Product: Vox v288 Aristocrat
Price Paid: USD 700 USED
Submitted
07/13/2006
at
03:28am
by
aristo67
Features
:
8
I recently acquired this strange guitar upon hearing that a local music store bought out an old vintage shop's entire stock of old vox and hagstrom and kay guitars.
I cannot find ANYTHING about these guitars online. The only way i know to describe it, is a Vox Cheetah style guitar but without the built in effects. Just the 2 Vox Ferro-Sonic pups, 1 volume and 2 tone pots, a vox "bigsby style" tailpiece, and a shitty roller bridge. The finish is the maroon color, and the binding is white around the f-holes, and a nice (naturally) aged yellow finish around the body. The classic "viney" Vox logo is embedded in the headstock, and the inlays look much more "extravegant" than those in the Cheetah or Ultrasonic. I believe my tailpiece might differ a bit from the Cheetah's as well.
Sound
:
10
The thing is a gold mine of tone. It nails that bright and clunkey and chirpy garage rock tone of bands like the stones or early who. The ferro-sonics are the coolest single coil pickup ever made. period. They are noisy, but while playing you really don't give a f***.
The guitar is not the most versatile. It was tailored for a 60's pop style of rythem and lead playing. and it does it damn well.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
6
The parts vox chose were NOT top of the line. This guitar was made in Italy somewhere in the late 60's out of cheap wood and plastic parts. however, i believe this adds so much to the character of the guitar. It almost sounds a bit annoyingly cheap. this sounds like a terrible characteristic to have, but if you play it through an old Twin Reverb, you'll know what i mean.
Vox finishes on these guiars are famous for checking and cracking with age. This model is neary impeccable in that regard. A few checks around the pickups and pup selector, but that's about it. the back is perfect.
One thing that probably adds a bit to the odd tone of the guitar, but i cannot stand, is the metal nut. Very poorly cut, which causes a wierd buzz in the B and G strings if you bend very far.
Reliability/Durability
:
7
This guitar is not super reliable. It is a bit small, and you could probably break off the bolt on neck with one hand. the parts aren't of high quality.
This guitar sees its share of live performances, and light touring around the southeast, but it is taken damn good care of.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
one of the coolest guitars ever made.
a vintage vox rarity that probably never went into full production.
how cool is that?
