EKO 290 Hollowbody

My EKO 290 is a red burst, probably a '65 judging by the catalog cover. White pickups, white 4 way switch, white tone/volume pots. Black pickguard, no turtle as you see on most pics. The neck has a truss rod, which works with a funny looking wheel-with-holes at the end of the neck; the whole headstock is closed. Unfortunately i got it (30 years ago) without the EKO-inlay-logo in the headstock. Vibrato arm broke off, as well as the plastic parts that held the ball barings in the vibrato system. Guitar has taken some abuse, it seems; but still works really well. All pots and 4w-switch are original, as well as the nickle plated, closed tuners. Neck has a rosewood fingerboard, black painted back. VERY comfortable playing, one of the nicest necks i've come across.
The sound is amazingly good, even with them sixties single coil pups.
Bridge is EKO, maybe form another type though; the original plastic part of the bridge probably disintegrated; even before I got it.
The whole thing looks great, lovely styling. For some dark reason the later models abondoned the headstock shape. Too bad!

Sounds amazingly well, certainly considering the stone age pups and pots. The sound ranges jazzy, when you want it, to really mean when you need it. As long as you play with a rather clean sound, it is good, distortion turns it in to a monster from hell. Plug your ears well before fussing with the sound; feedback is a free extra on this guitar.

The finish of the guitar is good, especially considering it is over 40 years old now. The red has faded in some places, but somehow also adds to the charm of it. The neck is amazing, the guitar allows you to have really easy action because the neck is so good.

Well, what can you say? 43 years old and still working, with most of the original parts apart from the vib.

This is such a sweety. Certainly not to be used allways and everywhere,but still a great instrument. If you hear of anyone having a headstock logo and/or a vib -the real EKO one, with the amaaaazing long arm- so not the later Gibsby-style; please let me know.

I'm passing on a number rating because I'm not sure which standards to judge this by. Mine is a '66 - by those standards, it's tops. Five piece bolt on neck (replaceable if it breaks!), poly finish (indestructable!), fully hollow (resonance!).
By today's standards, those are less then desirable - in '66, they meant quality and innovation.
Mine is yellow/black burst, 2 vox single coils, hagstrom tuners, ebony fingerboard, 25.5" scale, laminate body, standard controls, strange bigsby-ish vibrato (w/ 12" bar!).

Back in May, I spent five hours trying out Gretschs. After testing 25 or so, none had the twang and jangle that I wanted. Then I found this Eko for $240 and it was perfect. The tone is extremely bright on the bridge PU, resonance is fantastic, feedback is easy to get. I play folk and country-ish music and it's exactly the sixties jangle I was looking for. Even with all that treble, there's still a fair bit of fullness and a nice "bloom" to the tone. The neck PU is inexplicably dark, but it sounds very pleasant when blended w/ the bridge. I use this with a fender bassman and a couple of old USA peaveys, with which it makes 1 sound extraordinarily well - TWANG AND KERRANG!
The PUPS buzz like most single coils and are extremely microphonic, but as long as you keep the distortion to a minimum it's no problem. The guitar can also be played acoustically with a reasonable amount of volume - perfect for practice.

Mine's in nearly perfect shape. It's well made by mid-sixties standards (about as good as fenders of the era), but I can't say much since it's so old. What I can say is that it feels very solid and sturdy.

It's basically a much cooler Epi Casino, so I think it would hold up very well. Being that it's a full hollow body, it probably isn't bullet proof, but it shouldn't fall apart either. The one thing I did change on it was the switch, since it had become intermittent after 41 yrs of service.
I use this alongside a Fender Mustang, which is my unkillable guit. I'm also working on modding a 335 so that I can have an even closer backup.
It seems like I could use it without a backup, though. It stays in tune very well and the electronics are nicely assembled.

Eko's still there, but I think they've forgotten their past.
I drove to Lo Duca bros. (3 miles from my house), but they've forgotten their past, too.
So I guess yr outta luck!

This has quickly become my favorite guitar. I play it at least 3 hours a day and it's inspired TONS of songs and recordings I wouldn't have done otherwise. Plus it looks cool and is extremely rare.
If lost or stolen, I'd try as hard as possible to get another or one very similar (Vox Bobcat, cougar, super lynx).
If you want 60s jangle, seek this one out!

1965. Made in Italy. Maple body, Red and black burst. 2 tone 2 vol. pots.3 way selector. 2 white single coil rectangular pickups. A floating bridge, tremolo tailpeice with a long ugly arm....
The neck is maple with rosewood fretboard, bolt on.The tuners are not original, they work, but are not of a good quality. All plastic, like knobs etc are white. It has some scrathes, and the body are glued in 4-5 places....But it is an old lady this one...

It sounds hollow and woody,very nice. This guitar took some repair of the electronics, wires were loose, but I put it together. The stable pup is very bright, and the neck pup is very jazzy, not much brightness there...I use vintage Marshalls and Boss GT-8, sound great, not noisy, byt the feedback is terrible, cant use much overdrive...Think I can play anything with this, from jazz to metal ( on low volume ). I like it very much...

Just bought it, it is 2007 now, so it??s 42 years old...Can say anything about the factory settings, but I have adjusted it, and it is in very good condition now.

