Eko ranger 6

DrJazzTap · January 2023

Amongst the guitars I'm working on at the moment is an eko ranger 6.
I've never come across one before in person. I have to say I'm really impressed. Its much more zingy and acoustic guitar sounding than my washburn. I'm tempted to swap mine for that one.
I played both to my partner last night and she winced when I played the eko. She said the washburn sounded fuller and more pleasing. She said the eko sounded more folky which I think is a fair summation.

I think the eko is an 83 model? It has a nice flamed back and sides.

I just wondered what other people's thoughts are on them? To me it sounds like early Bowie.

Jalapeno · January 2023

Had one for 30 yrs and cherished it - gave it to a school music dept in the end.

Built. Like. A. Tank !

WezV · January 2023

They vary.

One of my uncles has had one since new which has always sounded and played great. I remember plucking on it as a kid when round there. I refretted it for him about 10 years ago, including filling some seriously deep fingerboard divots because it was so well played

Another uncle picked one up at the same time as he was so impressed by it. His ended up in a fire as it was always terrible. He kept the neck, planning to do something with it. It eventually came my way and was so twisted I decided it wasn't worth saving

bertie · January 2023

they were great, if you got bored playing music, you could use it as a cricket bat

as Wez has said, they do vary, my brother had one, it was as dull and dead as a dead thing from dull land

DrJazzTap · January 2023

WezV said:

They vary.

One of my uncles has had one since new which has always sounded and played great. I remember plucking on it as a kid when round there. I refretted it for him about 10 years ago, including filling some seriously deep fingerboard divots because it was so well played

Another uncle picked one up at the same time as he was so impressed by it. His ended up in a fire as it was always terrible. He kept the neck, planning to do something with it. It eventually came my way and was so twisted I decided it wasn't worth saving

Yeah this one has got some buzzing on the g string around the 9th fret.
I haven't touched the truss rod yet. I'm waiting on some new strings before I do that. Apart from that it does sound rather nice. I was taken aback by my partner thinking it sounded shrill. To me the other guitar sounded muffled. Horses/courses and all that.

markv · January 2023

My first guitar! £90 in 1984 or 85, I think. Dreadful action (in hindsight, I didn't know any better at the time) but very robust. It sounded ... OK. Fine for strumming to singalong sessions, which is what I mainly used it for.

I still have it - the bridge needs regluing and maybe adjusting the truss rod might help. I haven't played it in years but I can't bring myself to get rid of it!

bluecat · January 2023

I had one forty years ago,like Jalapeno said they were built like a tank and very heavy but a nice sound.with a bit of care they will last forever.

ICBM · January 2023

As already said they vary enormously. I've owned (I think!) four of them - two 6-strings and two 12s. One of the 12s was an absolute dog, but the other was very nice - if remarkably heavy for an acoustic guitar, even one of these - as was one of the 6s, the other was just average rather than bad. A friend who I used to play in a band with owns one which is genuinely great, it's just a fantastic-sounding guitar, and we wrote a lot of songs with it.

Due to the adjustable bridge and bolt-on neck, they can almost always be set up to play very well unless the neck is genuinely warped or the fretting is uneven. They sound 'old', for want of a better description - I like that, but some people don't. They will never sound like a modern acoustic, and not really as good as something old and top-quality either, but the good ones aren't at all bad for what is really a pretty overbuilt plywood box. If they have a major structural issue, it's that the rivetted-on bridge often cracks, but it's usually repairable with some epoxy and wood dust. The machineheads also have an unusual post spacing so can't be easily replaced if they get damaged, although individual gears and shafts can be.

I also once fixed one for another friend who had left it in a pub basement for a few months - it had got damp, and both the neck and body were warped badly. I told him it was most likely beyond repair but that I would have another look when it had dried out properly. I put it away in a cupboard upstairs and forgot all about it, until a couple of years later I found it again, but by then I'd forgotten what I was supposed to be doing with it... it seemed fine when I played it. I called him and told him, and he seemed very surprised given what I'd previously said! But it really had just dried out and gone back to how it was supposed to be all by itself

.

maltingsaudio · January 2023

In order for them to sound authentic you need the Schaller acoustic pickup to slide under the strings https://reverb.com/item/5204303-vintage-soundhole-pickup-for-acoustic-guitars-made-in-japan-in-the-60-s

This combo launched a million bands in the 70’s!

ICBM · January 2023

maltingsaudio said:

In order for them to sound authentic you need the Schaller acoustic pickup to slide under the strings https://reverb.com/item/5204303-vintage-soundhole-pickup-for-acoustic-guitars-made-in-japan-in-the-60-s

This combo launched a million bands in the 70’s!

My songwriting partner has this one in hers

.

Image: https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--VkEzN4ur--/f_auto,t_large/v1539705963/ttmw2kmfyek8wvhtgvsr.jpg

Kittyfrisk · January 2023

ICBM said:

maltingsaudio said:

In order for them to sound authentic you need the Schaller acoustic pickup to slide under the strings https://reverb.com/item/5204303-vintage-soundhole-pickup-for-acoustic-guitars-made-in-japan-in-the-60-s

This combo launched a million bands in the 70’s!

My songwriting partner has this one in hers .

