Eko model ekoette 1

[CurtJess]

I picked up a guitar yesterday at a sale for $20. Turns out it may be something kinda special. It's an Eko model ekoette 1. Made in Italy. The serial # stamped on the neck plate is 432228.It's in mint condition for its age. Only has 3 small finish cracks. Is this the first model produced.Does anyone here know of these guitars and what a possible value may be for it.

[jseth]

Not familiar with that model, but I have never played an Eko guitar that I felt was anything special... the terms I'd use to describe the Ekos I have played over the past 40 years are words and phrases that are against the Forum rules...

I would be shocked to hear that it's worth anything more than as a curiosity...

[beatcomber]

I had an Eko 'beatle bass' many years ago. They were an Italian budget brand.

[Villamarzia]

I live in Italy and I have crossed many Eko guitars in my life, they were and are very popular. Possibly the most popular Italian made guitar since the sixties. They are usually cheap (100$ for vintages, 200$ new ones). I think they are decent for real beginners. The ekoette is a good looking guitar but sound-wise is less desiderable. They are perfect for camping or beach bbqs though.

If you get into a situation where you don’t even trust to bring your Emerald, grab the Eko!

[CurtJess]

I think this one was made in 60

[donlyn]

CurtJess,

Is it nylon or steel string? What body shape?

I bought an EKO Ranger XII dreadnought 12 string sometime in the late 60s, or more probably in 1970. Kind of disremember exactly when at the moment. Was my first acoustic 12 string, and I had a great time with it. Built like a tank, it was. Maybe I got lucky, but I thought it was a worthwhile purchase, and certainly in my price range at the time. Got played a lot, especially when it was the only acoustic I had for quite a few years.

Don
.

[CurtJess]

Its nylon string. Not entirely sure if you'd say parlor or classic style

[Wade Hampton]

Here's a photo of one that I just pulled off a listing on Reverb.com:

Eko Ekoette 1

https://reverb.com/item/29530165-vin...-nylon-strings

They're asking $99 for it, which is about right, or on the high side of about right. The ad goes on to say that if the guitar was all fixed up it would be worth $400, to which I have to say: "Dream on, pal..."

Truthfully, most of the Eko guitars that I've run into and had a chance to play were junkers. Particularly those of the vintage of this one: in the 50's and early to mid-60's the Asian-made entry level guitars had yet hit the North American and European musical instrument markets. So in 1960 the budget brand guitar manufacturers like Harmony and Kay in the US and Eko and Framus in Europe didn't really NEED to make better instruments, because the Asian-made imports hadn't yet arrived to take market share away from them.

One of my friends and musical partners in crime plays bass with me in a couple of bands, but he started his first band while in high school at the US Naval Base in Naples, Italy, where his father was stationed. He had an Eko bass that had no tone whatsoever, he's told me: he and his bandmates called it the "Thud Bass," because when he played it, it went "thud thud thud...."

So Eko guitars of this vintage are not sought-after by serious musicians who know about them.

As for the rest of the guitar-buying public, while Eko instruments are known pretty well by many in Europe, here in North America there's virtually no brand name recognition for them. On this continent I'd be surprised if more than one guitarist out of ten had even heard of them.

Don't get me wrong - I know it's fun finding guitars like this: my equivalent is a Swedish-made plywood classical guitar called an España that I bought for $35 at an estate sale in a suburb of Anchorage. It's not a great instrument, but it's held up pretty well over the years, and once I got some good strings on it it sounded remarkably good.

The first set of strings I tried on the España were a set of Savarez strings like this:

˙˙˙

Those are excellent strings, but the España is not an excellent guitar. But on a hunch, next I decided to try a set of the strings that the British guitarist John Pearse had designed when he was working for Thomastik-Infeld in Vienna. What immediately makes them unusual is the metal high E string, but there's some equally innovative designs to the heavier strings, as well:

˙˙˙

John eventually emigrated to the United States where he and his American wife Mary Faith Rhoads started making strings on their own. Because Thomastik owns the string design to those strings because John was an employee of theirs when he designed them, Mary Faith came to an agreement with Thomastik and is marketing them in North America with the label you see above.

Anyway, once I put those strings on it was pretty remarkable how much better the guitar sounded.

So those strings are worth looking into if you plan to actually play this guitar.

Full disclosure: I am an artist endorser for John Pearse strings and accessories. But I was using Pearse strings almost exclusively for some twelve or fifteen years before that. I really do find all of their strings to be the best-sounding string I've used.

Anyway, here's the short version: you got a great deal on that guitar, but it's not worth an immense amount of money. That guy saying: "Oh, this would be worth $400 if you got it completely fixed up" is pure salesmanship, nothing more. If you clean it up and put fresh strings on it, you'll probably make a bit of a profit, but not much.

So I'd suggest you experiment with some different strings on it and keep it around as the kind of guitar you can toss in the back of the car and go have a picnic, then play it while you're sitting around the campfire.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[jontewright]

I had a used Eko Ranger sometime back in the 90’s. I was just starting out, it was ok nothing special but back then I had no real point of reference against other guitar manufacturers so I was happy with it.

[nickv6]

I had a couple of Eko ranger guitars when I was a teenager. My memory of them is that the neck was a highly playable, nice thing but the sound was not good.
Nick

[CurtJess]

Yes! That is the same guitar that I have