Thomas Organ in California controlled US distribution of JMI's products and nearly all the Vox guitars they handled would be of Italian parentage, making this genuine UK-made instrument extremely rare in America. The Eko-made Vox guitars are exponentially more common in the US at least and to the connoisseur lack the cachet - and the sound - of original JMI-built instruments. That facility was overstretched even in 1964 supplying Vox product to the UK and world markets instead of expanding their guitar-making facilities, JMI simply outsourced the bulk of instrument production to the large EKO factory in Recanati, Italy. Unlike nearly all production Vox guitars originally sold in the US, this genuine JMI-made example was assembled at the Vox factory in Dartford, Kent. The pickguard is cut from hard signmaker's plastic, and will not warp and shrink like the Italian versions. The body is made of light African mahogany, finished in black polyester. It features the distinctive "Spear" Vox headstock but with a slight backwards angle (not cut flat Fender style) and a truss rod adjustment up by the nut that actually works. This one was not made by well-known English furniture builder G-Plan, but another sub-contractor. The maple neck has a dot-inlaid rosewood fretboard, and is made in one of two very different patterns used in 1964-6. The Vibrato is closer to the Bigsby design, with an adjustable roller bridge. Controls are also a ringer for the Strat: a master volume and two tone knobs, but using a 3-way rotary switch for pickup selection. The three 6-pole pickups are a case in point they are nearly identical to 1962 Stratocaster pickups, with a similar but more square-ended white plastic cover. JMI served as Fender's UK distributor in the early 1960s and had ample opportunity to dissect and examine the California company's products in detail. Like most of the company's guitars the design is based on the Fender Stratocaster, but with the body reduced to an angular minimum, visually effective if not particularly ergonomic. This Phantom VI dates to early/mid-1965 and is an extremely well-preserved example. The Phantom VI guitar introduced in 1962-3 is Vox's most recognizable signature instruments. Along with the equally striking teardrop-shaped Mark series, the abstract trapezoidal-shaped Phantoms were born at JMI in Dartford, Kent in the early '60s. The Vox Phantom remains one of the 1960s' most iconic instruments, at least in design and visual impact - utterly distinctive then and now. Vox Phantom VI Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1965), made in Dartford, Kent, England, black polyester finish, mahogany body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original grey hard shell case.
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