EKO - Recanati - - Classical guitar - Italy - 1960

Eko 12-string guitar, studio model, built in Recanati

Made in Italy


6 strings


In excellent condition

Fir board

Maple back and sides

Black-dyed steel handle

Particular workmanship around the harmonic hole and the edge of the soundboard.

White Battipenna


Dimensions


Total length 980 mm


Case length 470 mm


Case thickness 85 mm


Internal label:


Eko

Guitars

Studio model

Original Eko guitar built in Recanati by the best Italian artisans.

Made in Italy


Story:

Eko (now Algam Eko) is a company that manufactures and, above all, imports guitars, as well as other musical and electronic instruments. It was founded in 1959 by Oliviero Pigini in Castelfidardo, in the Marche region. The factory saw the relocation of production to the municipality of Montelupone in 1965. Among the musicians who have used the company's instruments are the Rokes, the Kings, Nomadi, New Dada, and Edoardo Bennato. At Eko's facilities, guitars were also produced under the English Vox brand. Its logo, which has evolved over the years, has always represented the stylization of the three letters of the company's name.

The 2000s

Modify

At the beginning of the new millennium, alongside import activity and branding, there is a project to resume production, on the basis of its own research and development, relocating it elsewhere, with worldwide agreements also for the subsequent distribution of products under its own brand and under other brands. The name Eko, known at the consumer level, thus enables joint ventures with companies in Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Romania, Spain and China, for locally produced instruments and the import of other brands, especially electronics (an example being E-mu Systems, the first Emulator samplers that push for interconnection between personal computers and music)[4]. This activity takes years to mature, and it comes to fruition at the end of the first decade, the moment in which what is called Eko Music Group, which distributes 60 international brands in Italy, resumes production, also by acquiring other companies[2].


After 2015, the CEO decides to dedicate the Italian Montelupone plant—acquired some time ago but used only as a headquarters, as it had been lacking machinery, equipment, and even projects and know-how for decades—to a role of assembly and domestic production for high value-added guitars. This, thanks both to the reworking of the vintage drawings and the involvement of new consultants, designers, and experts (such as Massimo Varini and Roberto Fontanot[5]). Domestic production, in reality, remains smaller than foreign production and imports. Eko then merges with Algam, giving rise to Algam EKO[6].


Worldwide shipping with insured, tracked express courier.