickups
a tremolo I never use( tuning stablitie wasn't great) Funky looking
head stock. Univox was decal. Big knobs. was stringing it up with
Mapes 9,s. does anybody remember mapes strings back then.

All I remember is that it scream and sustain like an old les paul Jr.
all this from oringnal univox soapbar pickups.
did alot of Jr high and high school gigs with it.
I had alot of people thought I had humbuckers on it.
it was light. so maybe a basswood.
It sounded rich and full. my amp back then was a gibson tube amp
with 2 x12 either altec or langsing speakers.
the amp was point to point wired. so cranking it up and getting
great distortion and sustain was easy. cool combo between the guitar
and amp.

I was 15 or 16 at time . everything about the guitar look great to me
All I know was it was a jamming guitar and my very first guitar that
I bought from being a dishwasher back then.

Through out this review I will not rate the guitar as too it was back
in 1975 and I was 16.

As far as I know it was a work horse.

who dealt with that back then ?

Like I said. It was a Jamming guitar. untill I got upset with my
girlfreind back in 1975 and smash it out in the street then threw it
in the fire place. I was a idiot of course. My gibson amp back then
was given to a drug dealer to save ,what I thought was my freind
to cover his ass miss handling of grass. But I live and learn. I wish
I still had it. But that ok I now own a collecting of fenders gibson
rare proto types. and Oranges and VHT amps. Hoorah !!!

A very early phase one Hi Flyer in black. Made in Japan.
How many frets? 21
Solid-Top? Laminated top? I would bet this sucker is basswood
Which controls are given (volume, tone, 5-way selector, 3-way, tap, etc...)? volume/ tone pickup selecter.
Pickup configuration? (S/S/H, H/H, S/H, Piezo, etc...) 2 P90 like pickups
Make and model of pickups? Univox, baby
Active or Passive electronics? passive analog grunge
Finish black nitro like finish
Body style Just like a Mosrite Ventures...
Bridge style Wacky, deficient Jaguar style bridge
Tuners : the cheapest possible 3 on a tree, but damnit they work and if it ain't broke...
Neck/Scale: very fast maple neck with rosewood board

This guitar sounds like nothing else on the planet. It SHOULD NOT sustain like it does, but somehow it does...Man these things are weird...
It seems to sound best with my Fender silverface Pro Reverb
Is it noisy? On what settings? It's as noisy as the endo of a Sonic Youth concert, but thats rock and roll!
Rich/Full sound? Bright sound? Very rich tone, go figure
What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety? Nice Gibson'y tone with the neck pickup, but less muddy. Great out of phase twang with both pickups, harsh grunge with the treble pickup (must use fuzz box)
Likes and dislikes? The headstock design is insane...Requires ALL strings to be tied down by a string tree, or they will slip out of the nut.

A copy of the legendary Mosrite Ventures model, which were/ are huge in Japan, hence the first wave of the copy era. I actually like the way these play better than Mosrites. Of course the Mosrite is built better, but these wacky little dudes are cool cool cool, other than the string slippage and buzz issues. It sounds surprisingly good and its sexy as Brigitte Bardot. Take it to a good guitar tech and have it set up well (must replace cheesy bridge saddles with Mustang saddles, available through All Parts). Vibrato is puny.

It stays in tune relatively well. I like it as a backup guitar and it looks cool as hell in my living room. I may play a few songs on it but never a whole set. I'm not one of those dudes into funky guitars just cuz they're different. These beasts truly rawk out in a big way.

fuhgeddaboutit

How long have you been playing? 23 years
What other gear do you own? Fender Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Strat, Tele. Gretsch Nashville, Ricky 330/12. etc


Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar?

may I use your washroom?

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

I've owned 2 of these suckers. The other one was an insanely rare factory half red/ half blue paintjob (with one red pickup and one blue one) and I'd do anything except sell my soul to George Burns to get it back.
What do you love about it? the looks, the sound, it's light weight


What do you hate? the puny vibrato bar, poor headstock design


What is your favorite feature? the neck, prolly
Anything you wish it had? class

iit's a 1975 i figured that based on the pickup config. and some history research, 21 frets, flat top except routed edge all the way around, volume, tone 3way toggle, two humbuckers stock they are so aged and sound awesome, basswood body rosewood fretboard, old jaguar like bridge and tail piece, old finish but vintage

it's a little noisey but i'm a big sonic youth fan so that isn't really a bad thing, i use a big muff dis. an mxr phase 90 a danelectro octave dis pedal a marshall trem and a digi tech delay through a crate head and a vintage peavey cab, the sound is old nice and warm yum

when i got it i woulda rated this a 1 easily but after about 12 hours woprk and new tuners it's easily a 9 but only because i spent the time

this is waiting to die it's a little better after repairs

yup well i could call krog

i wish i had got it new

1976 Hi-flyer in black. Two humbuckers, not original, 21 very low frets on a thin neck. Normal mosrite style body shape, very thin. Roller bridge, should have had a trem but none was included. Tuners were Gotoh (not original of course). Volume and tone knobs

I play a lot of punk and grungy type music. It sounded good for that. the new pickups were cheap so the sound wasn't too good through a clear channel. I played it through a few amps (15 watts-50 watts) and it sounded good for the music I was playing. Only problem was a weird hum I could never pinpoint. Maybe the cheap pickups.

I bought the guitar used, so it was dinged and scratched all over. Still, it looked pretty well for its age. The action was pretty high, which I kinda liked. neck was straight, tuners sucked. the nut was cracked on the b string which made it tough to keep in tune. Controls were tight and worked well. Neck pickup kept falling out which was a slightly irritating.

I dropped the thing on a cement floor while playing once and I picked it right back up and continued on! These things are pretty tough! I'd replace the tuners and the pickups, as well as the nut, to improve the tuning/sound. I never used a backup which wasn't a problem if you don't mind frequent tunings and smacking the neck pickup back into place every now and again.

company is not around anymore. But parts from other makes work fine.

I've been playing for about 6 years and I own an epi les paul, a Johnson acoustic, and a Fender P-Bass. As you can tell I don't need top of the line equipment! I really liked this guitar though and wish I hadn't sold it. I would like to have gotten one with more original parts, but I settled for this one. I really liked the sound it had and the durability of the guitar. It definitly had personality!

mine is a "phase 3" hi flier. originally came with two humbuckers. im only rating the original stuff on here. the bridge pickup has been replaced and well, it sucks. someone messed with the electronics and screwed them all up, but i just use the neck pickup and it still sounds great. there is no overkill on this guitar. simple. two pickups, selector switch, volume and tone. the only bad things are the cheap tuners and crappy bridge w/plastic saddles. it has a very thin body and neck. copy of the mosrite ventures model.

im only rating the original pickup, and it has amazingly good sound to it. i cant even describe it. i play more grungy type rock and it fits it perfectly. sounds great through a big muff so far ive only played it through smaller amps, my super bassman has an unfortunate blown speaker problem.....

when i bought it, it was in a state of disrepair...missing a string, dirty, scratchy pots, bridge pickup didnt work at all...tone control has been completely disconnected and turned into a second volume control...when i got it home (i had to wait a week before the store could legally sell it-TORTURE!!!!!)i took it completely apart, cleaned it, reattached all the bad connections, reassembled it put strings on it, and it was almost perfect right away. it only took me about an hour. the frets are rather worn out, but they still work. the finish has some scatches and dings, but nothing more than youd expect from 25-30 years of use/abuse. still looks great.

this is a very light weight but solid and sturdy instrument.i would have no problem trusting it without a backup.

univox is...for lack of a better word....dead.

ive been playing for about five years, and this is without a doubt my favorite of the 20 or so guitars that ive owned/do own. its better than the epiphone sg, washburn a-20, mexican fat strat, fake strat, silvertone strat, cortez les paul.........and the list goes on. the lightweight and thin body and neck make this one of the easiest playing guitars ive ever owned. it looks great, feels great, and it sounds great. as i spent two years trying to find one in the first place, if it were stolen i would fall over, pass out, wake up, find whoever took it and painfully extract my revenge over the course of a thousand years. if i found another one, id buy it in a heartbeat. the only things i plan to do with this guitar are find and install an original bridge pickup and replace the tuners. all things considered, this is an extremely well made guitar. value wise it is the best guitar ive ever seen. sure you can spend thousands on some vintage or custom fender or gibson.....but it still wont be as cool as the univox. this is something that sounds great, looks great, and you dont have to worry too much about it getting damaged because it has a relatively low price tag. if you find one BUY IT.

