1965 Vox Bassmaster
British-built Vox bass guitar

The Vox Bassmaster was an early-mid 1960s bass, competitively priced, and as Vox basses go, made in relatively large numbers. It was a short scale (30") instrument, with a very thin neck, thinner than the other basses available. It is not a bad sounding bass (have a listen to the soundclips) although a bit tricky to play for people with larger hands.

The neck is incredibly thin, in fact. It is bolt-on of course, and was made by a British firm, G-plan in Hemel Hempstead. Note that there is no truss rod adjustment nut: although a rod is fitted, it is not adjustable.

This one, from late 1965, has a solid mahogany body, sycamore neck and rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. This is an unusual finish, red was by far the most widely used. Some are available in different body woods, both one-piece and laminate (the oldest ones?) - see a 1963 Bassmaster, with laminate body here.

One usually expects to see some decals on a Vox headstock: either denoting the model and or JMI as the manufacturer. Catalogue images regularly have plain headstocks, and it would seem that this bass was shipped with neither. It is possible of course that they were removed, but the is no evidence of this, and the otherwise original condition of the bass also suggests otherwise.

The Bassmaster had two Vox chrome single coil pickups. These Vox pickup casings often had this Vox logo, though not always. Guitars with none, one or two pickup logos are all common. The pickups themselves are basic single-coils - follow the link above for more details.

This example is still fitted with the original coaxial input. It seems odd that Vox were still selling these as late as 1966, but they were. Have a look at the Vox Bassmaster circuit information, which has a close up of the input itself.

In order to transmit vibrations between neck and body, neck pockets are typically left unfinished, which is helpful when it comes to examining the materials used. The rich orange/brown colour of the unfinished mahogany is clearly evident(compare this with the neck pocket of a laminate bassmaster). Note also the code 6145 in ink.

The serial number of early British Vox guitars was stamped into the wood on the back of the headstock - usually near the E tuning key; it is difficult to see in this image, but it is there. Note also the open-gear tuners fitted to Vox Bassmaster, Symphonic and Clubman basses at this time. The neck is one-piece sycamore, with a width at the nut of just 1 5/16". Very thin indeed.

This two-tone brown-black burst of this bass is an unusual feature; the vast majority were red, although white is also listed in Vox literature. See also a 1963 Bassmaster with three-tone burst finish.

The compensating bridge is similar to that of a Fender Precision: basically a stamped metal plate. Note the 'Patent applied for' notification, presumably referring to the fact that the bridge cover simply clips onto the bridge?

Electronically, the Voox bassmaster is very simple: two pickups, with just one volume and one tone control. The Vox bassmaster does not allow the selection of individual pickups, which is somewhat unusual in a two-pickup guitar.