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© 1996 - 2024 The Vox Showroom, all rights reserved. No use on online auctions, eBay or Reverb.
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The incredible demand that had developed for Vox guitars by late 1964 caused a shortage of instruments. In response, JMI turned to other European guitar manufacturers for assistance. Vox subcontracted most of its electro-acoustic guitars to the Italian guitar manufacturers Crucianelli and Eko. Vox also imported completed necks from Eko to supplement in house production of their solid body guitars in the UK.
By mid 1965, Vox turned all of their guitar production over to Crucianelli and Eko in Italy and ceased making instruments in the UK.
The Vox Phantom IV Bass was offered in the 1962 "Precision in Sound," the 1965 "King of the Beat," the "1964/65 Vox Dealer" and the 1966 "Vox, It's Whats Happening" catalogs. A reprint of any of these catalogs is available at North Coast Music.
The red Phantom IV bass shown on this page was produced by Eko for Vox in 1965. Unlike the Phantom IV bass produced by JMI in the UK, the Italian produced Phantom IV had a removable, cushioned back pad. The necks of the Vox Phantom IV basses made by Eko also had the "Double T" aluminum reinforcement and an adjustable steel truss rod.
The unique Phantom body style was developed for Vox in 1961 by the London Design Centre. The bass featured two single coil pickups with four pole pieces. A rotary switch was used for pickup selection. A single volume and tone control were also included.
The 1966 US Vox catalog described the V210 Phantom IV Bass as follows: "Rugged and powerful solid body in striking Phantom design; fast neck with ebony fingerboard; two husky, 4-pole bass pick-ups; adjustable bridge for low action control; fast action pick-up selector switch; polyester finish in choice of colors."
The 1966 US Vox price list states that the retail price of the Phantom IV was $329.90 USD. Adjusted for inflation to today's dollars, the Phantom IV would retail for about $2195.
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