El-Degas Unknown

Oak body with rosewood stripe (?) Some say Mahogany
maple neck with rosewood board (?)
Arch Inlays
Two stripes Front and Back
Neck Through
Dimarzio Super Distortions
Original case
1980s (?)

Photos:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=273107&d=1220400774

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=273108&d=1220400845

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=273109&d=1220400895

Use an old dean markley amp and a peavey duece VT series...a Pro Co R2DU..used to have the original poly chorus until someone stole that from me.

N/A

Definately a good value...I like the sound.
Quickly, Just posting some pictures and trying to find out if other people have this guitar.

I think I have the same El Degas as you guys. It's the model EL-980. I got it new when I was about 16 years old and I'm almost 45 and mine is in about 97 or 98% mint shape. But I've used it a lot for everything from country to blues to rock to pop. It's got a 24 fret neck ( 2 octave ) with nice and simple inlays that are shaped like an arch. It's a clear finish with a neck through the body design. A tough finish on it with no pick guard. I had a friend who had one like it but it was a bolt on neck and the power and sustain wasn't as much. The body is walnut and the neck is maple with a strip of mahogany through the middle. A brass nut is original as well as a brass bridge and brass saddles. The strings are mounted from the back. The frets are kind of fat but in a nice way and the neck is similar to an SG. All the hardware is brass with I think is 24 carat gold plating on the tuning keys and bridge. Pickups are Dimarzio Dual Sound humbuckers and they are run through a couple of toggle switches so you can go for single coil. These go to a 3 way selector switch. It came with a hard shell case and the price was around $700 Canadian new. Most of the electrics of this brand that were sold seemed to be Strat or Les Paul copies but this shape is similiar to a cross between a Yamaha SG 2000 and a Les Paul Junior. I believe it was made in Japan.

The sound rocks in a HUGE way. With the weight of the body and the bite of the Dimarzio's coupled with the brass nut, saddles and bridge, the thing will sustain forever and a day. Crank up some distortion and it really cuts without being too cutting. With the mini toggle switches you can get that funky gut bucket out of phase sound, a smooth blues sound, even a jazzy sound if you back off the volume a bit. It would have been nice with a tremolo but it is what it is and it does it very well so why mess with the formula. When I first got it there was a problem with lights and buzzing. So I took off the back cover plate, lined the cavity with tinfoil and it's as quiet as a mouse. For sound quality, sustain, variety and tone, it's one of a kind. I've run it through a Marshall head (until it blew up at a gig) with two of the Marshall 4X10 cabinets. I have a small effects rack and a pedal board. Now I use a Tube Works preamp and Mosvalve amp pushing the 4X10 cabinets. It can get pretty intense or I can turn it down a bit for small clubs and stages. Any amp it goes through it just sounds sweet.

I can't think of anything wrong with it in this regard. The finish is starting to wear off on the bridge where I rest my right hand but I've played it for hundreds of gigs and sweated like a pig over it and it's still in great shape.

This guitar fed me more than a few times so I'd say it was more than fit to play live. I never took a spare with me, why bother since this one works so well with so many tones. I have it still after nearly 30 years and it's still rock solid. I bend strings all over the place sometimes and only twice I ever broke one.

I never contacted the company, I didn't need to. Plus unless it was something major like a messed up neck I'd just fix it myself.

Playing for 30 years, but not as much lately. If it was stolen I'd try to get another one but I don't know if i could find one. I love the tone, sustain, varity of sounds, reliability and the style which is a bit different. People are always asking about it.

I have the same model as the guy below, although mine has a dark finish, but the neck is built through the body. I'm guess the neck is maple, with a rosewood fretboard and the body, mahogany perhaps? It's a double cut, similar the a Les Paul Double Cut guitar, except the top horn is larger than the bottom one. It's heavy and thick with excellent sustain. It features two humbuckers which with two mini switches can be also single coil pickups, very versatile in that sense. The neck is pretty round around the back, but it feels nice for rhythm work. I *think* these were made in Japan in the early 80s.