Im not quite sure what year it was made, most likely mid 70's. It was made in Japan. 21 fret Maple/Maple neck with a sort of "boat bottom" profile. Im guessing the body wood is solid basswood, or alder, something, its quite light. There is a master volume knob and a master tone knob as well as a Gibson style 3 way pickup selector switch. Its got 2 really cool lookin great sounding humbuckers. Its got passive electronic of course. The body finish is like, Olympic White, and the neck has a cool honey type finish. The High Flyer body style is kind of a reversed Strat thing, Its got that weird combo Tune-O-Matic/Stop Tailpiece bridge that sucks really bad, so Im putting a Gotoh 510 in it instead. It came with a crappy Gibson gig bag.

I play a few types of music, mainly Punk, like Nirvana, so this thing is perfect for me. So far all I use is a Boss DS-1 through a Peavey Basic 112 Bass amp. My guitar amp is at someone elses house, but Id rather play it through my Peavey because my other amp sucks. The pickups are a little noisy when the DS-1 is cranked, and it usually is, but other than that its great. It sounds great, you can basically hear what it sounds like by watching Nirvana play Rape Me on Saturday Night Live. I love it.

The action is amazing, but I didn't buy it from the factory, thank god for Ebay. Other than the bridge being really crappy, the guitar is amazing. No flaws, and its in great shape for a 30 year old guitar.

I would gig this guitar in a second, but I play bass, so I wont be using it, my guitarist will be using it, most likely downtuned for other songs. The hardware has held out this far, so I think it will for longer. The finish is in amazing condition, so it seems to be a good paint job.

I dont believe it would be possible for me to get in touch with customer support at Univox, so I dunno.

I have been playing for almost 3 years, I own a Fernandes Atlas 4 bass, and I am supposed to be receiving an Epiphone Thunderbird bass, and one of those new Fender Mustangs. Im waiting for them from Musicians Friend. If this were stolen, I would hunt down the bastard who stole it and beat him within an inch of his life, let him recover, then do it all over again. If it were lost, I would definately buy a new one. I compared it to a bunch of Strats, Id take this baby over ANY Strat any day.

This beast was made in Japan, ca 1976. It's very Moserite-Venutures
in appearance. Mine has 2 humbuckers. The neck pickup is rotated about
15 degrees in the opposite direction that a Strat bridge pickup is swung, which I personally thing is the correct way to balance the overtones of the high and low strings. The finish is a very nice sunburst, with a white-black-white pickguard, and a rosewood board over the nicest, skinniest maple neck I've ever played. The neck is
fretted with narrow fretwire, similar to old Fender wire, and is
attached using a 4-bolt chromed plate, with a very '70's "U" for
Univox. The headstock is 3-a-side, slightly offset, with plastic
buttons. As manufactured, the tuners were 3-on-a plate, without
gear housings -- very cheap. The holes for the strings were also higher than the nut, which forced the use of "string trees" to
hold the treble strings down at the nut. This is a source of friction
and tuning problems, so if you find one of thes guits, do what I did
and replace the stock tuners with a Stewart-Macdonald 3-on-plate
set of tuners (about $40.) The holes on these are nice an low, so
as long as you wind the strings down the post three or four wraps,
you can put take the string retainer trees off, put them in a plastic
bag with the old tuners (for when you sell the instrument on the
fickle vintage market) and enjoy your newfound tuning stability.
The trem is a trapeze-style, similar to one of the oddball Fenders (maybe the Jauguar?) The strings go over a trapeze-style roller bridge
with white plastic rollers, then on to the separate whammy plate, which is mounted near the end of the body. The strings mount through an angled plate which sticks up through a slot in the cover plate.

Haters of this style of whammy may note that tightening the springs
periodically -- a fairly easy task -- helps somewhat with trem-induced
tuning problems. And unlike a Strat-style trem, which is integral with the bridge, snugging the springs does not necessitate a new
setup, because the bridge itself never moves.

The pickups stand proud of the guitar's body. They have black mounting
bezels. The pickups themselves have a chromed outer housing, with
a tan (not really cream) top color. The tan part (the top of the
coils) is protected from sweat and crud by a clear plastic sheet,
which has holes cut through it corresponding so that only the pole
pieces are exposed. My guitar tech informs me that these rather
well-built pickups were built by Schaller. I have no way of verifying
this, but they are definitely far higher in quality than was the
average for guitars in the same price range.

The pickups are wired to a 3-way toggle switch, one volume, and
one tone control. The jack is a non-angled style, and is therefore
easy to tighten as needed.

As for ratings: The plastic rollers and the subpar tuners are offset
by intuitive, simple controls, good pickups, and excellent ergonomics.
With my new tuners and accompanying absence of string retainers,
I'd rate it a 9. As-built, however, I'll go for 7.

I love these pickups, whoever built them. This is the only humbucker-
equipped guitar I own. I generally like single-coil pickups, because
most humbuckers sound like mush -- all honky midrange and phasey
overtones. These pickups have clarity, but with just a hint of
"bubble" to them -- a nice option for the sonic tool box.

I like a slightly-overdriven 6v6 amp, generally with no effects (tho
I'll occasionally dabble with overdrive pedals.) Even with these pickups pegged, they have clarity, bite, and warmth all at
once, which is very rare. Add spring reverb, set to about 3, for
a bit of blossom on top of the guitar's natural acoustic reverberance.

One observation on this guitar's unique tone, which does not have
to do with electronics:
The pickups stand very high off the face of the guitar. I think
that this design feature contributes to the unusual tone of this model.

The pickups form a kind of "sound cavity" -- similar to a semi-
hollow guitar, but with less boominess. Mostly what you get is the
high frequencies bouncing off the face of the guitar, instead of
a bunch of midrangey muck. This makes the Univox louder than most other solidbodies when played unamplified. The plastic roller bridge
also contributes, by damping some of the string overtones so that
each string's sound can be discerned when playing a chord. This
contributes as well to the unique tone.

Finally -- this is a guitar which loves to play loud. The pickups
are totally non-microphonic. They simply will not squeal. Hold
a note 'til it feeds back, then push the string between the bridge
and the tailpiece for some wiggly-ass vibrato effects. Try that
with a Les Paul.

The bridge pickup is my baby (not surprising, since it's the most
like a single coil of the three possible settings.) The neck pickup
is only useful for clean playing -- I hate that honking Cream/Santana
tone of an overdriven neck pickup with the tone rolled down. But if
you like it, this guitar will deliver that sound too. So for a
bare-bones control layout, there are a few sonic options. And so
simple to use...

