Can anyone tell me about E-Ros Recanati?

Haych · August 2017

As title really.

There's a bit of a backstory though, and it's really the whole reason I got into playing guitar.

My dad acquired an E-Ros model 406 acoustic guitar in the late 70s or early 80s. I don't know where from, I'll have to ask him. It was the first guitar I ever saw or touched and despite dad only having ever learned F, C, D and G7 it was the most beautiful sound my four year old self had ever heard.

I know it's not a quality instrument, you only have to look at the thing to realise that. Zero fret, cheap tuners, the messiest glue job I've ever seen, bolt on neck and ugly headstock all point towards a cheap and cheerful guitar.

However, for all that, it plays and sounds remarkably good. The action was never high, the fretwork is very good and compared to the brand new Gibson Hummingbird I tried in PMT earlier today it's a joy to play and sounds not too shabby.

So having played some Taylors and Gibbo acoustics today I felt a bit disappointed with them considering they were £2700 instruments. I've been noodling on the old E-Ros this evening and I've come to the conclusion that it's a much better instrument than I gave it credit for - not saying it comes close to Taylor et al, bit for a cheap and nasty guitar it works very well.

It would be nice to know more about it though, like who made them and when and what woods it was made out of - I always assumed plywood from B&Q but now I'm not so sure.

Ive done some googling and there's very little out there about them. The only thing I think I've found is that they had some association with Eko somehow, same factory maybe? and that the neck is probably mahogany.

If anyone has had any more details I'd be grateful to know.

TIA

ICBM · August 2017

Yes, they're essentially the same as Eko - made in the same factory in Recanati, Italy in the 1960s.

Despite the apparent crudeness of the construction they are actually quite well-made really - overbuilt rather than refined, but strong and durable. The adjustable bridge and bolt neck along with a decent truss rod mean that it's almost always possible to set them up well. They generally sound 'good' rather than great - and some definitely sound better than others - but after fifty years they definitely have that 'vintage guitar' sound, even though it used to be said that plywood doesn't improve with age… it does.

I recently had one - also a 406, which is one of the less common models, most are larger dreadnoughts - that I bought from a charity shop. I cleaned it up and restrung it - there was nothing else wrong with it - and sold it through the shop I worked for at £169. It was very nice sounding, and if it hadn't had a huge neck (which I find uncomfortable) I'd have been very tempted to keep it. It had a really nice '1960s Italian film' vibe to it - the sort of thing you could imagine Claudia Cardinale or Sophia Loren playing

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Haych · August 2017

Thanks @ICBM interesting to hear your informed evaluation.

Yes the neck is rather a handful.

In fairness I'd mothballed mine for years, keeping it purely for sentimental reasons and hadn't touched it for literally years. But as I'm considering giving up electric completely I dusted it off and put on a set of elixirs and it really has surprised me this last week.

I don't recall it ever sounding this good ans it's responsiveness to picking really surprised me especially when those guitars I tried yesterday costing £2000 upwards seemed stiff by comparison.

As for Sophia Loren playing one, yep that's a very nice mental image to have but I always thought she was a stunner!

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Can anyone tell me about E-Ros Recanati?

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