This is the only guitar I one with humbuckers because usually I find them muddy, but with the switches I can switch between sounds, so I'm not trapped with strictly humbuckers, but I can use that sound. I play through an Orange amp, and it distorts nicely, although I prefer it clean. The pickups are really sensitive, so if I knock them with the pick it's very audible, which I hate. At the same time I like how the pickups sound so I won't change them I just have to be careful. The pickups are great otherwise, can be warma nd bluesy or trebley and twangy.

I bought the guitar is well used conditon. Someone used it as a lefty because the strap knobs used to be on the other horn and then switched back. The finish is chipped up, so I can't really comment on that. The neck was nice and straight though and aside from having to raise the height of the pickups it was in fine working order.

I played it live once and it held up fine. My only complaint is that it goes out of tune fairly easily. I even replaced the tuning heads and it still goes out. A 7 because of the tuning issue.

Pretty sure there isn't any anymore

I've been playing for 8 years and I own mostly single coil guitars. I like this guitar for what it is. I wish it were lighter, the pickups less sensitive and stayed in tune better. I do like how it plays and sounds with great sustain though. There's a bit of fret buzz. If it were stolen I'd be pretty angry because I like the guitar and I doubt I'll ever find another for sale. For the price I paid, it's a much better deal than many new guitars, like Squiers or the lower grade Epiphones. It's of much higher quality. While this guitar is probably going on 30 years old and still kicking, I've seen Squiers kick the bucket after a couple of years.

I've read descriptions of some of these El Degas Guitars, but for some reason or another they don't seem to fit mine. I can't find a serial number, so I'm kind of lost as to which model it really is. It is a solid top guitar with a cherry finish, and a double cream colored racing stripe through the middle which also wraps around the back. It is heavy and solid, so I would guess maple as its wood type. It is definately got les paul jr looks to it, with two volume and two tone knobs with three selection options. It does not have a vibrato bar, but it does have a pretty good thru body bridge. There are two double buckers. I bought this guitar used, so I don't know what they are, but I guess that they are stock because they match the color of the racing stripe (creamy yellow). It has rosewood neck with the extra fret, and the inlays on it are all rainbow shaped plastic (mother of pearl style), with a double rainbow on the octive fret. The head has a strange wavy shape to it that comes to three points-one on the top, one in the middle, and a longest point on the bottom. It has quality brass tuning pegs which work quite well.

What I like about this guitar is the range it has in sound style. The rear (bridge) pickup has a good hollow, yet strong sound which is very nice for playing leads, while the front setting makes for a very juicy, thick, full sound which I love to use for driving rythym . The middle setting actually has its own distinct ring to it as well and is a nice mix of the two. I usually use this guitar with distortion (punk or metal rythym playing) because I love the full bodied sound. Its also good for Tom Morello style toggle flipping when the back pickup is turned off and the front turned on. I'm not too big on effects, so I really only use a distortion pedal. It doesn't have that really crisp sound of some guitars, but it is full and loud and I like it.

I've really played this guitar more than any in my life, so it fits me like a glove. Its action is great and it plays easily, whether used for quick leads or bar chording. Its neck is more round than flat, but it is not at all thick, so it is quite comfortable.

This guitar is older than I am, so all things considered I am damn impressed. I am definately guilty of knocking it around more that it desearved on more than a few wild nights, but it has lasted like a true soldier. I don't think that there are too many non factory things on it (I never added anything). I usually play around with more than one guitar (alt tunings) but this is my main trooper for practice or the stage and it has never let me down.

yeah right. I phoned up El Degas headquarters and they beamed me up and fixed everything.

I've played blues, bluegrass, rock, metal, punk, and even rap with this guitar. I love it, but I guess I am a little too attatched. It definately has its own sound, which sometimes does not fit to the exact situation, but I think with the right pedals it could do just about anything. I do wish it had a whammy, but I'd never change the way it is out of fear of changing any of the little things that I like about. I have not seen too many of this brand of guitar, and never this exact type.