This guitar's a natural for blues, straightforward rock, and (using
that setting I don't like) probably for Seattle-style honk. Why
else would Cobain have been the guy to popularize this machine?
Ironically, given that it's a Moserite Ventures copy, it does
not strike me as being well-suited for playing surf. There
are, however, many Hi Flyers out there with P90-ish single coil
pickups, which would likely work fine on surf.

Guess what? I love the damn thing.

For a guitar which cost about $150 1977 dollars new, the fit and
finish is very good.

The neck joint is fine, the setup went unaltered for almost 20
years from the time I sold it to the time I bought it back, and
all I had to do was a small bridge adjustment because I changed
the strings over to Ernie Balls from whatever was on there when
I got it back.

The fretwork is excellent -- this is a very comfortable guitar to
play. I noticed a little router crud inside the vibrato cavity when
I was tightening the springs. Big deal.

Ok, the original tuners sucked. But otherwise...

The first time I owned the Hi-Flyer, I was into the Hendrix
thing -- banging it on stuff, playing in the rain, playing
slide with mic stands, etc. It's been dropped, left in the sun,
the attic, and the cellar.

Since 1977, I've had to re-solder the ground wire. Once.

It looks fragile, but as long as you don't snap the neck-to-
body joint (which actually may be fragile) you can definitely
depend on it.

Never needed it. I think Aria was actually building Univox at the
time I bought mine new, so whatever Aria's support was like 25
years ago????

You'll notice that I put two entries under "price paid." I sold
this baby in 1979 to finance my first (of 6) Fenders. I bought it
back in 1999, after two decades of abuse and neglect at the hands
of my best bud. It was my 1st electric, and I've never played
anything else so physically comfortable.

So would I buy it again? Well, I did.

It's nice because it has some retro chic, but it's not so
precious that you'd kill yourself if you broke it. I am
very attached to mine, though.

If I'd asked anything, I'd have asked if they had two more
in stock, and bought them all.

In comparing it to the other cheapies available at the store,
I just knew by the feel that it was far superior to the others.
That taught me a valuable lesson, too -- that if a guitar feels
right, you can almost always make it sound right after the fact.
Feel is one of the hardest hings to correct if it's not there
at the beginning.

Three years ago, I had to play a show w/ a friend. It was a
situation where all of the members of the friend's band were
away, so everybody was essentially "filling-in." I had never
even met the drummer and bass player before, and we had to play
an hour's worth of original material three hours after meeting.
I knew my parts pretty well, but it was an unnerving situation.

Then the bass player opened his gig bag, and pulled from it
a black Univox Hi-Flyer (or equivalent) bass. That's when we
all knew everything was going to be ok...

I am a left handed guitarist, so finding a good guitar is hard. I've owned many guitars. Left handed Gibson Les Pual, assorted Strats, pawn shops are great. I bought the Univox Hi-Flyer a month ago and it is great. I call it a "top of the line p.o.s." which is deceiving. This guitar has a tone knob, volume knob,and a 3-way selector switch. Thats not much but all you need. Hey, I've owned worse.

I play in a sonic-rock band and this guitar fits. I bought it without playing it. The neck pickup is amazingly ballsy. The bridge is nice and trebly. This guitar i would rate higher then my Gibson Les Paul i once owned!

Since I am left handed i had to flip the nut and adjust the intonation on it. which was simple with this guitar. It plays pretty good. It gives off cool sounds. The paint job on it is sunburst. It is a pretty old guitar so it had one stratch on it. It as the "old" Univox logo nailed on the headstock.

Reliability is this guitar's middle name. Everything about this guitar is rock solid. Currently this is my main axe. It can take it all.

This model is not made anymore so..........

This guitar is a must have. I love it more then any guitar i've had. It sounds great, plays great and is a tough little man. If you see one, buy it!

My Hi-flyer is kind of neat in that it is black and has the plastic logo on the headstock rather than the decal. From what I've gathered at http://www.univox.org, this narrows the manufacture date down to the 71-72 timeframe, as the 69-71 models were (supposedly) only produced with sunburst finishes. The controls are suprisingly solid. I was expecting rickety old pots and a flimsy input and all that, but everything (volume, tone, and 3-way switch) is rock solid. Pickups are P-90s and they sound amazing. I was actually shopping around for new aftermarket pickups while I was waiting for the guitar to arrive, becuase let's face it: most budget-priced vintage guitars have absolute crap for pickups. Just ask my '74 Fender Bronco. From the various nicks in the finish, I'm pretty sure the body is made from some solid wood rather than plywood. Fingerboard is rosewood with 22 frets, bridge is Jazzmaster/Tune-o-matic style. Surprisingly, the trem bar is still with the guitar, but only works at dropping notes.

As mentioned, I was convinced I'd have to drop new pickups into this guitar, but damn was I wrong. The P-90s in this hi-flyer are incredibly balanced, giving excellent response across all frequencies. The neck pickup is a great surprise, offering a tone that is at the same time both warm and twangy. The bridge pickup does a great job of handling both distorted and clean tones. Distortion for me comes from either a DS-1 or an MXR Distortion. I also have a Boss EQ pedal, however, the tone on this guitar is so good and so balanced that I don't need to use it. I'm still blown away by how good this guitar sounds.

Action is good, though I'll probably have to adjust it to get rid of the fret buzz on the low E fifth fret. Neck is a wee bit shifty, nothing some wood glue won't fix. Tuners and trem are the major problems here. I'll probably have to replace the tuners. They're rusted and they alternately stick and slide. Also, I prefer metal pegs to the plastic stock ones. The trem is terrible, making me even more glad that I never use the things. Use it once and everything goes out of tune. I'm thinking about putting a block in the tail like I did in my strat, so I won't have to deal with that. The bridge is a bit rusted as well, but works fine. The finish is good, with far less nicks and dings than one would expect from a 30-year old guitar.

Once I change the tuners and disable the tremolo, I'm sure this will last me forever. It's pretty damn solid as is, and I don't foresee any instances in which gravity gets its paws on it.

I'd have to build a time machine to answer honestly. Then again, if I did build a time machine, I'd probably do more important things with it, like killing Hitler or something.

Been playing for ten years. My primary guitar before this one was a 1974 Fender Bronco with a Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue Tele pickup in the bridge and a Duncan Strat standard Tele (looks like a tele neck pickup, sounds like a strat) in the neck. Had a 3-way switch (much smaller than the one on the Hi-Flyer) installed as well, since the Bronco only comes with a single pickup in the bridge. Also have a Squire Strat with a humbucker in the bridge, but I never really use it anymore. I run my guitars into a '69 Fender Bassman head and a Carvin 4x12 cab, usually with a Boss DS-1 or an MXR Distortion in between. Sometimes I'll use a TR-1 Tremolo pedal as well, which incidentally sounds great withe the Hi-flyer's neck pickup. I'd replace it if lost or stolen. I love the shape, the feel, the sound, the price, and the fact that it is not a Gibson product. I hate the rust on the hardware, the tuners, and the god-awful tremolo. My favorite feature is probably the P-90s, which sound so much better than I thought they would. Stacks up pretty well against my other guitars, though I think I like the neck on my Bronco a little bit more. Beats anything I own in terms of balanced ouput and sustain. And it just looks damn cool. Overall, a good quality instrument for a good price.

