A Univox, or so I've been told

[newey]

Daan-

Good sleuthing! That's my guitar exactly, and the dates make sense, as does the note about the lack of the headstock logo. Mine was not, however, purchased at Sears but at a regular music store.

Also, the supposed "wood inlay" on the fake Bigsby is really only a vinyl sticker, as can be seen in the original photos I posted.

[jeng3000]

One thing I've noticed in the last year I've come into the vintage guitar market is that people often assume a guitar is a Univox if it says "Made in Japan". I'm not sure why that is, maybe Univox was such a memorable name, or it was close enough to the "Vox" name, and maybe people made up this story that Univox was Vox's Japanese manufacturer? I don't know. People are strange.

Either way, I've come across three guitars now where people say "I think it's a Univox" and the guitars were actually closer in style and pot layout (this is important) to a Vox. And Vox is different from Univox.

[stu987]

Hey Newey I just picked up one of these NO Name Japanese guitars. Mine is like yours in every detail except the color. mine is a nice three color sunburst. It is all original.
I had to do some setup work but after doing that and putting some new strings on it- it sounds sweet thru my champ tube amp.
The inlay on the tailpiece on mine is real wood veneer. It is pealing off a bit. I even got the original case, as sad as it is. The original red and white cotton strap with doves and peace signs and a red 70's coil cord. I love this guitar. The best $125 I ever spent.

Stu987

[newey]

Stu-

That's a good find, and a good price- as I noted earlier, mine cost $99 new in 1970!

Mine also plays pretty good, I did replace the tuners, which has helped the tuning stability.

[stu987]

Newey

My tuners were really hard to operate when I first got it. I removed them, took the covers off and used some 3 in 1 oil on them. They work flawlessly now and this thing stays in almost perfect tune, even after using the trem. Much better than my Strat.

Stu

[popbagel]

[i][/img] another no name on the headstock guitar

[daan]

OK there's a Ventura like mine on Ebay right now
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ventura-1970s-V ... 3a6cbb9784
here's the auction. I'll link pix to here once I'm at home again. It's nicer than the one I had, it's in more original shape (still has the original knobs, switch tips, tuners and pickguard) it's missing the tremolo arm like mine was, and someone hacked on a Tuna Matic bridge, which mine really needed but I never figured out how to do. I think I'm gonna try to get it, but I may end up sleeping in the garage for a while if I do.

[daan]

This pretty much IS my old guitar, other than this one being in better condition, and having the name inlaid in the headstock. Other than that, it's the same. Well, mine didn't have the name inlaid in the headstock, and it was missing all the knobs, the tremolo arm and 3 of the tuners when I got it, and then I put 54236256 stickers all over it...

Oh yeah, when I bought mine (from a pawn shop in 1991) it came with a "real" Gretsch case, missing the handle and smelling like cigarettes. I ended up getting more for the case than the guitar in it...

[newey]

Interesting. It's the same color as mine, and basically looks to be the same guitar, but there are some significant differences.

Mine has actual F holes, not the decal ones like this. And mine has a 3-way pickup selector on the bout instead of a knob. Although that knob looks to be a later addition, as the knob doesn't match the others.

Another main difference is the neck pickup, mine is slanted, as is the fingerboard to match. And the neck joint at the body is quite different

The other knobs/switches are the same style as mine.

The neck is different as well, mine has trapezoid MOP inlays, not the scalloped side markers. My vibrato is different as well, mine's a straight Bigsby rip-off. And the pickups are slightly different as well.

And, as noted by Daan, the TOM bridge is an addition. Mine came with a roll-a-matic style bridge sitting on a wooden base, not hard-mounted to the body. It just has a white sticker underneath to show where the bridge should be located.

[daan]

Found an old pic from the early 90's of my Ventura. I want my guitar back (and my hair)

[daan]

So while poking around on the bay I found another one of these, the slanted pup makes them easy to pick out. Apparently they sold these things as "Silvertones" too:



[IMG]
This is kind of what the crummy bridge on mine looked like, other than mine was a "bar bridge" (no intonation adjustment, and being made of some soft metal it had lots of grooves worn in it from the strings. It had the same wooden base though and wasn't attatched to the top in any way.
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp36 ... G_2905.jpg[/IMG]

[newey]

[daan]

Man I wish mine had the bridge sticker, it moved all the time (and fell off the first time I changed strings, ha ha) and I had to keep futzing with it until I learned how to set it right.