VOX Ultrasonic XII - Restoration

[blackradar]

Hi vox gang,
Just got my hands on a VOX Ultrasonic XII.
It's going to take some work and love to bring it back to life.

The thing is there are a few things that make this specific unit slightly different compared to any other model I have seen before.

First things that caught my eye are:

The headstock decal

It looks as if the material used is different and has a different colour compared to others.

The fretboard markers

These usually have three diagonal lines painted in black and white

The position of the palm-wah switch

Although it is not positioned exactly in the same spot to the millimeter, it usually sits further down and right, between the f hole and the wah itself.

So I'm curious about this.
Could it be an early model or even a prototype?


On top of the above mentioned. It has a few things to look after:
The body has the usual lacquer cracks but it also appears to be sunken around the neck pickup (not sure the reason why) and has a bigger crack that goes a bit through the body. Not sure how can I fix that.




It is also missing the original palm wah. Wondering how am I going to find one...

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[blackradar]

I have tried 5 different image hosting sites and still the images doesn't seem to show up.
Not sure what am I doing wrong.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

I just copied the "ibb.co" links so I could see the pictures in a separate window.

Interesting! That neck's definitely different to the ones I've seen too, that usually have pale gold or silver inlay material on the headstock. And yeah, the block inlays on the neck are simpler too. Completely different to my XII.

Is there a serial number on the neckplate? Not a particularly accurate way of working out the guitar's age but I'm curious what it is, nonetheless.

How much of the Palm Wah unit is missing?

[blackradar]

I just copied the "ibb.co" links so I could see the pictures in a separate window.

Interesting! That neck's definitely different to the ones I've seen too, that usually have pale gold or silver inlay material on the headstock. And yeah, the block inlays on the neck are simpler too. Completely different to my XII.

Is there a serial number on the neckplate? Not a particularly accurate way of working out the guitar's age but I'm curious what it is, nonetheless.

How much of the Palm Wah unit is missing?

Hey, thanks for having a look and sorry about the images, first time I post images (I must be missing something, not sure what...)

There is a serial number but the neck plate is not original, so it must be from a different model as it isn't coming with the usual vox neck plate logo, it's just a plain one.

The Palm Wah — I have the mechanism but everything outside of the body is missing. That means the leveler and the triangular plate in which it sits in the body.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

I've added your images here, until you work it out ...









You could always just copy the links over to your post, if your problem continues.

I'm guessing you've done some of your own research, regarding the unusual neck. There were several differences between all these mid-top of the range guitars from plain vs inlayed headstocks to different wording on the switch plates - some Wah plates just say ON/OFF while others, like yours have WAH-WAH included. The slightly different switch location is odd though. Maybe yours was an earlier model.

I've seen repro Wah handles but not full units. I actually removed mine & bagged it up as it didn't get any use (I'm thinking of putting it back on though, funnily enough). If you need any help with pictures or measurements, ket me know.

[blackradar]

I've added your images here, until you work it out ...

You could always just copy the links over to your post, if your problem continues.

I'm guessing you've done some of your own research, regarding the unusual neck. There were several differences between all these mid-top of the range guitars from plain vs inlayed headstocks to different wording on the switch plates - some Wah plates just say ON/OFF while others, like yours have WAH-WAH included. The slightly different switch location is odd though. Maybe yours was an earlier model.

I've seen repro Wah handles but not full units. I actually removed mine & bagged it up as it didn't get any use (I'm thinking of putting it back on though, funnily enough). If you need any help with pictures or measurements, ket me know.

Thanks.
I have tried the links, and that wasn't working neither. I have the feeling it might be related to some sort of forum rights maybe??.

I have done some research but haven't found absolutely no info in regards to different necks.

Yeah, I need the base where the handle goes attached and the leveler, both. (wish me luck )

Measurements wise, that'd be great actually. What is the width of the heel, nut and fret 0 on yours?

Thanks!