This guitar is a Phase 1 Univox Hiflier Custom (one of the rare models). It is finished in 3-tone sunburst. The neck is maple, with 21 frets. It uses 2 3-way rocker switches to switch between the Gibson P-90s that are in the neck and bridge. The bridge is a gibson Tune-o-matic. The guitar is 100% stock except for missing the whammy-bar. The tuners could be better, but they still get the job done.

I love the sound. I play a variety of musical styles, from Verbena and Nirvana to Hendrix, Kyuss, Qotsa, Tool, and the Wipers. The Hiflier has a great all around sound. My main style of music is grunge/punk, and it works especially great for this.

Everything about this guitar is excellent, except it has a few scratches here and there. It is made out of some solid wood, NOT plywood, like many other peoples'. I haven't changed anything about this guitar except the strings since I got it off ebay. I use Dean Markely NickelSteel Electric 10-52s.

Everything about this guitar is high-quality. I have a feeling it will be around for a long time.

Univox got shut down many years ago, so there's no chance.

I've been playing for 3 years.
I have a Hohner acoustic, 60's Kingston 12string acoustic-electric, Fender Jagstang with a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, stock 1965 Fender MusicmasterII, Ibanez EX Series Bass, and another Hiflier I'm building. The Hiflier Custom is my favorite out of all of them. I run it through a Fender Tuner, Boss ds-1, and Electro Harmonix USA Bigmuff. I also have an Electro-Harmonix Polychorus and an Echoflanger, both of which need to be fixed. I run all of that into a Peavey Revolution 112 (going to be replaced with a Mesa Dual Rectifier someday). If anything were to ever happen to this guitar, I would track down another Custom model.

It's a cheap (both in price and in materials) copy of a Mosrite guitar, made in Japan. 21 frets, dual humbuckers, tone and volume controls. I believe mine has some kind of generic high-output pickups in it, since they're black when the stock pickups were yellow, and they distort a little bit too easily when the volume knob is turned anywhere past 3. The body is "plywood" as Kurt Cobain described it, but it's really more like some kind of solid, lightweight, soft wood, not laminated. The bridge is basically a jaguar-style copy made of some cheap tarnished material. The neck is probably maple with a maple fretboard, and the color is described as "natural" on the Univox.org site, with the headstock having been chewed on (?) and painted over in a cheap black laquer or something. The frets are very low and worn, and the action is pretty low. I give it a 6 because it really doesn't offer any more than any mexican fender or epiphone. Simple controls, simple pickups, easy to play. Good but not great.

This guitar sounds absolutely amazing. I play classic rock influenced slightly psychidelic grunge, similar to a combination of Soundgarden and the Jesus and Mary Chain. There exists no guitar on this earth which suits my particular style better. The guitar can basically be manupulated to sound like anything, although it comes a lot closer to the bright fender sound most of the time. If you simply roll the somewhat-responsive tone control and get rid of some of the chime, you end up with a nice 335-like tone. Using both pickups at the same time generally results in a pretty cool Smashing Pumpkins buzzsaw sound with some thick distortion, but the neck pickup on it's own, I have little use for. I'm not particularly into jazz and it sounds too rubbery for me. My chain is as so: Hi-Flyer > Boss DS-1 > Toneworks AX-1G > Electro Harmonix Clone Theory > Electro Harmonix Big Muff (Sovtek reissue) > '76 Fender Quad Reverb. The Quad Reverb really takes advantage of the Univox's jangly-but-not-weak humbuckers (wherever they came from) and creates a sticky clean sound that does not chime like a Danelectro, eliminate your mids like a typical generic strat, or destroy all of your highs entirely like anything with high output pickups seems to. It's a very simple Mustang-like tone on its own, but when distorted, the DS-1 provides a great Stone Temple Pilots style obnoxious distortion. The Big Muff results in an extremely fuzzy Black Sabbath/Pumpkins type sound, great for solos and/or power chords, crap for anything where you're hitting more than three strings at once. My only compaints about the Hi-Flyer in this category include that it's lacking in sustain, but I believe this may be because my particular Hi-Flyer was in a damp cellar for 30 years and the neck is very slightly bent. It's been repaired, but not enough to really fix it totally. So I'll give this guitar a 9, assuming that 10 is a rediculously high rating that no guitar can possibly acheive.

when I got it, it was total crap. The neck was u-shaped towards the string side, the fretboard laquer was flaking off, and the action was rediculously high thanks to the bridge not being service for a really long time. Of course, after I payed my 40 bucks for all the repairs, (the guy at my corner music store gave me a pretty good deal) I locked the bridge down and began playing, and noticed HORRIBLE TUNING PROBLEMS. Then I realized that the string tree was screwed WAY down, and raised it significantly. I raised it almost to the point where it would no longer hold the strings down, and this largely helped the tuning problem. But thanks to my unfortunate neck warpage and what are probably cheap third-party tuners, the G string (huhhuh) still detunes any time I bend it. What a shame. I'll give it a 4 because I'm assuming when the guitar was new, it didn't have any of the problems I just mentioned. Maybe the idiot I bought it from should have enjoyed it like I am instead of letting it sit in his basement for years and years.

This guitar would probably fall apart were I to play a gig with it. I think it would just collapse out of sheer nervousness because it's such a skinny, weak little instrument. The hardware is cheap and tarnished, 'nuf said. The finish is pockmarked with little dings and knocks, but since it's the same color as the wood itself, you can't tell that much. It looks great from a distance and gives the guitar a hell of a lot of "character"... and it's up to you whether that's good or bad. The strap buttons are fine, I use one of those cloth fender straps and the guitar is so light anyway, I've never had any problems with it. I would not trust this guitar to give me correct change if I were buying a pack of gum or something. It's performance is totally random thanks to the deplorable tuning conditions. I bet if I used it live, it would be out of tune by the end of the first song, and I think I'd have to have a backup for my backup, just because the Univox is so unpredictable.

The company went out of business in 1977, hence I can't get a whole lot of help from them. They made some classic equipment, though. Superfuzz, anyone?

I'm going to cave and give this guitar an 8 just out of sheer respect for its mind-blowing perfect tone. I would so love to get another one, preferably one that works better, and if it were stolen I surely would. I plan on recording with this thing as soon as I get a chance, as in a controlled environment it blows all other guitars away, hands down. The only things I would change about it would be to change the 1/4" jack so that it does not stick the cord out at a 90 degree angle to the body. This is very ugly. I have an angled cord, but it's still annoying. Also, I would clean out the pots and put some kind of a hard tail on there because I don't care for tremolo and all that crap. Finally, try to disregard almost all of my negative comments, because they pertain not to all Hi-Flyers but only to my particular item. Mine is total junk, but it's a sure bet if I had another one it would sound just as good and be as dependable as any guitar. So take it with a grain of salt.

My guitar is a japanese "piece" of artistry. It looks like its an alder color but I heard they were made out of plywood. It has a very natural looking wood color, "well through the gobs and gobs of gloss". They gloss everything, even the frets are covered with the stuff. It has a couple nobs and a lightswitch looking thing on it but I dont know what is what because they dont work. well i guess im going to have to work it in. when you play it, and kurt will agree, you hate the thing but you cant put it down. Something about the way those humbuckers sound it cant even be desribed in words. man i can really go on that thing for hours. I mean i have a sierra burst, fender, double fat american strat. although, i have to be honest that one does get a lot of my time, but the univox gets more.

It is my perfect machine. Ill put it hords above any gibson out there. True gibson or epiphone. It still doesnt matter.Univox has that really raspety almost coughing like sound that merely takes my breath away. The way those hummy's purr is well worth the teasing you get playing it with other musicians. They give them a bad name but dont believe it.

