EKO Ranger Folk

My EKO Ranger (Italy) was the first guiter I bought. Price ??49 when I was earning ??450 a year in 1964.(before that I made 3 and a ukelele). Until recently it has been great but yesterday after returning from France I found that the strings were 1 cm from the fingerboard. For the first time I took off all the strings and found the fingerboard had moved upwards.
I took out the screws!!! (An engineer would have used bolts into a metal insert on the neck) and after removing the neck found that the soundboard was a blt unglued. It is now stuck with araldite. Does anyone know if the screws will now hold in the neck? If not I intend to spread locktite on them before inserting.
Regards Jeff

I play fingerpicking style with 3 fingers (and thumb). The tone was great - full and able to produce good volume of sound without amplifier in a crowded room.

The guitar was grest with a seewwt action/ I always tuned it in D (DGCFAD) to reduce tension on the neck.
Three faults have appeared
The neck pulling off its screws.
Some wooden spacers inside separating (glued last year)
The soundboard lifting beside the neck

Lasted 47 years without a fault with never a problem till now.

I contacted a company in London beginning with B.
They did not give a ****.

Playing 50 years since i made my first guitar. I have a Yamaha FG 1200 (fantastic tone)and a non-descript electric.
My wish for my next guitar is a Dobro steel resonator.

It was made in the same place the Eko Ranger VI was made I presume. The year of manufacturer is unknown. I bought it second hand and it seems in good condition (fret wear etc) for a 60's model but yet the headstock has the 'natural' finish usually seen on 60's Ranger VIs. It is an acoustic guitar constructed of similar materials to the Ranger VI but with a smaller '00' type body. Also has the same adjustable bridge which I kind of like so that I can adjust the action nice and low..

As for other features it is an acoustic guitar, what else do you want?

It has 20 frets including the 'zero' fret. As I said it was second hand so there were no accessories with the guitar when I got it.

I usually play fingerstyle and this isn't bad. Bass response is not as good as the Johnson J017 I own but it sounds better strummed than the J017 and also the treble sounds bright without sounding too sharp. Strums well too. Sound is somewhere between the Johnson and the other Eko Ranger VI that I own.

Not as loud as a dreadnought but you would not expect it either. Probably would have sounded better if it had been constructed internally as per the more common Ranger VI. It is no way near as heavy and I personally believe that is why the Ranger VI sounds so good.

The 9 reflects the lower bass response than the J017 but the 'mellower' tones overall.

This is where the guitar comes into its own. The action makes fingerstyle guitar easy than on the J017 which is excellent because I picked that guitar because of how good it was in this respect. I am marking it a 10 because once I have fixed the faults (see below) it will be a real asset to my collection. As I said it has some faults which surprised me after reading other Eko reviews. These I am in the process of fixing namely:

machine heads - two have been changed for poor quality replacements and the remaining are nowhere near as good as the ones I have on my Ranger VI. The guitar has not had that much use from what I can see yet the machine heads have not lasted at all.

Frets - need dressing as they are scored so that bending strings is not particulary comfortable.

Bridge - Like the adustable bridge but the saddle is a different design to that I have seen and was not as robust. Have swopped it for a bridge off the Ranger VI for now and it works far better.

Fretboard - some issue with fret buzz on the D string at the fourth to sixth frets perhaps because the action is so low. Dressing the frets may help this.

Also other small issues with the finish which don't really bother me but lead me to think that this was a later model when perhaps build quality was suffering.

Has lasted well up to press. Small issue with the binding to the body but it seems stable. Saddle didn't last but as I have said it has been replaced. Machine heads are garbage but a new set will resolve that.

Nowhere near a proffesional muscian but I am sure that given the funds I would invest in a Gibson or a Martin for gigs. That said it would probably be ok once I have finished setting it up.

Given it a 8 because the instrument is basically solid and will be fine once I have fixed it up.

Remains to be seen.

Have contacted Eko as they now seem to be back in business. I am awaiting their response to my email requesting information on spare parts.

I own the following guitars:

Johnson J017 Carolina Series acoustic
Eko Ranger VI
Fender DG-3

I have been playing off and on for 18 years.

The Ranger Folk has a good low action and sounds pretty good. The work it requires does not bother me but I was a little disappointed when you compare it to the build quality of the Ranger VI which is often spoke about.

Not certain what I would do if it was lost/stolen. Time will tell if I get really attached to it.

I chose it because of the Eko Ranger VI reputation and wanted a '00' type model.

Certainly better than the harsh jangly tone of the fender. Not quite as good as the Ranger VI for strumming as it will not project the sound so well. It is better than the excellent Johnson for some things but not as good for others.