New Guy building Vox Mk III

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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mgeek
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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by mgeek » Tue Jun 11, 2019 4:23 am

DrGonzo wrote:
Tue Jun 11, 2019 2:59 am

you're probably right about the bridge.. good strat saddles just seem to be pretty damn expensive. a high quality half-tele bridge is just under 40€. the strat trem system (made of the correct materials) is 3-4 times as much.

not sure if you're right about me having the skills tho :) the thunderbird turned out incredible and sounds and plays a million times better than my 3000$ gibson! but hinestly i think was just lucky in many respects. it was my first build..
thinking about routing the (very tight) hole for the trem block gives me the chills!

i wish i posted here before buying the pickups! mine look like the italian plastic things from the back. the wire comes out of one of the holes but they look more or less the same :( so the "good ones" look just like fender PUs.. interesting.. so i basically could buy two new high quality fenders and they could fit into the covers?
I don't think the Italian covers would swap over, but not sure... 99% certain a strat pickup would work in a square Vox cover

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:05 am

yeah that's what i mean. the (probably) italian ones i got have a closed back. could probably be opened but the original pickup would be ruined then.

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:07 am

these are the ones i got (for a reasonable price). seller's photos... looking at these again, i realize they do look a little different from others because of the metal plate on the back(?).

any information on these?

Image

Image

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:09 am

"Original vintage vox single coil pickups, fit various models of UK and Italian made guitars. 5k neck, 7k bridge."

that's what the ad says. further down in the specifications the seller states "made in united kingdom".

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by mgeek » Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:25 am

aah yeah, they are definitely not UK ones...I don't know anything really about the Italian Voxes, so can't say what sort of variation these are...

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:43 am

are you sure it is the pickups that made the difference? i know, it's like with the rickenbacker videos, 99% of the shops and people who put reviews up on youtube don't know anything about the guitar, but i remember one guy claiming the italian vox guitars had some kind of choke in them that kills the tone.

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by mgeek » Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:03 am

DrGonzo wrote:
Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:43 am
are you sure it is the pickups that made the difference? i know, it's like with the rickenbacker videos, 99% of the shops and people who put reviews up on youtube don't know anything about the guitar, but i remember one guy claiming the italian vox guitars had some kind of choke in them that kills the tone.
I couldn't really say...I've only got UK Vox stuff, but I've never really heard anyone say much positive about the Italian pickups. Don't know about the choke thing

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Thu Jun 13, 2019 12:33 pm

do you guys know where/if Brian‘s teardrop guitar is on display somewhere? i‘m going to USA in july for the first time on a roadtrip from LA to monument valley.

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by mgeek » Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:05 pm

shuffled around various hard rock cafe's I believe. Last seen in NY

BTW the original body wood on those Voxes was 'agba', a type of African mahogany

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Fri Jun 14, 2019 1:58 am

mgeek wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:05 pm
shuffled around various hard rock cafe's I believe. Last seen in NY

BTW the original body wood on those Voxes was 'agba', a type of African mahogany
wow ok are you sure this is true for brians prototype too? i never heard of agba. i was looking for a nice piece of swamp ash and thought about korina for a moment.

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by mgeek » Fri Jun 14, 2019 2:35 am

DrGonzo wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 1:58 am

wow ok are you sure this is true for brians prototype too? i never heard of agba. i was looking for a nice piece of swamp ash and thought about korina for a moment.
Haven't examined the prototype in particular, but Agba is the wood Vox used back then. A friend has a bunch of original paperwork, and that wood is specified on the original scale drawings of like, the phantom etc, and you can see it in the chipped areas of my phant. Agba bodies, sycamore necks (which tended to have some flame, on the higher end models like this), ebony fretboards.

Depends how close you want it to be I guess! The finishes Vox used then were thick polyester, which I *think* might be the same as the two pack stuff that's still used on pianos etc, so I guess no one will know if you use whatever the hell wood you like ;)

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:20 am

I just bought the only agba blank that was available in europe. one-piece.. and i returned the pickups.

what do you think about the wiring? if nobody knows the correct diagram, i just gonna copy the telecaster wiring i guess

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by mgeek » Mon Jun 17, 2019 1:16 pm

DrGonzo wrote:
Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:20 am
I just bought the only agba blank that was available in europe. one-piece.. and i returned the pickups.

Nice! This is gonna be good!

Someone on that Vox fb group will be able to help with the wiring. I don't think it's anything fancy, could well be the same as a tele

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by mgeek » Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:00 am

Someone has just offered a pair of UK pickups on that facebook group if you haven't found any yet...dude called Tony

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1062750 ... 9/?fref=nf

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Re: New Guy building Vox Mk III

Post by DrGonzo » Wed Jun 19, 2019 10:00 am

please don’t steal these from me :-/

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