[MattK]

It looks like the neck block has pulled into the body a bit and caused the top to buckle and split around the neck pickup. If you can get the neck off, you may be able to steam and unbend things there, and glue some bracing around the top. Pretty difficult job I am guessing, that is a lot of string tension for a lightly built body.

[blackradar]

It looks like the neck block has pulled into the body a bit and caused the top to buckle and split around the neck pickup. If you can get the neck off, you may be able to steam and unbend things there, and glue some bracing around the top. Pretty difficult job I am guessing, that is a lot of string tension for a lightly built body.

Yep, I think it might require some internal re-bracing maybe so it feels robust enough to support the tension. The steam unbend option sounds good but delicate and probably pricey.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

So, after asking around I found out some interesting info that's completely new to me...

The company that made these guitars - EKO - had one source of material for the inlayed headstock. Just a single shade, most likely silver/white. The almost orange shade of yours is from the clearcoat lacquer becoming tinted over time (nothing unusual really as this is widely talked about on this forum).

It's actually not surprising, judging from the poor condition of your guitar. It looks like it's been played a lot, probably moved around a lot, and exposed to more sunlight than mine. It stands to reason that, over time, the colour would age more.

Just for fun, here's your headstock, my headstock & an unusual NOS blank neck I bought years ago...



3 different stages of ageing.

[blackradar]

So, after asking around I found out some interesting info that's completely new to me...

The company that made these guitars - EKO - had one source of material for the inlayed headstock. Just a single shade, most likely silver/white. The almost orange shade of yours is from the clearcoat lacquer becoming tinted over time (nothing unusual really as this is widely talked about on this forum).

It's actually not surprising, judging from the poor condition of your guitar. It looks like it's been played a lot, probably moved around a lot, and exposed to more sunlight than mine. It stands to reason that, over time, the colour would age more.

Just for fun, here's your headstock, my headstock & an unusual NOS blank neck I bought years ago...



3 different stages of ageing.

Hey. Thanks for the info.

So are you saying on these 3 the inlay material is the same?
I´ve always thought there were, as you pointed yesterday, two different inlay types, the silver and brighter kind of looking one (second image - your ultrasonic) and the golden but less mother of pearly type (third image).

Do you know what material is it? And how thick is the blank inlay used? Is it like a thick paper sheet kind of thing or more like a thicker and engraved in the wood type of thing? Do you know? Curious about that.

I have seen yellowish ones before but you could see the pearly texture, mine looks almost like a solid colour/material. Not sure if you know what I mean. looks like 3 different materials.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

...Measurements wise, that'd be great actually. What is the width of the heel, nut and fret 0 on yours?

Heel - 58mm
Nut - 45mm
Zero fret - 41mm

[PorkyPrimeCut]

So are you saying on these 3 the inlay material is the same?
I´ve always thought there were, as you pointed yesterday, two different inlay types, the silver and brighter kind of looking one (second image - your ultrasonic) and the golden but less mother of pearly type (third image).

It's exactly the same material. The darker the clearcoat becomes, the less light will travel through it, which is why yours is less "sparkly".

Take a look at the binding on your body. It's identical to mine & started out in life as being white! That shows just how dark the clearcoat can go.

Do you know what material is it? And how thick is the blank inlay used? Is it like a thick paper sheet kind of thing or more like a thicker and engraved in the wood type of thing? Do you know? Curious about that.

I couldn't say but I can find out. My guess is that it's at least a couple of millimetres thick.

[blackradar]

...Measurements wise, that'd be great actually. What is the width of the heel, nut and fret 0 on yours?

Heel - 58mm
Nut - 45mm
Zero fret - 41mm

Measurements on mine are:
Heel - 56,60mm (widest point on fret 22)
Nut - 44,10mm
Zero fret - 41,22mm (43.50mm including binding)

[blackradar]

I couldn't say but I can find out. My guess is that it's at least a couple of millimetres thick.

Great. Let me know if you do, please.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Hey, can you post a picture of the whole guitar? (or at least a link that I can open?)