Univox Hi-Flier


The Univox Hi-Flier is an electric guitar marketed and sold by Univox from roughly 1967 to 1977. With its reversed offset body, the Hi-Flier has an intentional resemblance to the Mosrite "Ventures" guitar. The name is often misspelled.

Phases

The Hi-Flier went through many changes, generally divided into four "phases." However, the changes that define these have "transitional" periods, where characteristics from an older phase carry over into early production of a new phase. It is impossible to date these guitars by the serial number as it is uncertain whether records were kept on their production.

Phase One

The Hi-Flier model debuted around 1967, with two P-90-style pickups. The design is loosely based on the body shape of the Mosrite Mark 1 and its later iterations, though with a thinner and much lighter body. The top of the Hi-Flier headstock has two "U"-shaped cuts, echoing the three-notch "M" shape of the Mosrite. The pickguard shape and control layout also mimicked Mosrite.
The first Hi-Fliers have a three-tone sunburst finish, pearloid white pickguard and truss rod cover. These very early Hi-Fliers are distinctly different from later models, having thicker bodies and necks, a "bar" type string tree that covers all six strings, larger fret markers for all frets except the two on the twelfth fret, dual black rocker switches on the pickguard, and a raised chromed-plastic "Univox" headstock logo.
Sometime in late 1968 or early 1969, a limited special version, the Hi-Flier Custom, was produced. With this new model, a black finish was offered along with the standard sunburst finish. These are very similar to the earliest Hi Fliers, except that they have a red tortoiseshell pickguard and truss rod cover, often slimmer neck/body, and a badge that reads "Univox Custom."
In addition, there were Hi-Fliers made that have all the characteristics of the Custom version, but are fitted with a standard "Univox" badge, with no Custom tag. This is likely due to the Hi-Flier Custom being created simply to use leftover stock badges from a previous Univox Custom model. The factory presumably had many badges left over, and used them on the Hi-Fliers until they ran out, returning to the standard "Univox" badge.

Phase Two

A redesign retained the P-90 pickups but included the following changes:

Phase Three

Around 1974, the Hi-Flier was updated with a new finish option. Twin humbuckers in black plastic surround rings replaced the P-90-type pickups. These pickups were already in production for the Ripper and Gimme. They are extremely high output pickups, with a distinctive open-top cover and three-screw mounting. Though these humbuckers strayed significantly from the Mosrite design, their unique tone and high output have made this a sought-after version of the Hi Flier.
Production of the Hi-Flier reached its peak in the mid 1970s. Consequently, Phase Three Hi-Fliers are the most common variety found today.
In addition, the natural-finish guitars and many later Phase Three guitars were fitted with maple fingerboards.

Phase Four

Around 1977, the Hi-Flier was once again changed. The white and black guitars retained their white pickguards, while sunburst and natural guitars were fitted with black pickguards.
Many had the pickup surrounds in white plastic. The knob layout was changed from in-line tone and volume knobs to a horizontally-opposed knob layout.
Most prominently, Phase Four Hi-Fliers saw a hardtail Gibson-style stop-bar bridge/tailpiece replace the former Fender Jazzmaster-style separate vibrato and roller bridge setup.

Notable Users

Univox guitars were produced by Japanese manufacturer Matsumoku, which built instruments for many brands, including Epiphone, Aria, Univox and later Westbury. They would often take a standard "house" model they made, and apply a variety of brand names to the same guitar, depending on the market the guitar was headed for. As a result, contemporary guitars identical to the Hi-Flier have been seen under various brands, including
Modern copies include