Vox Mando-Guitar 12 String Electric Guitar (1966)
1
/
of
13
Regular price
$2,400.00
Regular price
$2,400.00
Sale price
$2,400.00
Unit price
/
per
Item #13909
Vox Mando-Guitar Model 12 String Electric Guitar (1966), made in Recanati, Italy, serial # 305324, sunburst polyester finish, mahogany body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
This is a really good playing example of one of the quirkier instruments to emerge from the JMI/Vox operation in the 1960's (And that's saying something!). The Mando-Guitar never really caught on in a big way but remains a very cool and quite functional oddity. A fairly small number of the first Mando-Guitars were produced at Jennings' Dartford, Kent factory but the great bulk of extant examples (like this one) were built for Vox by Eko in Recanati, Italy. This one has had some very carefully done restoration work and if not the most perfectly original is the best playing of these we have had.
The Mando-Guitar is an double-strung octave guitar; the strings were originally designed to be tuned in unison, not the octave arrangement of a conventional 12-string. The idea was for an instrument that played in the mandolin range but was tuned as a guitar, as few of the Beat-era guitarists who were JMI's customers had any clue how to play mandolin! After production moved to Italy that idea seems to have been obscured and some of these now surface originally set up with a conventional 12-string nut, strung with 3 octave and 3 unison courses. This example is factory set up in the original pattern, with double (not octave) stringing on the bottom courses.
Rolling Stone Brian Jones was given one of the first samples, and supposedly one went to the Beatles as well. With its small artist-palette shaped solid body and short 15" scale neck this is a very handy instrument, and with two clear sounding Vox pickups has a fairly wide range of tones. The 3-way switch is paired with master tone and volume controls, the adjustable bridge is unique to the model.
There have been a number of similar instruments inspired by this design created in more recent decades, but the Vox Mando-guitar remains the original and coolest of all mini-12 string guitar efforts. Prominent use by Ry Cooder and David Lindley (among others) has resulted in a continued interest in the design and likely inspired the re-creations; we are always happy to get an original example in stock.
Overall length is 28 1/2 in. (72.4 cm.), 10 in. (25.4 cm.) width, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 15 1/4 in. (387 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This instrument still appears nicely original, and relatively clean overall. It has had some finish restoration, helpfully detailed on a piece of paper included. There was likely a lot of the typical Polyester checking almost inevitable on the Eko-made instruments, which has been carefully re-worked but still looks correct. This work is noted as: "Sand body, glue and fill numerous cracks (in the finish) and dings, airbrush black, clear coat body, sand and polish body". Essentially this was a carefully done cosmetic overfinish, and the instrument does look very clean retaining its original look and character,
The pickguard has shrunken up with a missing lower forward corner but is otherwise intact; there is some mottling to the surface and a few scratches but the raised Vox logo is nicely intact. The mounting holes were filled and re-drilled as part of the body renovation so it sits cleanly now with no pulls at the screws. All original hardware is intact and functional except the chrome bridge cover is missing; the mounting holes for it were filled in.
The litany of repair work also included: the original frets clamped down, glued and dressed, the zero fret replaced and nut reworked; the fingerboard was sanded and polished as well. The fret ends are cut through the binding, but that is original; for some reason how these were made at Eko. The neck and bridge were shimmed for added playability, and the result of the extensive re-conditioning is this is a very nice little player. Although cosmetically re-worked the instrument still looks exactly as it should, the best of these we have had functionally with an awful lot of chime. The original hard shall case is included. Overall Very Good + Condition.
View full details
This is a really good playing example of one of the quirkier instruments to emerge from the JMI/Vox operation in the 1960's (And that's saying something!). The Mando-Guitar never really caught on in a big way but remains a very cool and quite functional oddity. A fairly small number of the first Mando-Guitars were produced at Jennings' Dartford, Kent factory but the great bulk of extant examples (like this one) were built for Vox by Eko in Recanati, Italy. This one has had some very carefully done restoration work and if not the most perfectly original is the best playing of these we have had.
The Mando-Guitar is an double-strung octave guitar; the strings were originally designed to be tuned in unison, not the octave arrangement of a conventional 12-string. The idea was for an instrument that played in the mandolin range but was tuned as a guitar, as few of the Beat-era guitarists who were JMI's customers had any clue how to play mandolin! After production moved to Italy that idea seems to have been obscured and some of these now surface originally set up with a conventional 12-string nut, strung with 3 octave and 3 unison courses. This example is factory set up in the original pattern, with double (not octave) stringing on the bottom courses.
Rolling Stone Brian Jones was given one of the first samples, and supposedly one went to the Beatles as well. With its small artist-palette shaped solid body and short 15" scale neck this is a very handy instrument, and with two clear sounding Vox pickups has a fairly wide range of tones. The 3-way switch is paired with master tone and volume controls, the adjustable bridge is unique to the model.
There have been a number of similar instruments inspired by this design created in more recent decades, but the Vox Mando-guitar remains the original and coolest of all mini-12 string guitar efforts. Prominent use by Ry Cooder and David Lindley (among others) has resulted in a continued interest in the design and likely inspired the re-creations; we are always happy to get an original example in stock.
Overall length is 28 1/2 in. (72.4 cm.), 10 in. (25.4 cm.) width, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 15 1/4 in. (387 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This instrument still appears nicely original, and relatively clean overall. It has had some finish restoration, helpfully detailed on a piece of paper included. There was likely a lot of the typical Polyester checking almost inevitable on the Eko-made instruments, which has been carefully re-worked but still looks correct. This work is noted as: "Sand body, glue and fill numerous cracks (in the finish) and dings, airbrush black, clear coat body, sand and polish body". Essentially this was a carefully done cosmetic overfinish, and the instrument does look very clean retaining its original look and character,
The pickguard has shrunken up with a missing lower forward corner but is otherwise intact; there is some mottling to the surface and a few scratches but the raised Vox logo is nicely intact. The mounting holes were filled and re-drilled as part of the body renovation so it sits cleanly now with no pulls at the screws. All original hardware is intact and functional except the chrome bridge cover is missing; the mounting holes for it were filled in.
The litany of repair work also included: the original frets clamped down, glued and dressed, the zero fret replaced and nut reworked; the fingerboard was sanded and polished as well. The fret ends are cut through the binding, but that is original; for some reason how these were made at Eko. The neck and bridge were shimmed for added playability, and the result of the extensive re-conditioning is this is a very nice little player. Although cosmetically re-worked the instrument still looks exactly as it should, the best of these we have had functionally with an awful lot of chime. The original hard shall case is included. Overall Very Good + Condition.
