At one point in time before Japan became a force to be reckoned with in the guitar market the Italian company EKO was the largest manufacturer of guitars in all of Europe. I have an EKO 12 thats bulletproof. The Rangers are cool if you want that 60’s “clicky” acoustic tone.
My first quality guitar was an EKO 290 Barracuda. Looked just like this one.
I traded the brand new Hondo II Les Paul copy that my dad had just bought me for it, and my dad was horrified. My guitar teacher, who had close to 40 vintage Gretsches, played the EKO for a bit and congratulated me on choosing the better quality guitar. I didn't know anything except that it played so much better. Nor did I realize how cool it was.
It had the same diamond key Kolb tuners found on some older Guilds, an ebony fretboard, weird looking single coil PUs that sounded pretty good, and the longest whammy bar I've ever seen that worked so smoothly. It was super cool.
And to my brother's friends who were all into the requisite pointy, big hair, EVH-type, metal guitars, I was a total nerd. They were right.
I did a lot of essential learning on that guitar, and if I ever come across another, I'm gonna snag it.
And to avoid a complete veer contribution, I've always been interested in a VOX Prince. They seem like great little swing jazz boxes.