There are no surprises when it comes to the electronics. ![]() It preaches in a lovely vintage voice, with a warm and slightly wooly neck pickup that made me think of the 5 Royales’ Lowman Pauling, Jr. Speaking of comfort, the thin, gentle C-profile set neck and 25" scale are very inviting and the deep double-cutaways make every note on the fretboard accessible. The open-gear Grover tuners are aluminum- another weight-reducing feature that’s also borrowed from the original design-and the nut is a comfortable 1.69" across. While the original had a floating bridge with Jazzmaster-style grooved-barrel saddles and Bigsby-style vibrato, the new Bobcat has a Tune-o-matic with a trapeze tailpiece-making basic string adjustments, like adjusting the action, much simpler. The Bobcat V90’s other appointments are smart, high-quality additions. Some of the featherweight feel is achieved via a clever weight-relieved spruce center block that reduces mass by slimming of the block aft of the bridge and around the pickup routes. And at a bit under 7 pounds, it’s three very noticeable pounds lighter than my own Gibson ES. I’ve never felt a semi-hollowbody that practically floated. When I lifted the Bobcat out of the case, I was shocked by its light weight. There’s also a three-pickup version called the S66, with three slimmer, more period-correct single-coils.) The headstock is home to a mid-’60s era pearloid “Vox” overlay, while the block inlays that adorn the 22-medium-fret mahogany neck and Indonesian ebony fretboard are true to the original edition and add to the instrument’s good looks. (For the record, the Bobcat is also available in cherry red and sunburst. The white soapbar P-90s are also are a perfect fit for this particular color scheme. White-and-black pinstripe binding around the maple laminate body and the 3-ply pickguard, with a black center layer, add to its charm. Its glossy black finish with white binding has a classy tuxedo look, which flatters the Bobcat’s 16.37" x 3.23" x 18" framework. My eyeballs were pleased when I opened our test Bobcat V90’s hardshell case. They feature set-neck construction, a stable Tune-o-matic bridge, trapeze tailpiece, two pickup options, and are highly feedback resistant despite being a featherweight 6.8 pounds. Vox’s Korea-made reissues are a different breed in many respects. But they were stylish, generated distinct tones, and remain coveted by connoisseurs. ![]() They also featured bolt-on rather than set necks, which made the near-Gibson price harder to stomach for some customers. They were license-built for Vox in Italy by Eko and Crucianelli-theoretically to compete with Gibson’s ES series (though at $329 they were about the same price as the most affordable double cutaway Gibson ES).įirst-generation Bobcats were more prone to feedback and less consistent in quality than much of their Kalamazoo-built competition. The original Vox Bobcats from the mid 1960s are the kind of guitar our the kind of guitar our Wizard of Odd columnist Frank Meyers writes about.
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