Vox Astro IV Hollow Body Electric Bass Guitar (1968)
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Item #6631
Vox Astro IV Model Hollow Body Electric Bass Guitar (1968), made in Recanati, Italy, sunburst polyester finish, laminated maple body and neck, ebony fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
The fairly unique violin-body Vox Astro IV was a direct descendant of the 1966 V-250 "Violin Bass", which itself was only available for a year or so. The Astro was built with the same arched, F hole hollow body but used the very narrow neck that Rolling Stone Bill Wyman requested for his namesake teardrop-body model in 1966. By 1968 all Vox basses used this same neck design, which is about the slimmest ever fitted to a professional class bass! The Astro IV is a pretty far-out take on the Hofner violin bass and has all the typical evolved Vox appointments for that year; wider-cased metal covered pickups (with more output than the earlier design) and a *very* large headstock with larger long-stemmed tuners and a giant VOX logo made of individual gold plastic letters.
This model also has a special period feature: elaborate onboard transistorized effects that were pioneered by Vox starting in 1967. The "distortion" circuit is particularly good, adjustable from a sizzly fuzz to a white noise maelstrom, while the rotary Treble-Bass boost is also quite effective. There is also a "G" tuner, more important in the pre-electronic tuner days of 1967 but still vaguely working, though the pitch has drifted somewhat! These second generation 1967-68 Eko made models are some of the nicest Vox instruments in terms of build quality and fretwork, and this is a fast-playing and good sounding if rather eccentrically styled bass from the company's later '60's line, still a distinctive instrument by any standard! This model is most remembered for its appearance in Bill Wyman's hands at two well-documented Rolling Stones gigs: the "Rock 'N' Roll Circus" TV special in 1968 and the massive Hyde Park concert in the summer of 1969. An oddball Vox classic, but one with a pedigree!
Overall length is 47 3/4 in. (121.3 cm.), 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 29 1/2 in. (749 mm.). Width of nut is 1 7/16 in. (36 mm.). This bass is a very good player with some old and solid but visible repairs. The seams on the back of the laminated neck have been re-sealed but not finished over; this is completely tight but can be seen. Overall there is little of the typical heavy Vox Polyester finish checking, but the top/side edge of the body on the lower treble bout up through the tailpiece area shows several solid but quite visible crack repairs, well sealed but not touched up. There is a crack coming off the rearmost mounting snap for the back cover, and one other snap is missing its lower half. The rest of the body is fairly clean; there are a few largish chips through the finish to the neck heel and headstock areas. There are no alterations and the instrument is complete except the snap-on bridge cover is missing, and the "Vox" logo plate usually found inset into the tailpiece is MIA-though it may never have been there in the first place! Overall this is a good player's example of this cool Vox bass obscurity-even the active effects are amazingly still functional. Complate with the very large OHSC, a bit worn and funky but still useable Very Good + Condition.
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The fairly unique violin-body Vox Astro IV was a direct descendant of the 1966 V-250 "Violin Bass", which itself was only available for a year or so. The Astro was built with the same arched, F hole hollow body but used the very narrow neck that Rolling Stone Bill Wyman requested for his namesake teardrop-body model in 1966. By 1968 all Vox basses used this same neck design, which is about the slimmest ever fitted to a professional class bass! The Astro IV is a pretty far-out take on the Hofner violin bass and has all the typical evolved Vox appointments for that year; wider-cased metal covered pickups (with more output than the earlier design) and a *very* large headstock with larger long-stemmed tuners and a giant VOX logo made of individual gold plastic letters.
This model also has a special period feature: elaborate onboard transistorized effects that were pioneered by Vox starting in 1967. The "distortion" circuit is particularly good, adjustable from a sizzly fuzz to a white noise maelstrom, while the rotary Treble-Bass boost is also quite effective. There is also a "G" tuner, more important in the pre-electronic tuner days of 1967 but still vaguely working, though the pitch has drifted somewhat! These second generation 1967-68 Eko made models are some of the nicest Vox instruments in terms of build quality and fretwork, and this is a fast-playing and good sounding if rather eccentrically styled bass from the company's later '60's line, still a distinctive instrument by any standard! This model is most remembered for its appearance in Bill Wyman's hands at two well-documented Rolling Stones gigs: the "Rock 'N' Roll Circus" TV special in 1968 and the massive Hyde Park concert in the summer of 1969. An oddball Vox classic, but one with a pedigree!
Overall length is 47 3/4 in. (121.3 cm.), 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 29 1/2 in. (749 mm.). Width of nut is 1 7/16 in. (36 mm.). This bass is a very good player with some old and solid but visible repairs. The seams on the back of the laminated neck have been re-sealed but not finished over; this is completely tight but can be seen. Overall there is little of the typical heavy Vox Polyester finish checking, but the top/side edge of the body on the lower treble bout up through the tailpiece area shows several solid but quite visible crack repairs, well sealed but not touched up. There is a crack coming off the rearmost mounting snap for the back cover, and one other snap is missing its lower half. The rest of the body is fairly clean; there are a few largish chips through the finish to the neck heel and headstock areas. There are no alterations and the instrument is complete except the snap-on bridge cover is missing, and the "Vox" logo plate usually found inset into the tailpiece is MIA-though it may never have been there in the first place! Overall this is a good player's example of this cool Vox bass obscurity-even the active effects are amazingly still functional. Complate with the very large OHSC, a bit worn and funky but still useable Very Good + Condition.