I still have one of those too, still with it's plastic case.
They are rather good & work on 6, 12 strings & mandolins too

BillDL · January 2023

If you ever see an old looking EROS branded guitar you could very easily be looking at a late 60s/early 70s Eko. I can't recall the full story and I'm at work where some websites are restricted, but from memory the factory making Eko guitars in Italy burned down. Before they had managed to try and get up and running again some of the employees started using the same build plans to make guitars that are really just Eko but with Eros or E-Ros (with a crown type icon) on the headstock and label. A number of years ago I had a damaged Eros Dakota? 6-string to repair (wife hit husband over the back with it and threw it out on the street with his clothes). Whatever glue was used for the build (hide glue?) it was quite brittle and several internal top and back braces had popped off easily leaving the glue on the surfaces but leaving the wood unbroken. When I compared it with an Eko Ranger I was storing for a friend, they were identical in almost every aspect including the really chunky neck block and very long neck screws.

What I found with the Eko was that the binding had a propensity for coming loose and exposing the plywood edges to potential moisture and, as mentioned by ICBM, the bridge had begun to spit through the rivet holes and also started lifting. The glue used for the braces looked much the same as used in the Eros guitar, so if you were buying an Eko that has been well used and bumped around a bit, check for loose braces by tapping and listening and putting a mirror down into it for a look.

Tannin · January 2023

I sometimes I wish I still had mine. A very solid guitar indeed (what some people call "overbuilt" - a pejorative and judgemental term I never very seldom use) with an awesome ability to produce something vaguely like music even with me playing it. Wonderful guitars for young people who are not as careful with their instruments as they should be. (Read "leaving them in car boots on 36 degree days and not changing the strings for three years and getting therm full of sand and salt water at beach parties not to mention spilling endless gallons of cheap grog on them".)

If I still had it, I'd donate it to Ukraine 'coz it would be marginally less heavy than and somewhat tougher than a Leopard 2.

boogieman · February 2023

I had an Eros, very similar quality and design to an Eko and as @BillDL says it may have well have been built in the same factory anyway. It was a good strumming guitar, no real zing to it but had decent bass and reasonable tone. I bought it new in the early 70s and kept it for years until it suffered with a twisted neck, bellied up top and lifting bridge. Ended up giving it to a charity shop a couple of years ago.

boogieman · February 2023

My cousin had a Ranger I think? I’m not up on the model differences. It played better than my Eros but that might’ve just been down to 6 strings vs 12. Similar tone though.

guitarjack66 · February 2023

boogieman said:

My cousin had a Ranger I think? I’m not up on the model differences. It played better than my Eros but that might’ve just been down to 6 strings vs 12. Similar tone though.

The look of a young Gary Moore?

ICBM · February 2023

boogieman said:

My cousin had a Ranger I think? I’m not up on the model differences. It played better than my Eros but that might’ve just been down to 6 strings vs 12. Similar tone though.

That’s a Rio Bravo, which was a more upmarket model with a glued-in neck. I had one at one point, it was less clunky-feeling than a typical Ranger but sounded more or less the same.

boogieman · February 2023

ICBM said:

boogieman said:

My cousin had a Ranger I think? I’m not up on the model differences. It played better than my Eros but that might’ve just been down to 6 strings vs 12. Similar tone though.

That’s a Rio Bravo, which was a more upmarket model with a glued-in neck. I had one at one point, it was less clunky-feeling than a typical Ranger but sounded more or less the same.

A fountain of knowledge as always. Thanks @ICBM ;

wrinkleygit · February 2023

I got mine around 1970, bought from a mates girlfriend’s club book, I think they were originally built by an Italian furniture company, which is why the varnish was so thick and often shows as cracks around the head stock. Fitted the Schaller some years later, still use it today in either open G or E, most authentic sounding blues guitar I’ve ever played, irreplaceable.

bertie · February 2023

guitarjack66 said:

boogieman said:

My cousin had a Ranger I think? I’m not up on the model differences. It played better than my Eros but that might’ve just been down to 6 strings vs 12. Similar tone though.

The look of a young Gary Moore?

the look of a young Toy Caldwell

usedtobe · February 2023

I guess these were a step up from the eko Rio grande VI I had. It’s still going after 40 odd years (I gifted it to a friend). Wasn’t the best sounding guitar - not horrible, just nothing special - but played as well as anything else I’ve ever played - probably something to do with the zero fret and adjustable bridge.. nice comfy neck, too..
amazed to see what they’re going for, these days.. 150-200 for the natural finish.. mine was the cheaper, and less desirable black..

Pic from the interweb

bertie · February 2023

all made in the same factory as Gray-Nicolls

ICBM · February 2023

usedtobe said:

amazed to see what they’re going for, these days.. 150-200 for the natural finish.. mine was the cheaper, and less desirable black..

I would say the black is more desirable - it's far rarer and cooler-looking.

usedtobe · February 2023

ICBM said:

usedtobe said:

amazed to see what they’re going for, these days.. 150-200 for the natural finish.. mine was the cheaper, and less desirable black..

I would say the black is more desirable - it's far rarer and cooler-looking.

Ah.. I seem to remember, back in the day, natural cost more.. Probably why I ended up with black, but I take your point..!

boogieman · February 2023

Just remembered I had one of these back in the 80’s, got it from a junk shop for £35, although mine was missing that preposterously long trem arm. It was a cool looking thing although the pickups had a pretty shrill tone and it really suffered from feedback. Sadly it soon developed a really bad crack around where the neck joined the body, the laminate started to separate and the neck started to move quite badly. I fudged a repair with some glue and screws and sold it at a boot fair. I still remember the bloke who bought it asking if it was a rhythm or lead guitar?

Not my pic but mine was very similar, although I remember the red being deeper on mine. I’ve always liked that red/black burst.

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Eko ranger 6

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