VOX Mark III V-MKIII Guitar
Vox produced their first guitars in 1961. 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 "copy cat" guitar designs would be unacceptable. Their new professional guitar models would need to have unique and iconic body designs 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 coffin shaped Phantom, the lute shaped Mark VI "Teardrop" guitar was immediately recognizable as a Vox instrument.
The 1963 Mark VI "Teardrop" guitar had three single coil pickups, similar to a Fender Stratocaster. Pickup selection was controlled by a three position toggle. The guitar also featured a vibrato arm.
In 2012, Vox introduced the Apache Series "travel" guitars. Prior to the introduction of the droplet shaped Vox Apache 1 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 Mark III "droplet" shaped guitar (shown above) was introduced by Vox in 2013. It utilized the basswood body and 22 fret maple and rosewood neck from the Apache I guitar. Unlike the Apache 1, the Mark III featured three single coil pickups, a five position pickup selector and a vibrato arm. The Apache 1 and the Mark III shared a 24" (610 mm) scale length. A padded soft case was included. The 2013 Mark III was not available in the United States, but it was offered by Vox dealers in Japan and throughout Europe.