Well the thing is in mint i mean mint condition. If it didnt have made in Japan engraved in it people would respect it, but there it is MADE IN JAPAN. alder top with a three ply plastic pickguard. The same ugly plastic was at the bottom of the headstop. True glorious Seventies style. I bet they looked as cool as those hippy's clothes that used to play them back in the Seventies. But there a bit out of par with modern styles. it looks like it was a guitar the beach boys wood pickup. Its the same color as the paneling on there car. Almost looks like laminate. But hey, i love the thing really ugly or not.

As i said. Tons and tons of gloss. i dont think it even finished drying because the neck seems sticky. Strap Buttoms are plenty solid. Looks like they have a sixteen penny nail through it to hold it in. Durable, Durable, Durable. I have never had my guitar drop off during live play. those suckers are awsome. I wouldnt use it on a gig witout a backup. any true guitarist would never go in to a herd of raging fans without a backup. They can get angry

Warrenty. Ha. There is no place to get it from. They are long gone. But im sure to give this fair ratings I could say .I'm sure when they had warrentys back in the day it was super fantastic. All Japenese guitar manufacturs are usually quite helpful sometimes calling back to follow up. So to keep the ratings looking grim im going to have to rely on present day japanese dealers and say,

I have been playing guitar for two weeks. I have this guitar with its Univox compainion amp, and a Yamaha G100 amp. I wished I would of asked my dad before he sold it to me if he loved me. He died eight days later. But I think i rememeber him most from that guitar and amp combination that univox had. That sound is something that was ringing in his ears for the first time when he was my age. It is a priceless sound to me.

70' something Mosrite copy, made in Japan (Stamped on the neck plate nice and big so everyone can see)Stop tail piece, some come with a trem bar.. One Humbucker and some other smooth looking non original neck pick up (it was humming so i opened the guitar up and disconnected it)The finish was in bad shape so i had to re finish it.

Sounds great for the Ramones style Punk Rock i play.

I got this like 5 years ago (proably 20 years after it was made, So I really can't comment on the factory set up... The fret board was cracked so I replaced it and had to set the guitart up again after that.

I've dropped, smacked, kick and beat this guitar to a pulp (not on purpose, just happens over the years) and this bad ass plays like new.

N/A

Great guitar for someone who just wants to play and not worry about getting a nick or a scratch on their guitar.

my high flyer is a series 3 mid 70's made guitar. it has dual humbuckers and a tremolo system. body and neck wood would probbably fall under cheap as i dont know what kind they are, maybe plywood. it has a jaguar style bridge and a very very thin neck.

very unique sound. it is quite surfy sounding when played clean but super grungy when played through distortion. there is not much noise though it squeals really loudly rather than feeding back when distorted and not played, though some control can be utilized when using feedback in a song especially with the tremolo bar. i really like the sound though, it was better than i expected. being a cheap guitar i thought the sound would be sub-par but it is almost as good as any mosrite i have played.

most of the guitar was ok adjusted. it is an old guitar though and i do not know how many people have made changes to it. i had to adjust the bridge to get all the frets to play. it still though has problems with the sustain but i will fix that with the addition of a sustaniac.

i think one good slam would crack this sucker in two as it is thin and light. the finish is still in excellent condition though as good as any fender or gibson of a similar age. i would not use it without a backup though as i am a rock star and always have at least three guitars.

company is loooong gone.

overall for the money this is a more than awesome guitar. i recorded with it the day i bought it. all around it works for pretty much any sound, maybe minus jazz music. i have been looking for one of these or a mosrite for a while and since i dont have 2k to spend on a guitar this one was it. i would reccomend anyone who wants to play punk rock go out and buy one now. they rule for surf as well. jazz players, stick to your custom made guits.

This is the Moserite copy. All white. I purchased this guitar new in 1974. It was love at first sight. I have played out with it, It has been knocked over, had beer spilled on it, and plays as well as it did when it was new. With the exception of a little oxidation on some of the hardware (especially the roller bridge) It looks as good as it did when it was new. It came with a cheap case which I think is still in my attic. I later purchased an SKB case for it. I had thought about changing the tuners, but it stays in tune, so there is no need.

This guitar has two humbuckers, and sounds fatter than a tick on a Georgia hound. It has a sound all it's own. I was into the Ventures and surf music at the time I bought it, and it suited my needs very well. I have had many offers but can't bring myself to part with this one.

This guitar was ready to play when I walked out of the store with it.
The only thing I have ever done was change strings. I currently have Danelectro 10-52s on it. The action is low with no buzzing.The finish still shines after all these years.

This guitar has stood the test of time. I would rely on it for any occasion. The strap buttons haven't fallen off in 26 years.

Univox is long gone, and so is the store where I bought it.

Been playing 43 years, I've owned some fine guitars, and let them get away. I had a vintage Supro Reso Glass guitar and sold it for a hundred bucks. I saw the same guitar in Mars for $700.00 My first elecrtic guitar was an original Danelectro Pro One. Boy was it ugly!
It had an odd shaped body and a brown sparkle finish. It played and sounded great. I sold it for $40.00 when I was 16. I have had this Univox longer than any other guitar I own. I would say that Univox was one of the better quality Japanese guitars in it's day. Still not bad today.

This guitar was made in Japan, probably around 71-72 (this is as much
as I can narrow it down, from checking out the Univox collector home page). It's got the standard Univox features (Jaguar/Jazzmaster style tailpiece, tune-amatic bridge, thin neck), with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, and P-90's. With the scratches I've put on it through the years, the body seems to be plywood. I have no problem with this. Strong wood glue joints make for a strong wood bond, and makes for a sturdy axe (more on that later). Electronics are a 3 way toggle and 1 volume, 1 tone. Yay. It's a workingman's guitar, what can I say?

This guitar was my first, and when I first got it from my aunt in early 1994, I couldn't get it to sound right at all. I even bought a cheap-o plastic Ibanez distortion and ran it through my Gibson solid state. Pitiful. As I amassed more equipment and know-how, I eventually hooked this guitar up through a DOD Grunge, a Fender solid-state combo for high end, and my old Gibson amp for low end. This sounded wonderful with the EQ rolled off on the DOD. It may seem funny, the guitar being a "Nirvana" guitar and the pedal being a Grunge. But the tone wasn't Grungey at all. It was very articulate and ballsy, with a Black Flag-ish edge to it, a great alternative to the Marshall high-gain sound. The PU's fed back a bit, but that's to be expected for a 25+ year old budget guitar. It also sounds super when ran direct into my four track, clean or distorted. The lead pickup is your typical chunky, humbuckerish sound. The neck PU sounds somewhat generic, unless played through the Fender amp for a clean, meaty funk tone. This guitar is great for punk, demoing, and general rock and roll.

I had the guitar set up at the local shop after I got it (it sat in an attic for the better part of 15 or so years). I've since set it up with 11's, and it's the most comfortable guitar I've ever played. Rhythm work is a breeze, and leads are smooth and punchy. I normally don't like such thin necks, but the heavy string gauge seems to make a great compromise. I've played with the PU's since then, too, and I can't really yield much of a difference. The only flaws are wear on the neck, and a couple of weak spots on the high E string. These are due to age and general abuse from me. I cannot complain about the finish, either. A simple gloss black that has been stickered and unstickered without a mark of glue left. As opposed to newer Strat copies I've seen, that's incredible.

