A real ' Vox Student Prince'. Go figure?

Guildedagain

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Italians kind of missed the boat on electric guitars somehow... Although it looks like it would be fun to own, except for the top coming off, missing bridge, etc.
 

Rambozo96

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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.
 

Nuuska

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In the 60s EKO was considered very good bang for the buck in Finland. Necks were good - solid construction - the sound - well - not worse than others in that ballpark.
 
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fronobulax

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Given the history of classical instruments - violin, viola, cello, bass, etc. - I would expect good things from an Italian maker of guitars. I might be disappointed but they would get credit for past triumphs.
 

SFIV1967

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And when in full working order they also look not that bad.

1600852053912.png


Ralf
 

Nuuska

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Given the history of classical instruments - violin, viola, cello, bass, etc. - I would expect good things from an Italian maker of guitars. I might be disappointed but they would get credit for past triumphs.


This makes me wonder - are there any famous spanish violin makers - or glorious history of spanish violin makers?

Perhaps simply different interest in different countries?
 

jp

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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.

ekobarracuda290_3.JPG


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.
 

Brad Little

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Given the history of classical instruments - violin, viola, cello, bass, etc. - I would expect good things from an Italian maker of guitars. I might be disappointed but they would get credit for past triumphs.
There have been a few Italian classical guitar luthiers who've gotten some respect on the DelCamp CG list, don't remember any names, though.
 

Brad Little

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In the 60s EKO was considered very good bang for the buck in Finland. Necks were good - solid construction - the sound - well - not worse than others in that ballpark.
My first musical partner had an Eko 6, it played ok and was a decent beginner's instrument. I think they also were among the earlier makers to offer on board pickups.
 

Rambozo96

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I have this oddity from EKO. Kind of their attempt at the super strat and a nice guitar at that. The stock tuners were open back 6 on a plate that seem kinda crappy but they work fine for me. The lone pickup in it is a Dimarzio look a like. I have no idea if EKO made this in house (likely they were a very large outfit.) or if it was outsourced to Shadow electronics as I seen a bass pickup of extremely similar construction but the best I can do is give pointless speculations. The body is made of spruce which is an odd choice for a super strat and an odd choice for a solid body in general. Very lightweight and super resonant and to date it’s the only one pickup electric I’ve gotten along with, I live for the neck and middle positions. I don’t subscribe too much into the tonewood debate for electrics to me it either sounds good or it doesn’t. Choice of materials is an arbitrary matter in my mind.
 

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