EKO M-24

It was made 1981. in Italy. My dad bought it in Slovenia the same year and I am the first and only owner. It has 24 frets and they're still in great shape. It is made of maple (I think), painted in trans red and well laquired. Some nice perl white details below the stop tail piece and on the head. 2 volume and 2 tone controls, electronics similar as Les Paul models. I had to change knobs and some electronics that was worn by the ages and put some Saymour Duncan stuf - the same thing. 2 hums, great distortion. Low and fast action neck, tuners in great condition - actually, rarely great tuners I used to deal with. Neck is screwed to the body. It has black wooden case.

It has undefined sound but very powerful. I played it through Marshall JCM800 Lead Series (1986) whitch provides great sound for every guitar. It has bright sound and I have no any objection.

Action great, fits like it is the extention of the arms, finish in still good condition, few small scratches.

I played it live for 10 years and it has never let me down. Hardware looks like it willl last for 100 years more. I had to fix straps more than it was done in factory.

Long gone...

I have only good words 'bout this axe.

Same as below, only the neck pickup was changed by one of the previous users. The tuners aren't the best and it's quite heavy so i'll give it a 9.

It has it's own sound but it's a great one. It drives dist. pedals suberbly and the clean sounds are awesome - with the coils tapped you can get some great single coil sounds that almost sound like true single coil pickups, but without the noise. If i had to compare the clean sound it's somewhere between a strat and a tele but i like it just the way it is. The full HBs sound also great. This baby has a really fat tone and a long sustain, due to the neck-through-body design and the stop tail bridge. It sounds better than my PRS!!! And it costed 1/10 of it!!!

I'd give this baby a 13 on the sound if i could. It's variable enough that you wouldn't have to take any other axe to a cover gig and the tone is deep enough for jazz or any other style.

Well, i bought it used and it probably had quite a few users so i'll evaluate the condition i got it in. There's a little ding on the top (about 1 square cm) and some belt scratches on the back but looks well preserved for a 25 years old axe that's been played all the time. The neck was curved just a little but upwards and the frets are pretty worn but it still plays like butter - when i picked it up it was like i had this guitar for years - no getting used to wierd necks or anything (plus this is a 25+ years old instrument!!)

Built like a tank and heavy as one, but definitely dependable enough to gig without backup. I do.

Never dealt with them.

If it were lost i'd try to find another one but i doubt that would happen anywhere in near future because these are rare pearls. I'd get another one even if it wasn't stolen.
I play all styles, from jazz to rock, fusion, classical, pop, folk...
I whish it had a built in piezo pickup, but then it would be just too perfect. Find one and it'll be the last guitar you'll ever buy.

Year: 1978-1980 (no serial number, no plate)
Production: Italy, Eko factory.
Somebody says this was a USA custom shop production of the american Eko branch. As far as I know this was an elite Italian production on the specifiations given by Mr. D'agostino (ex Gibson luthier - Maestro Dept).
At the end of '60 Eko was the largest European guitar manufacturer. Production lines for Vox guitars also made the numbers. These big numbers were not followed by the same quality that was available only in the american production. In the mid '70 there was the intention of starting a limited Eko production with selected craftsmanship to raise the overall quality of the production to the user's eye. The M project.
This marketing effort produced the following strategy: "Better than Gibson, more expensive than Gibson". In Italy Gibson was the most desiderable electric guitar (and still is) and the unbelievable amount of money the m-24 guitar was priced ($ 3000 in '78-'80 is maybe a true story). Anyway list prices in Italy were useless for the massive discount policy made by the shoppers. On a guitar of this range 40%, 50% discount was easy to find.
Mr. D'Agostino moved back to USA in the early 80s. Eko got financial problems and I think Mr.D'Agostino took with himself a lot of the production line (spare parts and copyrights). The following D'agostino production is a plethora of assemblies of Eko parts. The Benchmark model is exactly the same m-24 guitar. You can check photos and specifications on www.fetishguitars.com (nothing to di with it).

Specifications:
Necktrough body, one piece mahogany. Body wings in mahogany.
24 frets, medium size. Ebony fingerboard.
3 way selector, H/H configuration.
2 DiMarzio Dual Sound humbuckers, with coil splitters. My guitar has a Dimarzio Super Distortion at the bridge instead (same thing).
2 volume and 2 tone controls.
Thick glossy transparent finish, abalone and mother of pearl inlays everywhere, cream bindings on the body, on the neck and on the headstock.
Filleted double cutaway body, stop tailpiece and cheap tuners, istantly replaced with Sperzel locking tuners.

It Sounds BIG, very BIG.
Before continuing the review I have to say:
1. I am not a good guitar player.
2. I collect electric guitars sice 1985.
3. I build my own guitars.
4. I am fond of guitar electronics.
Ok I said that.
The guitar is not resonant at all.
Mahogany and ebony tend to sweeten the overall sound and to improve sustain.
Electronics are simple, clean and very well made. Dozens of different sounds can be obtained simply with tone/volume variations. Parallel switch is a plus for strat-like sounds.
Clean sounds: a lot different sounds, never boring very full and rich. Neck pickup is maybe too loud, very warm.
Distortion sounds: classic '70 Super Distortion sound. Neck Pickup a little muddy in saturation.

When I met this baby I falled in love playing with her WITHOUT THE AMP.
She was not so young (25) but in good shape. We got out for a night together and I did set her up.
Poor and cheap 3 way selector.

The baby survived 25 years. The finish vernish is very thick. Has a couple of scars on typical positions (fell down playing). Strap buttons are tiny and consumed. This is the main risk both for gigs and reharsals, I think.

The company is still alive, but in the end is a different company. Now Eko distributes and sells different production lines from Korea and Eastern europe. The make clones. I would not count on them.

Please refer to the D?agostino Benchmark model for further reviewa. I agree with them completely. M-24 is an Holy Gral.
Music is not my business, so I don't have a clue about what I could do if it was stolen. I was lucky to find one but I will not die with this guitar. In front of a good offer I could also sell it.