Univox Ripper

Hi, I have a natural finish Ripper SER# 028487. My Dad baught it for me when I was about 15, I'm 45 now. I have always enjoyed playing it and I never really had any problems with it. The last 10 years I have been playing more accustic guitars. My 14 yr old daughter is now playing guitar now and she wants to learn ACDC music. I dug out the ripper from storage, put some new strings on her and......Boy I sure missed playing her. It's such an easy guitar to play. It looks a little beat up but I'm not in any rush to replace her.

white 1976 univox ripper.....three amazing yellow humbuckers....other than that pretty much a mornal strat copy. typical cheap tuners. only problem is the cheap three way switch instead of a standard five way.
white four ply pickguard. 70s fender shaped headstock w/bullet trussrod.

these are the best pickups i have ever seen. i have them in two other guitars and they always sound nothing more than amazing. i play a grungy type rock, and this fits it perfectly. i wish they still made these pickups today.

well, it was 27 years old when i got it, so it was pfairly messed up. i had to get new screws for the tremolo(some idiot put oval head screws on it and had it all messed up), there is one saddle that doesnt match, but i think im going to replace them all when i get a chance anyway. there was a scratchy pot on it when i got it....but a little wd-40 fixed that right up. there are some dings on the finish, but nothing outstanding for something of its age. built like a tank. typical univox. when i got it the action was set really low,, and it played great.

like i said, this thing is built like a tank. i would have no problem playing it whenever or whereever.

n/a

ive been playing for about five years and have amassed quite a collection, and this one is one of my favorites. i have a standard fat strat, and this one blows it out of the water, making it feel like a flimsy piece of junk. as there were supposedly only 500 or so of these made (if you really believe that) i feel rather lucky to have it. the only guitars i have that sound comparable to this are my two univox hi-flyers (mosrite copies). the neck (or the body for that matter) isnt as thin as on the hi-flyer, but its still a comfortable guitar.if stolen, i would try to track down another one, but i probably wouldnt have muck luck. this is also a much more solid guitar than a hi-flyer. i will sometime in the future be replacing the selector switch and the bridge saddles. this is a great guitar. it looks great (its got that whole relic appeal to it), it sounds great, it feels great. i think its probably destined to be one of my main guitars. i love it.

all original (including case) except for neck and bridge pickups, and tuning pegs

The sound from the stock pickup is screaming. Unfortunatley when I got her, the neck and bridge pickups were melted. I was told it was accidentally plugged into the output of an amplifier. I replaced them with two Seymour Duncans, but noticed after a while that they lack both low and high end over the stock pickups. If this were all origianl I'd rate it against ANYTHING out there today.

Fit and finish for a knock-off guitar are unbelievable. Any modern-day knock-off guitar can't compare. The only weak spots with these guitars are the tuning pegs and the frets. The tuning pegs are made cheaply, and the frets wear relatively quickly.

Seeing as mine is 25 years old and I still play her out, I'd say it is very reliable. I would recommend replacing the tuning pegs....I have Schallers on mine. Otherwise go for it.

Company is long-gone. You're on your own. Thank god for EBay.

Still love this guitar. I've owned it for 17 years.

I was working for Univox in Dec. 1973 when they got a shipment of the Rippers in.I picked out a natural finish,with the white pickguard this is a real beauty.My boss sold the Ripper and a Univox 15 watt amp for 110.00$.A lot money for a kid making 2.10 an hour,but one of the best things I ever bought.Just by holding this guitar you can feel the quaity.Low frets for fast action.The wood is probably ash alder which only goes into 1,000.00 and up guitars now a days and with the pickups you can go from mellow jazz to raunchy rockor blues.

I have had this guitar for 28 years .It is built like a rock. I would feel very confident without a backup. But would still bring one in case a string broke.

RIP Univox

I would put this guitar up aganist anybody and would feel very confident. I also have a Eric Clapton Strat which I also love but I still like the Ripper better.

Japenese made mid 70's. 21 frets,strat style solid body,white with a very large disco 70's head stock. 3 humbuckers with 1 volume,2 tone controls,three way switch replaced with a 5 way. Basic fender vintage tremalo. Cheap sealed tuners. It also has a cool U on the bolt on neck plate which I've never seen on anyother model. It came with a hard cardboard case with aluminum edging and a Univox name plate on it.

I play with a peavey clasic vt series amp,I just play for my own and whoever is nearby, and my style varies with the muse,but this guitar gives me the sounds I like from searing rock to mellow country. I replaced the the control pots and the three way pu switch and it just sounded so much stronger. I would recommend this to any one who has one.

I don't know if it was a factory set-up when I got it but someone did a real good job. The action is very low and playing is easy. I've been fooling with the pu height but haven'nt settled on anything yet.

The guitar sat for about 5 yrs before I really started playing it. Since then it's been holding up real well. The white finish had a number of check marks when I bought it so I decided to refinish it. MAJOR JOB! Took a week and a quart of heavyduty stripper. Refinished with clear polyurethane, was worried it was a plywood (read lamenate) but was a three piece alder I think. It looks excellant with the blond neck,very vintage. Neck strap button comes loose. If I played in a band I wound'nt hesitate to use it.

