| Model |
1963 Vox Stroller |
| Pickups |
One Vox V1 pickup |
| Scale |
25 1/4" |
| Body |
Laminate body. Total length 35 1/2" long, Body length 14", 11" wide, 15/16" thick. |
| Neck |
Sycamore bolt-on neck. Rosewood fingerboard. No adjustable truss rod. 19 frets. Width at nut 1 5/8" |
| Hardware |
1 volume and 1 tone control. Co-axial input. Floating bridge. Open gear strip tuners. |
| Weight |
2.0 kg |
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The Vox Stroller was one of the simplest guitars Vox produced; a slab body, bolt-on neck, just one pickup, with a volume and tone control, a very simple wooden floating bridge and a coaxial input rather than a standard guitar jack.
A very rudimentary guitar indeed; although Vox's own description was more upbeat: Fine quality solo rhythm, solid electric guitar, high grade VOX electric strings and pick-up. Red or white cellulose finish, polished neck. Separate tone and volume controls.
But at just 2kg, surely one of the lightest guitars ever produced; perfect for the student guitarist of the early 1960s.
The single cutaway body style was shared with the earliest version of the Vox Shadow; both were based on the Guyatone / Antoria LG50, as played by Shadows guitarist Hank Marvin at the very beginning of the decade. The Shadows were probably the biggest guitar act in the UK, pre-Beatles, and they were certainly highly influential to a whole generation of up-and-coming guitarists. Vox certainly made the most of their endorsement, and when Hank Marvin moved over to the Fender Stratocaster, Vox followed suit, redesigning the Stroller and Shadow to a more Fenderesque double cutaway shape.
Vox experimented with a lot of different guitar models in the early part of the 1960s, and like many, the Guyatone-style single cutaway Stroller was short-lived; by the end of 1963 Vox they were no longer in the Vox range.
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| This Vox Stroller has just one single-coil Vox V1 pickup - note the engraved Vox logo |
The Vox Stroller has one tone and one volume control |
The Vox Stroller had a very simple floating wooden bridge. |
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| The very simple pressed-metal tailpiece is held to the body with six screws |
The coaxial input is on the side of the guitar. Later these would be mounted on the scratchplate. |
This Vox Stroller has no neck plate, unlike later models. |
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| Vox Stroller headstock. |
Reverse headstock - the serial number is stamped next to the tuning gears |
Decal of the "Stroller" model name, in the green scripted font of the early 1960s |
Similar Models
The body itself is a very simple slab with no bevels or unecessary detail. The pickup route will accept a one or two pickup (Vox Shadow) scratchplate. All components simply screw into place. Vox did use laminate wood bodies, especially on their cheapest guitars - as is the case here; see the close up of the neck pocket below - but many also had solid wood (typically mahogany or agba).
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| Under the scratchplate of the Vox Stroller - just two potentiometers and a capacitor |
The body route was the same for the one-pickup Stroller or the two-pickup Shadow |
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| The very simple circuitry of the Vox Stroller |
Vox Stroller neck pocket detail |
The body of this guitar is made of laminations of different woods - this can be clearly seen in the unfinished neck pocket area |
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