Sometimes the only way to get what you want is to build it yourself.
This twelver is a mashup of a number of different models. The body is Danelectro-style masonite over chambered plywood, with Tolex binding. The headstock is interleaved Rickenbacker, the bridge is more like a Gibson, while the overall style is my typical Audiovox.
More: Audiovox 12-String Guitar ...
This was my first Audiovox project. Below is the original walnut body, fairly true to the original. My goal was to build the closest possible reproduction of the original Tutmarc Audiovox with modern parts. The ergonomics were very bad, much like a Steinberger. The headstock geometry is also not great, you can see how two of the tuners are reversed to make it work. These are expensive Gotoh tuners that are tight enough to work in reverse; I wouldn't try this with Chinese cheapies.
More: Audiovox 736 Bass ...
This one is a body-twin to the 12-string, but with a 30" bass neck. Everything about it is Danelectro - lipstick pickups wired in series, stacked controls, masonite pickguard, Danelectro bridge. The body is masonite over chambered plywood, oil-based poly over pearl paint.
More: Audiovox Danelectro-Style Bass ...
This is the biggest of the Audiovoxes, weighing in at a full 12 pounds, with a 36" scale. The neck is a Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba) floorboard over maple, with a straight cutout headstock. There are over 100 marker dots. The body is veneered masonite over solid plywood, with Danelectro-style Tolex binding. There are also strap buttons, this instrument can be played vertically or horizontally.
More: Audiovox Electric Upright Bass ...
This one is almost identical in construction to the Danelectro-style - masonite over chambered plywood body, masonite pickguard. The neck is purpleheart over maple, with plastic fret lines. The soundhole merely serves as a pickup mount, and the pickup was just insurance against never getting the intended piezo system to work. Eventually, I did get it to work, the piezo is incorporated in a modified bridge, and sounds great. 30" scale.
More: Audiovox Fretless Bass ...
This body is maple plywood over a hollow pine core, double-bound. It came out very lightweight, too light to balance even a guitar neck. This was originally going to be the 12-string, but I realized that it would never balance. So I shuffled parts and bodies between some other projects - a planned six-string got canceled and became the twelver. That left this body free. I thought about it a while and decided it would make a good mandolin.
More: Audiovox Mandolin ...
Together with the guitar, this was the first of my modified Audiovox design to be completed. Solid poplar bodies, stained to look like walnut, with single bindings. Each pickguard used an entire sheet of material; only these two got the pearl treatment, the rest got much less expensive masonite pickguards.
More: Audiovox Solid-Body Bass ...
This was the first of my modified Audiovox design to be completed. Solid poplar bodies, stained to look like walnut, with single bindings. Each pickguard used an entire sheet of material; only these two got the pearl treatment, the rest got much less expensive masonite pickguards.
More: Audiovox Solid-Body Guitar ...
This one was a testbed for the Radiata glue-up body construction. I had lots of Strat hardware lying around from all the bass projects, so I decided to use some of it. As usual for my guitars, this has a fixed steel truss rod. This is the last of my Audiovoxes, and probably my favorite.
More: Audiovox Stratocaster-Style Guitar ...
These are the two main templates I used to build all the Audiovoxen. The image is straight from the camera, simply save it and print it out at the proper scale. The dimensions of the body template are 17" long and 11-1/2" wide. The overall length of the headstock template is 10-7/8". The neck pocket is Fender-standard.
This is my own original design, it is inspired by the old Audiovox, but not copied from it. My original design was an accurate copy, and it didn't work very well. Therefore, nothing needs to be exact if you want to build one of these, there are no official factory specifications.
More: Audiovox Templates ...
This was my third go at a 325 bass. The first one was unbalanced with this long neck, and the second suffered a router mishap. Eventually, I salvaged both of those, but first I took all the good parts and did this. Fender-type alder body with 3-tone sunburst, single binding. Surface-mounted pickups, active electronics. Finished entirely in polyurethane.
More: Rickenbacker 325 Bass 3 ...