Vox Clubman II

Recently I've seen quite a few of these 1960s-era Vox student-model guitars on eBay, and very often they are priced totally unrealistically. This Vox Clubman II, albeit in the more unusual left-handed layout, has a starting price of £200.

This is sheer madness. Take it from me as the ex-owner of one of these very guitars, these guitars are barely playable. The bodies are made from a piece of plywood barely an inch thick, the neck is very narrow and doesn't have a proper truss rod, the pickups are weak, the tuners don't work too well...

It's cheaply put together-tat, a 1960s exercise in jumping on the guitar bandwaggon.

The Vox guitars to look out for are the Mark series, the Phantom series, and from the 1980s, the Japanese-built Standard and Custom 24s and 25s and possibly the White Shadow.

There are some nice-looking 60s-era semis too, which might be worth checking out, but beware of the plywood-bodied student models such as the one pictured. It might be "vintage", it might be "rare", but that doesn't mean it's going to be playable.

A more realistic price for a guitar such as the example featured here would be nearer the £50 mark - possibly a little more for a left-handed model.

(I converted my one to fretless, BTW).