The Phantom XII and Mark XII both featured a unique Bigsby style 12-string vibrato tailpiece, which made them, along with Semie Moseley's "Ventures" model 12-string Mosrite, the only 12 string electric guitars to feature such a vibrato. In the mid 1960s, as the sound of electric 12-string guitars became popular, Vox introduced the Phantom XII, which has been used by Tony Hicks of The Hollies, Captain Sensible of early English punk band The Damned and Greg Kihn, and Mark XII electric 12-string guitars as well as the Tempest XII, also made in Italy, which featured a more conventional body style. This instrument was heavy and cumbersome with its steel neck and external circuit boxes, and rarely worked correctly, but was a hallmark of the ingenuity of this company. Amongst many innovations were the Guitar Organ, which featured miniaturized VOX organ circuitry activated by the contact of strings with fret contacts, producing organ tones in key with guitar chords. Vox experimented with built-in effects and electronics, with guitars such as the Cheetah and Ultrasonic offering numerous built-in effects. Many guitar gear authorities dispute that he ever actually used the instrument for recording or live performance. By the end of the decade, Stones bassist Bill Wyman was shown in Vox advertisements playing a teardrop hollow-bodied bass made for him by the company, subsequently marketed as the Wyman Bass. It was followed a year later by the teardrop-shaped Mark VI, the prototype of which had only two pick-ups (rather than three) and was made specifically for Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, again using a Bigsby-like "Hank Marvin" bridge. Phil "Fang" Volk of Paul Revere & the Raiders played a Phantom IV bass (which for was eventually retrofitted with a Fender neck).
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Aside from being a bit awkward to hold for seated playing, the Phantom guitars now approached professional quality, performance and price.
Aside from the unusual body and headstock shapes, Phantoms featured copies of the Fender Stratocaster neck and its attachment, the Strat's three single-coil pick-ups and standard vibrato bridge that in this case copied a Bigsby unit. Vox president Tom Jennings commissioned the London Design Centre to create a unique new electric guitar, and in 1962 Vox introduced the pentagonal Phantom, originally made in England but soon after made by EKO of Italy.
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These first guitars were low-priced, had unusual TV connector input jacks and were produced by a cabinet maker in Shoeburyness, Essex. A four-string Clubman Bass followed shortly after.
Vox's first electric guitars, the Apache, Stroller and Clubman were modeled after solid-body, bolt-neck Fenders, which at the time were not available in the U.K.
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