This guitar is a beater, built like a rock. Granted, it came with crappy locked up tuners. I replaced these with a $5 set of tuners made for acoustics that I bought at a guitar show, and the tuning problems are no longer a problem. Strap buttons had been a problem, but I simply drilled a new hole for them. I could use this guitar without a backup, I trust it since it's very good on strings (no sharpness on the saddles, they are round and smooth) unlike my Epiphone, and it could probably withstand fluids being sprayed on it since I spilled a can of pop all over it when I first got it.

The parts on this thing seem to be replacable with anything made by Fender or Gibson, which is great since Univox went under long ago. But truthfully, I would feel no need to contact the company if it were still around. This guitar is a rock, it needs no warranty for its price/performance ratio.

Makes a great first guitar, but unfortunately Kurt Cobain had to go and play them, making some places charge up to 500 bucks for them. Great guitar, but I'd rather buy one new at that price. I'm surprised that more guitarists haven't discovered this, it's an awesome guitar that with a good amp setup, you can just plug in and play.

This is a japanese copy of a mosrite ventures model. I believe it was made in the early 70's. It has two P-90 style pick-ups, a 3-way toggle, and master tone and volume pots. It also has a surf-approved trem. It has a plywood body and a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The body has a pretty decent sunburst finish. I recently replaced the tuners, and also the rocker-style bridge with parts from stew-mac.

This guitar sounds really good for what it is! It especially sounds good for semi-to-zeppelin style distortion, although the clean sound is, IMHO, better than most humbucker equipped guitars. The pickups feedback easily, but in a good way.

This is where my hi-flyer falls kind of short. The bridge and trem were just bad ideas to begin with, the nut slots were misaligned, and the tuners were hopeless. For some reason the neck pickup was a lot hotter than the bridge, so I switched them. Although the frets are really tiny, they seem to have held up very well, especially considering that this axe is at least 25 years old! The neck to body joint is pretty flimsy, like another reviewer said, you can produce vibrato effects just by wiggling your left hand while playing!

I would never recommend playing live without a backup! Temperature changes seem to affect this guitar pretty easily. As long as you don't drop it off the stage, run it over with the band vehicle etc., it should do o.k.

Univox folded long ago.

This guitar is funky in a very cool way. Although it wasn't manufactured with strict quality control, or even very good parts, it sounds very good. It is definitely off of the beaten path, which makes it even more desirable to someone like me who is slightly left of center!

This is an early to mid 70's Hi-Flyer I purchased used. 21 frets, thin plywood body with a "german carve" like the Mosrite. Headstock is the "Bart Simpson" look with the Univox decal, not the plastic logo. 2 original stock humbuckers, 3 way toggle, 1 volume, one tone. The guitar is an off-white with a 3 ply white pick guard, rosewood fretboard. The bridge and trem are original (I had to find a bar to fit it, not an easy task!) The neck is thin and very playable. I replaced the original junky tuners with Schalers and this took care of tuning problems. No case came with the guitar.

The stock pickups are amazing! The sound of the bass strings is fat and chunky while the high strings really cut. Very unique! The guitar sounds best fully distorted ala Ramones or The Misfits, but the clean sound is also very nice.

I have all my guitars set up by my guy. After we replaced the tuners, it was great. I also replaced the volume and tone knobs with some chrome ones........looks pretty cool. Action is excellent. It can be a struggle to get to the 20th and 21st frets though.

This guitar begs to be abused. A "player" you don't have to worry about.

N/A

I've been playing 20 years and have owned just about everything. This is a great guitar, mainly because of it's unique tone, and light-weight body.

This is (maybe) a Phase III. It has 2 really awesome humbuckers and a sunburst finish. Entire guitar is fashioned after a Mosrite Ventures. Neck pickup angled downward towards left. White pickguard, 22 frets, rosewood fingerboard, Kluson tuners(replacements, not mine) and a tune-o-matic bridge with a Jazzmaster/Jaguar-style tailpiece; i didn't get a bar. Came with original cheap case and Univox Superfuzz pedal.

It suits my music style, which is Verbena, some early Nirvana (anything from Bleach or Incesticide) and Mudhoney. It's great for Mudhoney sounds, but I think this is because of the Univox Superfuzz pedal I'm using with it. It's awesome for all my other sounds. It has a rich,full tone for the bottom 3 strings, and a bright, slightly distorted tone for the top 3 strings. It makes 3 different sounds (bridge, bridge and neck, neck) selectable via a 3-way toggle switch. Global volume and tone pots. It's not great for everything, but it certainly is great for everything I play.

The guitar was purchased second-hand, so the previous owner was a luthier and set up the guitar himself. I purchased it in as good condition as any brand new Strat or SG. The bridge and tuners are replacements, and are profesionally installed and intonated. The body wood is plywood, which gives a really unique sound. The neck is thin and fast, just amazingly comfortable, and the body is about an inch thick(great).

This guitar will withstand live playing without a backup, although I never do that. I have a backup, but never have to use it. I use a Fender re-issue Jaguar as a backup. Good finish, one crack due to guitar's age, strap buttons are Schaller Straplocks, so I've never dropped it. This is an extremely durable guitar for the price it was originally sold for. The only stock hardware are the pickup switch and tailpiece, and will last forever. The tuning stability is great.

Univox are out of business, but the guy who fixed this guitar up and sold it for me will service it anytime it has a mishap.

I also own a Fender re-issue Jaguar with Seymour Duncan pickups, one antiquity Jaguar pickup and one JB Junior hotrail. I also own a stock Gibson SG and a '65 Fender Jazzmaster with 2 Schaller Humbuckers, eventually the bridge humbucker was changed to a DiMarzio Super Distortion. I use the Hi-Flyer most of the time, and the only other guitar I gig with is the Jaguar. Now, look at the good guitars I just listed... the Hi-Flyer is the best.

My guess is that it was built in the mid to late 70's by looking at the features compared to other Univox guitars. It has 21 Frets, 1 volume, 1 tone, and a 3 way toggle. It has dual humbuckers. I believe it has a plywood body, not sure what the neck is made out of, feels rather cheap though. It has a beautiful Mosrite shape to it, it's solid black with a white pickguard. Tuners are VERY cheap, and it has a missing tremolo.

Well...this is a tough one. The electronics are pretty much junk, the guitar will only play if the volume knob is turned completely up, and unless the toggle is set in the center, it buzzes terribly! But...with this configuration mentioned, it has a pretty good sound. As long as the toggle is in the center, and the volume is cranked on the guitar, it gives a decent sound, any other settings of the the toggle or volume knob sound pretty bad.

Well, this was a used guitar, so I can't judge what it was like new, but it's pretty awful now. The tuners are cheap plastic, and don't work well. I believe the neck is warped, the action is very high low on the fretboard, almost unplayable below the 10th fret. The pickup covers are loose, and rattle while playing. The toggle switch is very cheap, looks like something you'd buy for $.99 at K-Mart. The neck is set very poorly, you can used it as a tremolo by pressing on it while playing, not good!

As far as reliabilty...it works, just not like it suppose too! As far as durability, I've been playing it pretty hard for the last few years and it's held up without any major problems...besides the fit and finish problems mentioned above...well, I guess they are kinda big problems though!