This beautiful solid-body neck-through body guitar was probablby made in the 70's or 80's. It's made of a solid piece of dark wood with a beautiful thick coat of varnish over it. The 3 piece laminated maple neck has 24 frets and the head of the guitar is angled back about 13 degrees. The head has a thin piece of the same type of wood on the body laminated over the maple. The only other guitar that I have seen like this one had a smaller dark piece of wood sandwiched in the middle and running the length of the guitar. The rosewood fretboard is quite thick and has 11 mother of pearl (plastic?) inlays. The neck is quite thin. The head is large with excellent quality (no slack) gold coloured tuners with chrome handles on each side of the head that had the word "el Degas" inlayed. The frets are almost jumbo sized and the nut is made of brass. There are 11 tiny inlayed spots on the upper edge of the neck. The body is nice and round the the cutaway is more pronounced under the body so access to frets are good. I can actually barre chord a high B. The horns on the body are short (no ugly long or sharp horns) and the neck joins the body at the 19th fret on top and the 22th fret underneath. It sports 2 humbuckers (not original). One looks like a Gibson chrome and the other a gold coloured textured metal with no screws. The original pickups were double humbucking single coils. 2 brass vol and 2 brass tone knobs, 2 tiny coil switches and a 3 way brass toggle switch. All switches operate perfectly and noiselessly. The bridge is fully adjustable and the saddles are brass. It has all I want and need so I would give it a 10 even though some people would like a whammy bar too. I don't. I will give it a 9 to keep everthing honest.

After cleaning and polishing this beautiful guitar with all the brass goodies, I installed some .08 to .43 strings, adjusted the intonation plugged the guitar in and the sound was awesome. From deep rich arch-top like mellow rythm guitar sound to high ear piercing trebles without touching the amp. The sustain is forever. Any chord I played sounded sweet but the guitar has to be fine-tuned. This is no problem because it stays tuned for weeks even after strong string bends. I can feel the vibration of every note entering my mid-section and left hand. I have about half a dozen small solid state and tube amps, plus a Zoom 505, Danelectro Slap Echo, Cry Baby, Dunlop vol and an SCH-1 chorus. They all work and sound good, but I often plug my guitar directly into the amp with a touch of reverb for some pure clean sounds. I used to own a 1953 Gibson Switchmaster and the El-Degas sounds just as good. I like to play Blues (Clapton, King, Vaughan etc), R&B(Stones, Animals, etc), country (Atkins, Perkins, etc), jazz (Rheinhardt, Grappeli, etc), old rock and guitar instrumentals like the Ventures, Duane Eddy, Roy Buchanan etc. This guitar does it all. To me (one guitar person) it rates a 10 but I will give it an 8 because I have not played on all the guitars available.

After close to 30 years, we can say forget the factory settings. When I got the guitar, it was well set up and I set the action very low. No flaws in the guitar. Everything was tight and silent. The guitar is as pleasant to handle as it is to look at. It is well balanced and fits close to the body and the hand falls naturally to the best position. The heavy but smooth brass knobs do not interfere with playing but can be tweeked with the pinky finger of the right hand. However, I think this guitar weighs over 10 lbs....a wide padded strap and a break every now and then is a must. I would rate this guitar as a 10 but a 10 is impossible.

This guitar is as solid as it is heavy. It has no pick guard, yet the finish is pristine. The strap buttons seem rock solid and they better be. I feel no need to buy another guitar to back this one up. It has held up very well up until now. I might buy a back up someday. The other guitar exactly like mine was sold with a hard case just the other day to some lucky guy on ebay for $150.00 U.S. If I had the money, I would have bought it too. I would not sell mine for $600.00 U.S. This no frills guitar is perfect for the one guitar person like me. Don't try to talk me out of a 10 on this issue.

I have looked all over for more info on El-Degas guitars and amps with no results other than the other guitar that was sold the other day on ebay.

I had played for about 15 years. Quit for over 20 years and started playing again recently. I bought 2 guitars through ebay and both were exactly as described. I sold the other one for about the same price I paid for it and the kid who bought it has a very nice guitar for under 65.00 U.S. I tried out a whole bunch of new guitars that would fit my budget and none came even close to feeling or sounding like this one. Even a new $1200.00 Epiphone did not sound as nice and the flimsy toggle switch was broken. I chose this guitar after seeing how beautiful it was in the photographs and from remembering about how the El-Degas guitars of 30 years ago being as solid as the Guilds, Hagstroms, Gibson S.G. etc. In those days, the Fenders were not as popular because they looked so flimsy and cheaply made. I cannot say that my El-Degas is the best guitar in the world but for the price I paid, it is a fantastic value.