Members catscurlyear Posted April 3, 2016 Members Share Posted April 3, 2016 Hi there ,i was given an old EKO rio grande 6 yesterday and i must say i am enjoying it very much ,the body has taken some big knocks but the neck is wonderfull and the sound is great,looking at the fret wear it was not played much, looks like it`s been thrown about a bit ,luckily the neck is still good ,anybody know anything about them .thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted April 3, 2016 Members Share Posted April 3, 2016 Congrats. I had an EKO 12 string back in the day. Loved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted April 3, 2016 Members Share Posted April 3, 2016 Eko is an Italian brand. Mostly cheap and cheerful. Usually built like tanks. Possibly they need 30+ years for the wood to break down sufficiently to develop good tone. Maintenance is easy, a lot of Eko's acoustics have bolt-on-necks and adjustable saddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted April 3, 2016 Members Share Posted April 3, 2016 Eko is an Italian brand. Mostly cheap and cheerful. Usually built like tanks. Possibly they need 30+ years for the wood to break down sufficiently to develop good tone. Maintenance is easy' date=' a lot of Eko's acoustics have bolt-on-necks and adjustable saddle.[/quote'] Yes indeed ^ ^ ^ ^. My old Eko Ranger VI - bought new in 1971 for £28 (lot of money in those days) - is still going strong. And although it has a bolt -on neck I've never had to adjust it at all. As you say, "built like a tank". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted April 4, 2016 Author Members Share Posted April 4, 2016 i have an acoustic guitar, which to buy in the shops would be aproaching £500, it is made from koa it has a cutaway and has a fishman electro output and the neck is flat ,i won`t tell you the make (embarassed) .after setting up and playing the EKO i came to the conclusion it is in a totaly different league for the better , the neck alone with a regular strat type radius feels much classier and makes things easier to bar as apposed to the flat neck ,the flat neck causes discomfort and problems with the bar finger which causes dead notes for me anyhow.the construction of the EKO just looks like more thought has gone into it .i`m glad i came across it .i`m going to check out my mates £2,500 taylor ,see what all the fuss is about, think i`ll take the EKO along should be good for a lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted April 5, 2016 Author Members Share Posted April 5, 2016 Yes indeed ^ ^ ^ ^. My old Eko Ranger VI - bought new in 1971 for £28 (lot of money in those days) - is still going strong. And although it has a bolt -on neck I've never had to adjust it at all. As you say, "built like a tank". i just had a look on a historic inflation calculator website and £28 back in 1971 is now worth £387 not quite cheap and cheerful . [h=1][/h] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted April 5, 2016 Author Members Share Posted April 5, 2016 Eko is an Italian brand. Mostly cheap and cheerful. Usually built like tanks. Possibly they need 30+ years for the wood to break down sufficiently to develop good tone. Maintenance is easy' date=' a lot of Eko's acoustics have bolt-on-necks and adjustable saddle.[/quote']yep this guitar is definitely older than 30 years . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted April 5, 2016 Author Members Share Posted April 5, 2016 the intonation is slightly out up around the 12th fret a compensated saddle would probs sort that out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted April 6, 2016 Members Share Posted April 6, 2016 i just had a look on a historic inflation calculator website and £28 back in 1971 is now worth £387 not quite cheap and cheerful . I made it approx £400 in today's money so, no, not cheap at all. In fact it makes it the most expensive guitar I ever bought LOL. FWIW, I worked through the college summer holidays to save the cash - I managed to raise £30 - to buy a new steel string acoustic guitar (I already owned a classical guitar) and, in the music shop in Charing Cross Road, there were just two guitars available within that budget. Those were the days, eh? But it's still going strong after 45 years: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted April 6, 2016 Author Members Share Posted April 6, 2016 they have different logos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted April 10, 2016 Author Members Share Posted April 10, 2016 the EKO at the first fret or the F fret ,(because the EKO has a zero fret) is 1+ 29/32 nd`s inches where as this other acoustic i have is, 1 + 25/32 nd`s at the first fret ,add this all up and i get, EKO`s are great if you have man sausage fingers . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted April 11, 2016 Members Share Posted April 11, 2016 they have different logos Yes. I don't know the dates when the different logos were used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted May 19, 2016 Author Members Share Posted May 19, 2016 Jimmy Page playing an Eko Ranger V1 http://equipboard.com/pros/jimmy-page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted May 19, 2016 Members Share Posted May 19, 2016 Well, there you go! If they are good enough for Jimmy Page they are certainly good enough for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted May 19, 2016 Author Members Share Posted May 19, 2016 hi Howard ,i`ve come across another Eko, it`s like yours but has a scratchplate like mine the shop owner is not sure which model it is cause the model name has faded off the label with age, i searched online and found one like it and it is called the Eko Ranger Folk (unless somebody just made that name up),i`ve had a go on it and the neck is just like mine ,he only wants £70 for it ,i`m tempted but i have that many guitars knocking about ,debating . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted May 20, 2016 Members Share Posted May 20, 2016 hi Howard ' date='i`ve come across another Eko, it`s like yours but has a scratchplate like mine the shop owner is not sure which model it is cause the model name has faded off the label with age, i searched online and found one like it and it is called the Eko Ranger Folk (unless somebody just made that name up),i`ve had a go on it and the neck is just like mine ,he only wants £70 for it ,i`m tempted but i have that many guitars knocking about ,debating .[/quote'] Hi Cats Is it one of these?: If so it's a Grand Auditorium folk style but looks to be built very similarly to the Ranger, viz. like a brick-sh!thouse tank. The desire to own guitars is fondly known here as "GAS" (guitar acquisition syndrome) - WTF, for £70 I think I'd go for it LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted May 20, 2016 Author Members Share Posted May 20, 2016 Hi Howard .yes thats the one,so is that the official name of the guitar ,it`s basicaly a ranger with a rio grande scratch plate ,they must have run out of the bat wing scratch plates and instead put on a rio grande scratch plate and give it a different name lol . i took a couple of photos of it in the shop while it was hung up on the stand ,i got the headstock and the soundhole, the picture of the scratchplate didn`t turn out my finger unfortunatly had covered the lense .it has the bolt on neck ,they are all very similar ,the neck it feels just like mine.Ha ha ,I have definatly got GAS if you`ll excuse the phrase but unfortunaly my other half aint the house begins to look cluttered ,guitars hung all over ,but i am still pondering over it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted May 20, 2016 Members Share Posted May 20, 2016 It has the GA shape body rather than the dreadnought Ranger. I think they used the more traditional shaped scratchplate to make it look more like a folk guitar rather than the batwing type Gibson ripoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bieke Posted May 20, 2016 Members Share Posted May 20, 2016 Hi Cats Is it one of these?: If so it's a Grand Auditorium folk style but looks to be built very similarly to the Ranger, viz. like a brick-sh!thouse tank. The desire to own guitars is fondly known here as "GAS" (guitar acquisition syndrome) - WTF, for £70 I think I'd go for it LOL. that seems to be a Ranger Folk model as shown in the 1973 catalog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bieke Posted May 20, 2016 Members Share Posted May 20, 2016 Yes. I don't know the dates when the different logos were used. EKO switched to that logo late seventies, early 80s, they were making guitars under different names then, so was easier to slap an EKO name plate on the headstock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bieke Posted May 20, 2016 Members Share Posted May 20, 2016 I made it approx £400 in today's money so, no, not cheap at all. In fact it makes it the most expensive guitar I ever bought LOL. FWIW, I worked through the college summer holidays to save the cash - I managed to raise £30 - to buy a new steel string acoustic guitar (I already owned a classical guitar) and, in the music shop in Charing Cross Road, there were just two guitars available within that budget. Those were the days, eh? But it's still going strong after 45 years: here's the 1969 price list you saved .17£ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted May 20, 2016 Author Members Share Posted May 20, 2016 EKO switched to that logo late seventies, early 80s, they were making guitars under different names then, so was easier to slap an EKO name plate on the headstock did they switch from the brown to the black logo ,where did you get the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted May 21, 2016 Members Share Posted May 21, 2016 did they switch from the brown to the black logo ' date='where did you get the info . . . [/quote'] Hi Cats I think the logo used on your Rio Grande was introduced around 1973. My Ranger was bought in 1971 so had the earlier logo. Here is a link to the Eko 1973 catalogue: http://www.fetishguitars.com/catalogues-and-galleries/eko-catalog-1973/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted May 21, 2016 Author Members Share Posted May 21, 2016 Hi Howard, the black logo was used on the Ranger XII in the `67 catalog . i can`t find reference to the name Rio Grande though through the catalogs, but i only looked at the pictures, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bieke Posted May 21, 2016 Members Share Posted May 21, 2016 did they switch from the brown to the black logo ,where did you get the info oops, I was wrong some models had the black platen in 1967 already, as can be seen in the catalogs the 1973 catalog also shows some models with white plates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.