Univox is gone, too bad they made a quality instrument

I have been playing for 30 yrs. for my own enjoyment, mainly accoustic.Been electric for about 5yrs. I have played friends Fenders and Gibsons but still love my Ripper. If I had been looking for an electric I probably would have gone with a name, but this just came up and seemed like a good deal. If it happened to disappear I would be bummed and if the price was right I might buy another, but with the prices I see at auction I would look around.

Made in Japan during the seventies. Modeled after a Strat with a big headstock,bullet truss rod,21 frets,vintage style bridge with ashtray cover,one volume control with two tone. Olympic white with a maple fretboard just like I like. The most impresive feature is the three humbuckers. This makes it very versitile. I almost forgot about the 4 ply pickguard. Very cool!

I play blues but this guitar can do much more. I can get a wonderful smooth fat sound or add some bite and then go for a killer lead. I play it with a Fender Champ 25se without any effects. This is a great combo. It's a very quite guitar and the controls make no noise.

The factory setup was done over 20 years ago. This meant I needed to do my own setup. Finish is great. It held up very good for 20+ years. Only minor buckle wear on the back and two knick on the edge. Hardware is all original and lightly oxidized. Finish on the neck is still nice and shiny and the body neatly routed. Univox did a great job. After a setup it felt silky smooth.

The finish is great after all these years and all hardware works like it should it could definitly survive heavy gigging. I don't suggest playing gigs without a backup because we don't live in perfect world. But if you had to you can definitly depend on this guitar. It's built like a tank.

Univox has been gone for a long time.

I only have about a year of playing experience but I know this thing is well built. I had the chance to compare it to a real 70's strat and I feel that I got alot more guitar for alot less money. It just as heavy as a Les Pual. I tried several Les Puals,a Samick SG copy and couple of Fender Strats. This guitar just felt the best and it was the least expensive. If you ever come across one give it a try.

A mid 70s Strat style guitar from Japan with the standard volume, tone 1, tone 2, 3-way selector and get this, 3 passive humbuckers. Large headstock on a standard 22 fret maple neck bolted to a rumored Alder body. Cool feature is the "U" plate with serial number on the back where the neck bolts onto the body. Mine is the natural blonde finish with a transparent clearcoat. Three colors were available, White, Black, and Natural Blonde finishes. Pickguard is the white, black, white 3 ply type. Traditional Strat bridge with screw in whammy. Fitted case with Univox logo near carry handle.

Since I play a wide variety of styles, I needed a guitar that can give at a moments notice, a good balance of rock, blues, county, and jazz. This guitar has multiple personalities. It was made before the 5-way selector switch became popular so I have to balance the 3-way switch between pickup selections to get that "out of phase sound". The pickups are wonderful. It's like having a Les Paul with a high end biased EQ connected. Roll off the treble and you have warmth. Select the bridge pickup with controls wide open, and you have surprising sustain. The pickup pole pieces are adjustable, which allows setting one pickup for a "hot" response, another for a subdued warm output, etc. I am using my Ripper with a Digitech RP20 effects processor running through 2 Roland KC-500 keyboard amps as I am a midi guitarist. My guitar sound is clean and quiet with the humbuckers on the Univox. Fender should take note of this configuation.

In the past, I have owned 3 Ripper guitars (black and two naturals). Currently, I own one natural. The finishes were always first rate. Univox was serious when they made guitars. One issue was the neck. Univox shipped the guitars with the truss rod loose, so you had to adjust the neck before doing anything with the guitar. Once set, great action. The tuning pegs were not the best of quality and the nut needed more cut for the B and high E strings that would bind. Fit and finish otherwise was typical Japanese precision of the day. The natural blonde version has a thick transparent coating which brought out the wood. The black and white version were typical finishes like the Strats they were based on. Of course the Univox decal logo is on the headstock.

These guitars are over 20 years old now and the only problem I encountered was the neck. As with the other lines of Univox guitars, the frets seems to wear quickly and the strap button screws are short. I have toured for 2 months steady with just one Ripper (no backup) and never had a problem. Tuning was never an issue as I learned to tune with the whammy (that is, tune, work the whammy up and down, re-tune again until set).

Unfortunately, Univox is no more.

I have been playing for 22 years. My first "real" guitar was the Univox Ripper. Shortly, I became well known as studio musician in the Los Angeles area for my sound. I bought 2 more Rippers for backups and called Univox at the time to find out where I could get more. I was told that only 500 Rippers were made. About 230 were shipped to the U.S. and the rest were shipped to various parts of the world. I felt lucky to have 3. 15 years ago my guitars were stolen. I recovered one and it was stolen 1 year later, I was devastated and was on a nationwide search for a Ripper of any condiditon. I found one recently and would have paid any amount of money to own it. It was an inexpensive guitar in the 70s, but was well made for a Strat copy and those humbuckers! This is a rare underrated guitar that made me a lot of money. When I compared it to my 60s Strat, American Standard Strat, and Les Paul Standard, I am thinking, "The Ripper is my main axe again".