Univox guitars were made in Japan and imported into the U.S. during the 60’s and 70’s. Most of their guitars were copies of popular American made instruments with some interesting twists on those designs. This is before American manufacturers like Gibson and Fender started going after the Japanese companies for patent infringement. “The lawsuit era” of the 70’s. (we’ll get into that in another post)
Univox’s were known for their hot rodded pickups. They also had quirky names for the models like Hi-Flier, Ripper, Mother, Gimme and this model, the Badazz. It really is!
The Badazz was produced from 1971 - 1974 after the success of the Hi-Flier. It is essentially a copy of the Guild S-100. It’s a solid body electric made of poplar with two high output single coils and a Hagstrom style vibrato unit. It has a maple, bolt-on neck with rosewood fretboard, block pearloid inlays and a Gibson style, open book headstock. The Badazz was available in Sunburst, Red, Red Sunburst and Natural finishes.
The pickups are the size of mini-humbuckers and look like they are double coils, however they are actually single coils with two magnets. It’s a 24.5 inch scale length guitar. The neck has a slim, rounded profile and is comfortable and easy to play. It’s not too narrow like some other Japanese guitars from that era. The pickups have a great crunch to them while still maintaining an overall vintage tone. It came with 2 volume, 2 tone pots and a 3-way toggle switch. The original tuners aren’t the best and the hagstrom style vibrato can make it a little tricky to keep in tune if not set up correctly, but once you do it plays well.
Like most Univox guitars, the Badazz is a lot of fun to play. It was more short lived than other models so they don’t come up on the used market as often as Hi-Fliers, but no one famous played them so when you do find one, they’re usually a great buy.