Reinventing the

guitar.

Every manufacturer tries to do, don’t know how much they spend on research and development but for the most part it seems to be a bit of a waste as most guitar players out there are a conservative bunch.

So what you mainly see is someone standing there holding looking somewhat like an instrument first made around the beginning of the 1950s.

So that’s what I thought when I first saw the new line of Vox guitars – the Virage – “The Missing Link” they call it, hmmm one model just looked like a hollow bodied Les Paul the other a typical ES 300 semi copy. Didn’t look as out there as their past when it comes to guitars different to the norm.

But then a closer look at the Virage site and I saw what they were on about, it’s not exactly shaped like your standard guitar…

Using advanced three–dimensional carving techniques, both models come to you smoothly curved and deliciously contoured for perfect balance and unparalleled playability. Whether sitting or standing this new ergonomic design gives you incredible solid body comfort while sustaining that sublime semi–hollow sound and feel. Vox

Now that I do like, having it contoured round your body, they’ve also come up with DiMarzio a new line in pickups, passive hum-free Three–90, now I’m not normally a big DiMarzio pickup fan and I’m certainly not anti-active pickups as I’ve a pair of EMG-89s in one guitar but I like the sound of these…

Manufactured in the USA by DiMarzio, this exclusive pickup system is the first-ever to offer a versatile range of distinct tones – clean, crunch, and lead – in each pickup. It’s almost like having a single coil, a P90 and a humbucking pickup all in one. Vox

Single coil, tick, humbucker, tick and P90, tick all at the flick of a couple of switches now that appeals to the gearhead in me. They sound not bad too.

Even with my dislike for acoustic guitars, work of the hippies, I’ve always like ES 300 style semi-acoustics, they’ll make me sound like B.B. and Freddie 😀 and I like the look of this one a lot with all the wheel reinvention. OK it may not be a massive reinvention, it’s no Steinberger, which I like as well, but this will appeal to the conservative guitarists.

Now I’d just have to get them to finish it in blue, get all that lacquer taken off the back of the neck, have it oiled up, replace the tone pot with another volume pot, compound radius fingerboard, mega jumbo frets and a trem option and I’d be very happy.

Still have to wait and see what price they’ll be retailing them at, then cursing because the US price will be well below the ripoff Britain price.