Product: EKO Auriga Swept Wing
Price Paid: N/A used
Submitted
12/12/2005
at
12:46pm
by
Dave
Features
:
7
Mine is a 1969 Sunburst "Swept Wing" Italian-made 4-string bass. Eko made the Auriga in a bass, 6-string, and the famed "Mando-guitar" short-scale 12-string which they made for Vox. Brian Jones of the Stones was seen playing the mando-guitar. Sunburst goes from yellow-red-dark GREEN!!!
It is a solidbody (likely birch)single piece body with a bolt-on 7-piece laminated neck. Body is 60s-deco "swept-wing" which looks sort of like an artist's palette - Very cool and unique.
Upturned headtock with tuners on the lower side."Made in Italy" sticker on back of headstock. White bound Rosewood fingerboard. Mother of Pearl circular fret markers. Eko logo screen-printed on the black plastic pickguard. Very thin neck - truss rod accessed at body joint.
3-way pickup selector, 2 single coil pickups, two Volume and two tone controls - white plastic knobs. Chrome Stud mount bridge and tailpiece. Black plastic pickup mounting rings
Very cool looking!!
Sound
:
8
Bass sounds great although the pickups are somewhat microphonic - good clarity. Used with Traynor Bass Mate IV and Bassman 100.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
Finish has lasted well for 45 years. Laminated neck had some finish cracks on back where laminated neck strip pieces glued together - symptom of such a very thin neck. Easily repaired and no problems since.
Plays great although frets had raised from slots and needed to be hammered back in (use a soft mallet or you'll damage frets)
Held up very well
Reliability/Durability
:
8
I used the bass live and for rehearsals recently and it performed well. Good solid, design
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Eko is long gone but there products are still around. Love those Italians!!
Overall Rating
:
10
Bass gets a 10 for cool vibe and unique styling in a good sounding package. Never seen one before in 30 years of playing collecting