Haven??t used it live, but will do so on the next gig, there will be no problem, changed ( as always ) the strapbuttons to Dunlops...
I can depend on this one, but will have a backup as always.

I have heard that the company still exist, and ona can get in touch with them, haven??t tried yet...

Benn playing for 30 years, own a lot og gear, amps, effects, guitars, and I have a passion for all these things, would be sad if it were lost, as with any of my gear. Hard to find these guitars.

A Red / black burst color, the same spacs as the other ones on this side.

Well, my is totaly dead, there is no sound at all coming out of the guitar...

The action is great, the neck is not straight, it need som attention, but strange enough, it is playable, and feels good...

Does not sound/ work.
The tuners are not original, the rest of the hardware is in good condition, even the vibrato works nice...
Have not used it on any gigs...

Benn playing for 30 years, own a lot of guitars and amps...
Don??t know if I would replace this one, a cheap thing, but vere old and rare....I like the looks af it, and that it is old, wish it had original tuners.

i bought this guitar in small second hand shop for abaut a year ago. send mail to EKO (yes the company is still running... www.eko.it) and asked for its age, and they were kind enough to reply that it has been made in 1969.
Made in italy, two singlecoil square vox pickups (eko made also vox guitars in 60ies), four knobs (two volumes, two tones), four way pickup selector (none-bridge-neck-bridge&neck PU). Eerie EKO bridge (partially made of plastic... :( i broke mine as i screwed it off... plastic just snapped after 30+ years...) replaced it with trapetzee-tailpiece.
Very thin hollow body (feels like es-335), smooth bolt-on neck with round medium frets. EKOs own tuners?... no name stamped on them... keep the tune somewhat reasonably (about as good as in other modern cheap guitars).
Nice black-yellow sunburst, slight flame on backside of guitar

I play quite much anything from blues, punk, reggae, rock, funk etc... Primarily my main set is ibanez wh-10 -> ts9-dx -> roger mayers voodoo-1 -> danelectro tuna melt (good cheap tremolo) -> marshall 2554. This guitar sounds great (atleast now as i have tweaked it up and running...), Bridge pickup is really bright, and neck PU is really dark (nails that Les paul woman tone even when tone is set to 10 :P ). Best sounds (in my opinion) are got when you mix those two PUs together...
I also have Gibson LP studio, and this thingie can do quite much the same as it with more of own original eko vibe... Of course the PUs arent as powerfull as humbuckkers, but even thought they are quite thin sounding, they rock :D.
This guitar isnt so noicy as i first thought it would be... but be carefull when using stompboxes, or loud gig volumes... it can squel like hell when push over its limits (afterall, as it feels like lightweight solidbody, it is a hollowbody)...

When i got this quitar, the action was shit... strings were half inch in air, and neck was warped. the finish has few scrabs here and there, but is mainly in good condition. I would say this is in OK condition to be survived three and half centuries...

I havent had any problems with this guitar in reherseals / gigs (few broken strings and other casual things only...)
and i would never gig without backup (i always feel sorry, when i see someone, who has to change a broken string in middle of gig...), but i would depend on EKO....

well... they answered my e-mail...

Been playing now for eight years, and i love this guitar... I own also a gibson LP studio, and squier protone strat, and this falls sonically quite nicely in somewhere in middle of those...
If this was stolen, i would be very upset, becouse i dont believe there are too many of these out in there anymore...

1968 I think. Made in Italy. Maple body with slight flame. 2 tone 2 vol. pots.3 way selector. 2 single coil rectangular pickups.A floating bridge,with a trapeze tailpeice that I added on. Parts were missing for the big goofy tremolo tailpeice.No love lost there.
The neck is maple with rosewood fretboard,bolt on.The tuners are original,these will be changed for sure. The color is red to black,with an odd shaped pickguard.This is basically an epiphone Casino style guitar.

It sounds hollow and woody,very nice. This guitar took some serious tweeking and repair before it opened up.I'm quite pleased with it now.The neck pup sounds great through a decent tube amp and maybe a Tubescreamer. I can dial in a classic Beatles tone.This guitar has a charactor all it's own.Not as versatile as my ES335 but a special guitar all the same.

As I said, I had to repair the bridge ,the pots and the 3 way selector switch.Also raise the guide before the zero fret up a bit to get rid of nasty fret buzz.I put on a Gibson tuneomatic bridge as well.A friend of mine had this guitar under his staircase for years.He bought it back in 68 brand new.Luckily there was no warpage done.I rescued it and turned it into a good playing guitar. Nice prize for a freebee.Action is good,frets decent medium size.

I have used it at a couple gigs. I believe it is now dependable.I always have a backup.

Wha??

I have been playing for 24 years and have owned my share of gear.This is a unique guitar I am glad to have in the arsenal.I would reccomend it ,if you can find one. I,ve looked all over the internet books etc., and nothing turns up for this model. Therefore I'm proud to play the only one around.If you know any info on this axe please e-mail me at pocketfrog@sympatico.ca
Again,cool guitar,nice woody tones,on par with some higher end stuff.Pick one up if you spot one.It will probably be cheap,because Eko's don't hold much vintage value.Good bang for the buck.