Vox Mark V Guitars - 2013

Vox manufactured their first guitars and basses in 1962. These earliest Vox guitar models were student level solid body instruments with Fender influenced styling and features. When Vox decided that they also wanted to introduce professional level instruments, they determined that offering only "copy cat" body shapes would be unacceptable. At least some of their new professional guitar and basses would need to have a unique and iconic body design that would make them immediately recognizable as a Vox instrument. As a result, Vox developed two unusual body styles for their professional models. Along with the lute shaped Mark VI "Teardrop" guitar, the coffin shaped Phantom was immediately recognizable as a Vox instrument. The 1963 Phantom bass had two single coil pickups and a contoured back similar to a Fender Precison bass. Pickup selection was controlled by a rotary five position switch.

WA majority of Vox Phantom basses produced were built by Eko in Italy, but Vox did build some in their facitlities in the UK.

Vox retired Phantom guitars and basses at the end of the 1968 model year. No Vox basses were produced in either the "Phantom" or "Teardrop" body styles for the following 44 years. In 2012, Vox reintoduced "Phantom" and "Teardrop" guitars and basses with the arrival of the Vox "Apache" series travel guitars.

Prior to the introduction of the coffin shaped Vox Apache 2 guitar, travel guitars were typically small bodied acoustic guitars with short scale necks. Their compact size made it possible to stow the instrument in the overhead luggage bin of an airplane. The Vox Apache Series expanded the concept of the travel guitar by incorporating a battery operated "drum box" and a 1 watt amplifier with twin speakers into the instrument. Despite all their features, the street price of the Vox Apache travel guitars was under $300 in the United States.

The Vox Mark V guitar (shown above) was introduced by Vox a year later in 2013. It utilized the basswood body and 22 fret maple and rosewood neck from the Apache 2 guitar. Unlike the Apache 2 bass, the Mark V featured three single coil pickups, a five position pickup selector and a vibrato arm. The Apache 2 and the Mark V shared a 24" (610 mm) scale length. A padded soft case was included.

The 2013 Mark V was not available in the United States, but it was offered by Vox dealers in Japan and throughout Europe.