Electronics include two height-adjustable pickups with staple-type polepieces. Its Dura-Glos finish is called Honey Brown. It has an arched spruce top, birdseye maple back and sides, and three-layer binding (white/black/white) on the edge. The different-sized dot markers on the fretboard are also found on the Saturn. The Oliviero Pigini company also made Vox guitars and basses in the same era, and this Eko has the same truss rod adjustment system (at the end of the neck) as the Vox Saturn Bass (VG, May, 2010). The serial number is embossed on the neck plate. It measures 1 3/8″ wide at the nut, and there’s a zero fret. The hyper-slim bolt-on neck has five-piece laminate construction – maple with rosewood stringers. With its gothic E logo, it certainly was eye-catching compared to other headstocks and logos of the era – and certainly did not give off a rock-and-roll vibe! The bound rosewood fretboard on the one shown here has 21 frets, and joins the body at the 16th (Lo Duca literature claimed the fretboard was ebony). One of the 995’s most intriguing aesthetic features is the square protuberance on its headstock. Unlike the 500/1, it was equipped with the sort of cheesy appointments often associated with Italian-made instruments. Like the 500/1, it was a short-scale, two-pickup instrument. The 995 was just different enough from the Höfner 500/1 “Beatle bass” to conjure its own mystique. There was even an early solidbody violin-shaped bass. One of its accordion clients was the Lo Duca Brothers Musical Instruments company, of Milwaukee, which joined forces with the Italian manufacturer as the exclusive distributor of Eko guitars in the U.S.Įko guitars and basses came in myriad styles and shapes Strat-like instruments, semi-hollow electrics, the rocket-shaped Rokes, and even map-shaped instruments, a la National. From the outset, the firm concentrated on accordion manufacturing and expanded into guitar production in the early ’60s.

But there were cheaper alternatives, like the Eko 995.Įko guitars and basses were crafted by the Oliviero Pigini company of Recanati, Italy, founded in 1959. Many budding bassists aspired to own a violin-shaped instrument like the one Paul McCartney played on the show his was a Höfner, which was out of reach, cost-wise, for most at the time.

The Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February of 1964 is often referred to as the most important event in the history of rock music, having inspired thousands (millions?) of teenagers to play in a band.

Eko Ranger Guitar Serial Numbers