# UNIVOX guitars



## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

has anyone ever played one of the Vintage ones? i have a Les Paul on loan from a friend...i love it...don't want to give it back! i haven't been able to date it...i've been to the univox website...but the neck plate has been changed (it doesn't have a serial number) and the name on the head stock doesn't match any of the scripts shown...but at the same time, on the website you are hard pressed to find two guitars with the same script logo...

i was at another friends place this last weekend, and he's got a UNIVOX strat...he loves his to death too...

anyone else got one, and have love for it? i almost bought another one on EBAY last night...closing bid...$130...insane...


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

In the mid 70s, I owned a Univox Strat with 3 humbuckers. Natural finish, maple neck, big headstock. Traded it - wished I didn't.

I still own a mid 70s Univox P-bass copy. Great instrument. I've had many bass players bring their own high-end basses to jams and end up playing my 'lowly' Univox half the night, impressed at how it sounds and feels.


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## boneman (Feb 11, 2011)

OK so this is an olde thread.... but caught my eye in a Google search. Yeah... I own an early 1960's Univox Coily hollow body. I bought it from the original owner in 1975... with the matching amp for $150 (at that time, a fortune). Here's the kicker... HE procured it from a Lafayette Electronics store in NJ... and it was NOT A UNIVOX at that time. In fact.... it only became a Univox recently.

Huh? What's that you're saying? Well... it's like this.... I've owned it for years... and in many ways... hated it for a lot of (wrong!) reasons. You see.... it's been known forever as a very no-name unit. A "Maestro". That is the main reason that I still own it. NOBODY WANTED IT. Seriously... I tried trading it. Selling it. To no avail.... so it sat in the closet for many years.

Well... the fellow I bought it from... who was inspirational to a young teenage boy passed away and I thought... gee... now I own a dead man's guitar. C'est la vie... Still... it sat in the back of a closet. Many closets actually.

About two years ago... I figure... hell... there's that damn old guitar... actually the VERY FIRST electric guitar I ever owned.... so that's something. Of all the things that have come and gone.... this thing has been with me for... thirty five years. Holy krappe... so I drag it out of the closet.... start to clean her up.

Hmmm... you know... it's really not in all that bad a shape... it has some finish checking and doggone it.... if it doesn't have a little character. Right down to the vintage 1975 Gibson Humbucker in the neck position... and the original 1975 DiMarzio Super Distortion at the neck....

So whilst cleaning it up I notice the "Maestro" nameplate on the headstock is rattling. It was after all, held in place with two "pins" as it were. So I figure... let me get it off there and clean the heastock proper. Prise it off... not pins... NAILS for crying out loud... and HOLY CRAP!!!!!! Underneath the pot-metal "Maestro" nameplate... underneath the clearcoat finish... in bold gold is... (you guessed it!) UNIVOX.

So this POS guitar actually HAS a name! Since this discovery, I have removed (and retained of course) the original faux-Bigsby vibrato that really only served as a de-tuner... as well as the biggest obstacl to actually tuning the thing... I took the aforementioned p'ups out of it and found on ebay originals.. actually, I put the 'bucker in the bridge position and have the stock p'up at the neck... she has a very nice sound this way.

Knowing now how to properly adjust such things as intonation, bridge height and truss rods (yes the T-rod works perfectly!) I've tweeked and tweeked and she actually has damnably acceptable action and playability.

So I got to thinking... hmmm.... lemme cruise Ebay for "Maestro" and see what I find. Dammit if I didn't find a "Maestro" 12-string that's identical to my original. Got it for a song as it's... well... NO NAME MAESTRO... 5 minutes after it arrived via UPS I had the box open... popped off the doggone pot-metal Maestro headbadge... yep... another Univox.

I was keeping that info to myself.... as I had a grand plan of "flipping" Maestro-vox's... but I don't have the time... and share it now so that others interested can get themselves a nice unit for a good price and "unveil" the true identity on their own. It is a wonder to behold!!!!

So... I've been an anonymous Univox owner for 33 years.... and a "Born-Again" Univox owner for the past three years.

Anyone else out there got a born-again? Would LOVE to hear more stories like this one! SAVE THE 'VOX'S!!!!

Later gang!

Boneman
Dingmans Ferry, PA, USA


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## Spellcaster (Jan 7, 2008)

One of the ones I feel really dumb about selling was my Univox bass that I purchased in '76. It was an eerily accurate copy of a Rickenbacker 4001 stereo bass in a natural blonde finish. I bought it when I joined a new band and when I showed up at practice with it, they showed a lot of distain and heckled me for not buying a Precision. By the time we'd played half a dozen songs they were eating crow. I kept it for two and a half years but eventually sold it off when I turned back into a guitar player. Kicking my butt now! I've also owned a Univox electric 12 string thinline...Beautiful thing in three colour burst with white pearl guard, headstock and bindings. A bit unwieldy to play with a very thin but wide neck, but absolutely gorgeous.


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