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Back Catalog Memories: Vintage EKO 12-String DLX Electric Guitar

By Mike Robinson

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December 1, 2013

EKO was an Italian musical manufacturer, prominent in Europe from the late 50’s to the 1980’s. The brand lives on today, but the instruments are no longer produced in Italy. To the best of my knowledge, they evolved from being an accordion manufacturer in the late 50’s, to creating some of the coolest electric guitars in the early sixties. They were known for their crazy pearloid and faux woodgrain finishes, accordion switches and funky body shapes. Later in the early 1970’s, they also took over production for VOX guitars, and were distributed in USA by the LoDuco Brothers in Milwaukee. That is likely where this guitar came from.

From the Temple of Doom (II): Carson & Gavin [Vintage 1974 Carvin CM95 Electric Guitar]

By Michael Wright

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March 1, 2012

| 1 Comment

| 1970's Vintage Guitars, Guitar Talk, Vintage Guitars, Vintage Guitars & Gear

“Suppose,” enticed the email message (back when email messages were still something of a novelty), “I could get you into a strip mall that has one music store and the rest of the spaces are FILLED WITH GUITARS?” Thus began a remarkable once-in-a-lifetime adventure that involved packing up my photographic gear into jerry-rigged thrift shop suitcases, hopping onto an airplane to head west, joining Tom, a knife salesman I’d never met except on the internet and at the other end of a telephone line, and driving up to Bob’s House of Music in Wheat Ridge, CO, just north of Denver. Where I would encounter more vintage guitars—including this 1974 Carvin CM95—than anyone could ever conceive! The second Temple of Doom of my life (so far).

From the Temple of Doom (I): Koob, Albert, Patricia, and Adeline

By Michael Wright

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December 2, 2011

| 8 Comments

| 1960's Vintage Guitars, 1970's Vintage Guitars, Guitar History, Guitar Talk, Uncategorized, Vintage Guitars, Vintage Guitars & Gear

Imagine someone telling you about an old-time music store that had a huge stash of unsold guitars from the 1960s, plus some guitar effects from the ‘70s lying around in its upper floors in Newark, NJ. Well, you can bet it didn’t take long for me to beat a path to the door of Newark Music City (calm down; this was a long time ago and, while the company still exists, it’s long gone from Newark). Even though I was late in the game, there were still unmined treasures to be had. A real Temple of Doom!

C.F. Martin Takes on Disco? (1979 Martin EM-18 Electric Guitar)

By Michael Wright

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December 1, 2007

| 28 Comments

| 1970's Vintage Guitars, Guitar History, Vintage Guitars

Travel with us now Back to the – no, not the Future, but – the 1970s! Back when things were all natural and stuff! Back to nature. Long hair. Deer-hide jackets with fringe. Back when the taste for things au naturale began to show up in guitars. Back when clearcoat finishes began to reveal alternating laminates of light and dark wood, often maple and mahogany or walnut. Back to a time when Martin built this 1979 Martin EM-18. Say what? Martin??

Like Rodney, It Don’t Get No Respect (1979 Gretsch TK 300 Model 7624 Electric Guitar)

By Michael Wright

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November 1, 2007

| 18 Comments

| 1970's Vintage Guitars, Guitar History, Vintage Guitars

Some guitars combine fascinating stories about both their creation and acquisition, and this 1979 Gretsch TK 300 Model No. 7624 is one of those guitars! It was conceived during what many vintage Gretsch enthusiasts consider to be the low point in Gretsch history. It was purchased during one of the great guitar adventures of my career! But, is it any good?

The Wages of Sin (1978 Kawai KS-700 Electric Guitar)

By Michael Wright

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August 1, 2006

| No Comments

| 1970's Vintage Guitars, Guitar History, Vintage Guitars

Now, I don’t really think there was – or even would have been – any sinful activity associated with this guitar. And the fact that its design is based in part on a religious motif is purely coincidence. But it is a funny story how this rare 1978 Kawai KS-700 guitar was discovered, in SinCity, no less.

Roundup for a Texas Longhorn (1978 Hondo II Longhorn Electric Guitar)

By Michael Wright

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June 1, 2006

| 4 Comments

| 1970's Vintage Guitars, Guitar History, Vintage Guitars

Most of us probably know this longhorned guitar shape from the legendary Danelectro Guitarlin. Indeed, this Hondo guitar was intended to be a tribute to that ‘60s beauty. Danelectro bit the dust in 1969, yielding to the beginnings of international guitarmaking.

Mando Mania (1975 Morris Custom Electric Guitar)

By Michael Wright

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June 1, 2005

| 14 Comments

| 1970's Vintage Guitars, Guitar History, Vintage Guitars

Morris is the brand name used by a large Japanese manufacturer called Moridira. Little is known about their history, but by the mid-’70s they were a minor part of the Copy Era, though their forté seems to have been in acoustics. Many guitar fans think of the Copy Era as a time when Japanese companies made cheap knock-offs of American guitars and sold them to kids who couldn’t afford the real thing.