For the last ten years or so I have been on the lookout for a 1962 Vox Duotone the same as mum and dad bought for me on my 15th birthday. There are several different versions of the Duotone and I have seen some of those, but never the one that I had - until last week. It was on ebay and the price was acceptable so I bid on it and won.
This is where it gets interesting as my one was bought new in 1962, but this one was bought new in January 1960. It's red, very close to the iconic Shads red that we all love, although battered and distressed through natural process, which I don't mind. It also has the original strings still on there, flatwound heavy ones ! I asked the owner to verify this as he mentioned it in the advert and he said that he had never changed them in 57 years. The pickgaurd is cracked at the tone control, which is exactly what happened to my one back then, the stuff they used to make them was rubbish as far as durability was concerned. The jack socket was unusual too, a three pin affair, similar to a male XLR, but the pins slightly in different positions. My one had a 1/4" jack socket in 1962 so this was a new experience for me. I immediately changed it for a jack socket so that I could play it through my amp and when I did I was amazed how good, if not slightly quieter than the Strat it sounded. The strings that I expected to be awful stayed in tune and the intonation is fine, which I find unbelievable. At the ball end of the strings there is black winding which I remember seeing before back then.
Anyway my dilemma is whether to re-string to try it out on stage, or just leave well alone and hang it up as a piece of interest instead. There was never a truss rod in these, just two steel bars that are unadjustable, so the neck is slightly bowed, but not enough to stop in from playing OK.
Back in the day my friend who played rhythm guitar bought the Vox Ace, identical to mine but with a trem which was about 5gns more than mine. We couldn't afford that for mine so as lead guitar, I had no trem but our rhythm guitarist did.
My Duotone back then was 28gns but the guy I bought this from paid 25gns two and a half years previously.
I checked what that is in todays money and it's around £630, no mean sum.
I hope someone finds interest in this, even if it's only the strings, I find it amazing that they still exist in tact.