Vox Bobcat S66 Bigsby Guitar - 2021

Vox offered an incredible assortment of guitars during the mid to late 1960s. In addition to producing guitars that were unmistakenly their own design such as the Phantom and Teardrop, Vox also offered guitars that resembled popular models produced by Fender and Gibson. The original V219 Vox Bobcat was clearly a Gibson knockoff.

During this time frame, Vox contracted with Crucianelli and Eko in Italy to produce their semi-acoustic models. While a majority of Bobcat production came from Eko, a Bobcat produced by Crucianelli, with it's characteristic "bat wing" pickguard, can be seen in the 1966 Thomas Vox catalog.

The semi-acoustic, double bound body of the 1960's era V219 Vox Bobcat by Eko had a thick poly finish. The original Bobcat had three single coil pickups with black rectangular plastic covers and a kidney shaped pickguard with an engraved "Vox Bobcat" inscription. It also featured a hinged vibrato tailpiece, a three position pickup selector switch and four rotary controls with knurled aluminum control knobs. The bolt-on, removable neck featured Eko open-gear tuning machines. The neck included the Eko exclusive "Double T" aluminum extrusion plus an adjustable truss rod. A vertical Vox logo was engraved into the headstock. The Bobcat retailed for $330 in 1966, or about $2600 adjusted for 50+ years of inflation.

Like the original Bobcat, the 2021 Vox Bobcat S66 Bigsby reissue featured a poly finished double bound semi-acoustic body. The Bobcat S66 Bigsby added a center block to control feedback. The Bobcat S66 Bigsby also had three single coil pickups with original style white rectangular plastic covers. A black plastic pickguard included a "Vox Bobcat" inscription. The Bobcat S66 Bigsby replaced the non-vibrato trapeze tailpiece used on the Bobcat 66 with a Bigsby B70 vibrato tailpiece. Tone selection was facilitated by a three position pickup selector switch, two volume and two tone controls topped with knurled aluminum knobs. Unlike the original Bobcat, the reissue Bobcat S66 Bigsby had a set-in neck and Grover tuners. The neck was ~1.7" wide at the nut. The Bobcat S66 Bigsby retailed for $2139.99 and was made in Korea.



...Vox V219 Bobcat and Bobcat S66 Bigsby Comparison

V219 Bobcat (1967-) Bobcat S66 Bigsby
Body style
Lower bout size
Center body block
Fully bound
Finish
Pickups
Pickup selector
Controls
Knobs
Tailpiece
Bridge
String mute
Pick guard
Scale
Neck attachment
Neck reinforcement
Frets
Fret markers
Width of nut
Tuners
MSRP
Origin
semi-acoustic semi-acoustic
~16.5" ~16.5"
no yes
yes yes
poly poly
three single coil three single coil
three-way switch three-way switch
2 volume, 2 tone 2 volume, 2 tone
knurled aluminum knurled aluminum
trapeze w/vibrato arm Bigsby B70
floating w/wood saddle fixed
yes no
white plastic black plastic
25" 25"
bolt-on set-in
Eko TT bar + truss rod truss rod
21 22
block inlays block inlays
~1.7" ~1.7"
Eko, open gear Grover, open gear
$329.90 (1967) $2139 (2021)
Italy Korea



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