Company is no longer in business. No wonder when they were building guitars like this1

This was my first guitar. At the time I bought it, I didn't know a thing about guitars, and this one fit my price range. I really wish it was a better built guitar, I love the looks of it, and I really like the feel of the guitar, it has a very thin body, and a comfortable neck. With all the problems this guitar has, I still enjoy it, probably because it was my first I guess. Sometime soon I would like to take it to a pro and have everything redone on the guitar ie: tuners, bridge, neck, etc. I like the fact that it is an "oddball" guitar, one that you don't see everyday, that is why I'd like to get it fixed up. I think this guitar has potential...it's just going to take a lot of cash to get it!

Unknown year of manufacture. Japanese. 21 frets. I bought it from a friend in 1989 for 30 bucks. It was off-white, with a white pickguard, and trem bar missing which is extremely difficult to find due to metric threads. I have not bothered to fashion a trem bar myself. Nice dual humbucking pickups with chrome plate holders around them, also off-white. Regular volume and tone controls, with a Radio Shack-looking three way toggle switch. Thin body with distinctive indented lip around edges. Tuners were worn and the plastic knobs turned without tuning the string. I easily replaced them with a nice cheap set of chrome tuners.

I like the sound a lot. It is bright and almost tinny sounding at times. I have regrettably replaced the pickups with a DiMarzio and one of my own manufacture, losing the vintage sound. My own pickup hardly works at all, the DiMarzio on the bridge works great.

This guitar was well used when I bought it. Some frets were worn down to the board close to the neck. I liked this guitar so much that I had it refretted by a luthier, using ultra-hard fretwire that will last a very long time. I regrettably repainted this guitar and will never repaint an electic guitar again no matter how many scratches it has!

This is actually a very sturdy guitar, except for those old stock tuners. I would use it anywhere, but my scope of playing experience seldom leaves my living room.

Univox is long gone, I hear.

I would not mind replacing this with another Hi Flyer, actually. I would swap the neck with my current one.

I have a Univox Hi-flyer from god knows what year. It's old, because it has the nailed-on logo instead of the decal. It's sunburst with a red tortise-shell pickguard, so I think it's a custom, because Kurt Cobain's Hi-Flyer custom was the same. It has one volume, one tone, and a huge 2-way pickup toggle. It looks like an amp's power switch. It has 22 frets on a rosewood fingerboard. When I got this guitar, it didn't have pickups, tuners, or a bridge, because the guy who sold it to me was in need of spare guitar parts for his project guitar. I put in a Dimarzio PAF Pro(neck) and a Seymour Duncan JB(bridge). I did this to sound like Kurt Cobain, because his custom was fitted with a JB, but the JB sounded too thin, so I put in a DiMarzio Super Distortion(like on his Jaguar). The original red tortise-shell pickguard was cracking, so I bought a red tortise-shell 3-ply plastic sheet from Stewart MacDonald and cut a new one with a Dremel tool. Along with the plastic, I also ordered a set of Kluson Vintage tuners(my favorite.)

I have a Fender Jaguar, a Fender Jag-Stang, and an Epiphone G-400, but this guitar has the best sound. None of my guitars are stock, because the perfect guitar for me just isn't out there, so I have to modify them all, but this one came out great. The sound suits my music style, and this guitar is my number one guitar. It's got a distorted quality to the treble humbucker that I like all my guitars to have, and I think this is the Super Distortion. The guitar's sound is now considerably deeper than when I had the JB in it. It suits my band's sound, and all my bandmates love it too.

I like vintage guitars' finish, because they didn't agonize as much, and didn't get the finish all shiny and new all the time. I like it when my guitars look a little beat up. The guitar is made of plywood, but can stand a lot of abuse, and the 2-tone sunburst is done well, although some of the plywood grain grooves are visible through the finish on the back of the guitar. (Who cares?)

This guitar can stand a lot of abuse, suprisingly. From it's description, It sound's like it wouldn't be all that reliable, but it is. (If one can withstand 8 years of Kurt Cobain's possesion, it can withstand being with me forever!) I got this guitar to sound like Kurt Cobain, because I wanted to capture the BLEACH era sound. It's pretty close, even with diferent pickups. I use this at gigs with my home-made Univox copy as my only back-up. It has Dunlop straplocks. I only had to use the back-up once, when my Duncan JB fizzled out in my Univox. I was so pissed at that damn pickup I slammed my home-made guitar on the stage and broke the headstock. That's okay, when I feel like smashing a guitar on stage, I put the Univox away and bring out my Univox copy and slam it down headstock-first, because I keep a small stash of necks at home for it.

This company is out of business, which is a damn shame because I want another Hi-Flyer. I'm going to try to find one with P-90's in it, or any one with any pickup and put P-90's in it. I just want another one. It's my favorite guitar in the world.

This was the first electric guitar I ever owned, bought brand new in 1975 for $179. My parents gave me the choice of going on the 7th grade trip to Washington DC or buying an electric guitar that cost the same amount of money. I chose the guitar.
It had 2 humbucking pickups with a 3 way selector switch. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and big UNIVOX decal. Finish was gloss black on a Moserite Ventures style body made of unknown material (could have been plastic for all I know). Cheap tuners & roller bridge. The tailpiece had a flimsy whammy bar which made for frequent tuning breaks.
It came with one of those cheap black cardboard-like cases and the dealer threw in a strap and extra strings and picks.

Again, I was 13 years old and this was my first electric, so to me every sound it made was literally magic. I was playing through an old Fender Bassman Amp and remember it having lots of problems with ground noise.

The action seemed good, but at the time I had really only played acoustic so I didn't have anything to compare it to.

The strap buttons on this guitar were replaced because the short screws kept ripping out. The other weak link were the tuners which I also would have replaced if I hadn't traded it in first.

I never had any problems that warrented any type of support, but I believe at the time these were sold, any customer support issues were addressed to the retail dealers.

I actually picked this guitar out of a catalog at a very small music store where I had been taking lessons. I got it withought ever seeing or playing one like it ahead of time (come on, I was 13; I didn't know any better) and I guess I was lucky because it was very playable. A couple of years later, I traded it in on an LP copy and then up to a Gibson SG.
Over the past few years, I have come to love cheap guitars like old Mustangs and Epis (which unfortunately have become somewhat collectible and are no longer cheap). If I ran across another Hi-Flyer I would probably buy it if only to hang on the wall; although I can't say I'd be willing to pay more than the original $179...

This is a copy of a Mosrite Ventures model. It sort of looks like a upside down strat with the edges flared inward. Everything is origional on this guitar except the tail piece/bridge. Its a very thin, solid body guitar. The body is made out of ply wood which makes it very, very light(It's a dream when it comes to playing standing up). The color is 3 tone sunburst. The neck is maple and has a rosewood fretboard with 21 medium sized frets.The neck joint plate has a really cool "U" on it. The headstock is the 3 tuners per side type and the tuners are not that bad. The logo on the top is the decal type. The very first Hi Fliers had nail on logos. The pickguard has 3 plys(Black/White/Black) and to my personal knowledge it is kinda rare, because I don't see many Hi Fliers with these pickguards. You mostly see white. The thruss rod cover is also the same. When I first got this guitar it had the origional Les Paul Jr type bridge/tail piece, but the action was way to high and there was no way to adjust it. So, I took it off and put on a Gibson Tune o Matic bridge and a Gibson Stopbar Tail Piece and it played so so excellent. What I really like on this guitar is its stock humbucker pickups. They have a metal piece going around the sides and about 2 cm on the top of the pickup like a Gibson P94 except it has one adjustable screw on one side and two on the other and they sound oh so sweet. It has a tone and volume knob and a 3 way toggle switch.

