A Guitar Fit for a Prince With a US street price of $1399.99 including hard shell case, the Vox HDC-77 was one of the best selling models of the 22-99 Series guitars, doubtlessly due to its connection to the artist Prince. Rich Lasner, VP of Guitar Development at Vox, shared the story of Prince and the HDC-77 with the Vox Showroom. According to Rich Lasner, Prince acquired his first BlackBurst HDC-77 directly from a Minneapolis music store and was drawn to its sound, look, and that the guitar weighed only 6½ pounds. Soon after, Prince asked his guitar tech to reach out to Vox to request a price quotation for the purchase of six more HDC-77 guitars. Before long, Vox shipped six HDC-77 guitars to Prince's Paisley Park enclave in Chanhassen MN. Prince used the HDC-77 extensively on 3RDEYEGIRL tour dates and recording with his New Power Generation band from 2014 until his passing in 2016. It is important to note that Prince performed with a factory stock HDC-77 guitar without modifications. Three Piece Semi-Hollow Construction The Vox HDC-77 combined the 3D contoured body designed for the Vox Virage with traditional laminated semi-hollow guitar construction techniques. Its arched top and back were made from three layer maple plywood, overlaid with a quilted maple veneer and press formed into shape. The rim and central core structure of the HDC-77 were machined out of a solid block of mahogany. The central core structure incorporated two prong-shaped "tone bars" that reinforced the guitar from the neck joint to the bridge (see image at right). These tone bars improved string balance, minimized feedback and provided the ideal structure to mount the bridge and pickups. The arched top and back were then glued to the mahogany rim to create the body shell. HDC-77 Mahogany Central Core

CoAxe pickups in an HDC-77 Guitar

3D Contoured Body Like the Virage, the HDC-77 employed what Vox called a "3D contoured body" (see side profile photo above). Not only are the front and rear of the guitar arched, the body as a whole drops away from the plane of the neck and in effect curves around your body as you play it. This allowed the HDC-77 to better conform to a player's body whether seated or standing. Vox CoAxe Pickup The CoAxe pickups in the HDC-77 were designed by Eric Kirkland, lead designer at G-ROK, the division of Korg dedicated to Vox guitars. Originally designed for the Virage II, CoAxe pickups were also incorporated into Vox's 33, 55 and 99 Series guitars. The unique design of the CoAxe pickup featured two concentric coils: a central sensing coil and a coaxial hum-cancelling coil. The CoAxe's central sensing coil allowed the pickup to produce a myriad of classic guitar tones. Six fixed "slug" pole pieces accentuated string attack while increasing overall output. The coaxial hum-canceling coil surrounded the central coil, eliminating electrical interference while preserving the pickup's treble response.

Controls The HDC-77 not only shared the CoAxe pickups with the Virage, it also shared its controls, switches and wiring harness. A pair of three position Mode Switches facilitated the selection between single-coil, soapbar or humbucker tones for each pickup. A master volume control, master tone control and a conventional three-way pickup selector (bridge-both-neck) were also included. MaxConnect™ Aluminum Bridge The MaxConnect bridge was originally designed by G-ROK for the Vox Virage guitar. The bridge was a precision cast, satin finish aluminum assembly weighing a scant two ounces. Vox claimed it had the longest range of saddle adjustment of any bridge on the market, allowing correct intonation from the lightest to the heaviest of string sets. It also offered easy, "straight-in" access for restringing the guitar. Two brass studs, anchored to the guitar's internal bracing, secured the bridge to the body and allowed precise string height adjustments. Vox Super Smooth Custom Tuners The tuning stability of the HDC-77 was enhanced by the Vox "Super Smooth Custom Tuners," originally designed by G-ROK for the Vox Virage guitar. Each tuner set was composed of six individual, sealed units with chrome-plated cases. Their satin finished, wave motif pegs matched the satin finish of the MaxConnect™ bridge (see photo at right).

MaxConnect™ Cast Aluminum Bridge Vox Super Smooth Custom Tuners - Wave Motif Tuning Peg Photo Courtesy Parts is Parts (partsisparts.net)

Neck The Vox HDC-77 was equipped with a mahogany set neck with a bound ebony fretboard and rhombus shaped acrylic inlays. It had a 25⅛" (638mm) scale length making it ⅜" longer than a typical Gibson and ⅜" shorter than most Fenders. The neck had 22 medium jumbo frets, a synthetic, self-lubricating nut and an 11.8" (300mm) fretboard radius. The neck was ~1.69" (43mm) wide and ~0.83" (21mm) deep at the first fret and ~2" wide and .90 (23mm) deep at the twelfth. The neck met the body at the 17th fret. A hand carved, custom set-in neck joint with an inverse heel allowed greater access to the upper frets (see photo at left).

New HDC-77 Colors Added in 2011 Three additional finishes were introduced for the Vox HDC-77 in 2011: Koa top and back with a gloss finish, TransAmber over flame maple and TransRed over flame maple.

Country of Origin The Vox HDC-77 was designed in America by G-ROK of Novato CA and built by SPG Musical Instruments of Incheon Korea.

.....Additional Resources HDC-77 Owner's Manual HDC-77 New Product Bulletin - 2010 HDC-77 New Product Bulletin - New Colors - 2011 Vox Product Catalog, page 36 - 2011