This guitar seems like it was made just for me. It plays the three styles that I love the most which is old punk rock(not this new crappy punk), kinda sad and moody rock, and obsure rock. What makes this guitar play all these styles is the stock pickups. They are some of the best pickups I have ever played. You really need to experiment with the toggle switch and tone knob. My favorite setting is the toggle switch in the treble position, volume all the way up and the tone knob at zero. It really makes a good punky sound. Another good setting is the volume and tone all the way up and switching the toggle to the middle or rythme position. It makes a really rich sound.

I can't tell you how the factory set up was because its 20 some odd years old so only the first owner would know but I can tell you the only thing I didn't like about this guitar was the action and that was due to the Les Paul Jr bridge/tail piece. It made the action way too high and there was no way to adjust it. So I took it off and put a Tune O Matic bridge and a stop bar tail piece on and that worked great. It plays so well now. After that I adjusted the pickups to be raised more towards the High E string. The finish is cracking alittle bit but I don't really care. Its 3 tone sunburst(Black/Red/Orange). If I kept the origional bridge/tail piece, I would give this a 6 but since I made my modifications to it I give it a 9

Most people say their Hi Fliers don't stay in tune but I haven't had any trouble with the guitar not staying in tune. I wouldn't really count on this guitar 100% because its made out of ply wood and it could brake very easily if I work it to hard, which I tend to do, but I really like playing with it in my band and I would definately use this guitar giging as my main guitar. The only thing thats wrong with it is the strap buttons. Their getting loosier and loosier every time I play standing up. So thats the next thing I got to fix.

Univox went out of buisiness is the late 70's. So theres no warranty or customer support.

I've been playing for a little over 7 years now and I have grown to love cheap, odd shaped, bargain bin guitars and this one fit right in on the top of that category. Its a superb guitar. Not only does it play well but it looks pretty cool. If it were stolen, I definately would buy another one but most likely I wouldn't find one.
I would like to ad - Don't buy this guitar just because someone you like has one. Buy it because you saw someone with it and you just couldn't get over how cool it is and take it from me. If you like punk and really thrash like kinda stuff. Then you'll love this guitar.

i bought this guitar used at a thoroughbred music store and i love it. the thin body is awesome and its one of the newer ones with stock humbuckers, and the stop tailpiece,it is natural color and has a maple neck that plays great. i think it was the last kind that univox made. it sounds great and it is in pretty good shape considering how old it is

i play alot of punk music so the sound is great for me but alot of people probably wouldnt like it. it also has trouble stayin in tune i have to tune it at least 3 times a day. but other than that its great.

i just bought this guitar this year (98) and it was set up good i had to change the strings and i might get a new nut and have it re-fretted. i love the stock humbuckers they sound great and the thin body and maple neck make it very fun and easy to play.

this guitar so far has been very dependable and durable for its light weight, (i think the neck weighs more than the body) i think i could probably play it at a gig without backup as long as i had my tuner.and the finish is great it is a very good looking guitar its is natural with a black pickguard.

ive been playing for about 2 years now and ive had a few guitars and this is definetly one of my favorit along with my jag-stang.if this guitar was stolen i would definetly try to find another one to buy but they are hard to find and when you do the price is usually rediculous

See the previous review. Mine got trashed in 1989 so I don't remember the exact features. But I do remember the playability and have a funny story so please read on.

Cross between a tele and ricky tone, never played a Mosrite so I don't know. The first thing I did was play "Walk Don't Run" at the flea market and sounded a bit cheesier.

Action OK, neck had a lot of bow to it, had I owned it now I could have probably saved it and sold it for 10 times what I paid (just kidding). Frets were worn out they must be made out of some kind of soft metal cause all univoxes have this problem. Intonation was OK.

Played a first set with it once, then just kept it as a toy. I used to go to Central Park NY on Dec 8 every year (this was the day John Lennon was shot). And people would bring acoutics to Strawberry Fields and sing Beatles/Lennon songs etc. Anyway I brought this thing along with a pignose and had a blast cause I got to do all the leads as the only electric. Anyhow, this was a really cold Dec 8, single digits (about 1989 or 90), and on the way home to NJ, I heard a snap come from in the gig bag on the subway. Thought it was maybe the strings, I left it in there for a few weeks, took it out and the neck was split longways. Really weird. Tried to put a tele copy neck on it but it didn't work. All parts/pieces gone, before I even heard of Nirvana.

I tried to call Univox to inquire about a lifetime warrenty :-)

Was a toy next to the '68 strat, had some good cheese tones however.

ok..i got an old model..one of the first made..and it has to OLD nailed in logo on headstock and p-90 pickups and thicker body. not many people know this but the early models have slightly fatter bodies and necks i would love the more newer versons other than an early one like this..but i love it

this sounds awesome..the only way i can think this guitar could sound better is if someone go the later model with humbuckers

i love the finish on mine..i just wish the action on the neck was better..but im no hendrix and i play punk rock so deal deal anyway

they look good to me..but it is a univox brand ..so i wouldnt give it a 10..10 being like a gibson or something..but i dont think anyone would have problems to worry about

heck, none for univox.

i love these guitars..they r my favorite..but theyre arent worth more than 250$..so if anyone sees this for more than 250$ ur being ripped off..kurt cobain used this guitar..so since then this plywood thing is being sold for up to 700$ which is digusting.. i love this guitar..i would like a later model though..one with decal logo and maple fret board and humbuckers..if anyone is willing to seel one email me

After about 2 years of searching, I have finally bought a Hi-Flyer. This is a copy of the Mosrite Ventures model. The guitar looks extremely cool. I think the body is alder. That's what Univox used in most of its guitars. My Hi-Flyer has 2 PAF style single coils, 3 way pickup selector switch, and a volume knob, as well as a tone(treble) knob. It has a floating tremolo kind of like a Fender Jaguar. The tuners are 3 on a side. These are the only things that I'm certain of. I can't tell if the neck is 25" or 24 3/4".

My musical style is that of the alternative and weird. The Hi-Flyer has 3 very different sounds. With the bridge pickup on, the guitar sounds very bright and jangly (like a Telecaster, sort of). My favorite tone comes with both pickups active. This setting heeds a sweet Les Paulesque sound. Very strong mids. And finally the neck pickup sounds just like a strat with the neck pickup active. Round and sweet.

Aside from its great tone, the guitar has a tuning problem. That is, it does not stay in tune! I usually tune about 3 times during a 10 song set. This really doesn't bother me. What grieves me about this guitar is the neck. I think that mine has a warped neck joint, because if you pull on the neck a little, it will sound like you're using the tremolo bar. I've played one other Hi-Flyer that didn't have this problem. The previous owner probably tried to put a new neck on it.

This is a really flimsy guitar. It only weighs about 5-7 pounds. The body is about 1 inch thick, like a Gibson SG. My guitar is over 30 years old and still plays well. It isn't my main guitar, but I use it for a couple of tunes. The finish is still perfect. No flaking or cracking. Despite its weak appearance, Kurt Cobain smashed Univoxes all the time. And they still played. I've witnessed this by another band (Verbena, the lead singer Scott plays a Hi-Flyer).

Univox is no more! No support available.

Mainly I wanted this guitar because it looked cool. It DOES sound great too. Unfortunately, somebody bought it for me at a guitar show and I couldn't play it first. Had I been at the show, I probably wouldn't have bought this guitar (because of the shifty neck). I would much rather have the Hi-Flyer model with humbucking double coil pickups. I think these were the newer ones, the PAF's were on the first Hi-Flyers.