Finding an old guitar friend!

Pinhead · January 2019

This is my first day on this forum and also the day I got a guitar back from an old friend who I loaned it too about 40 years ago. Until then I had a crappy electric job from Woolworths, then I decided it was worth me getting something that sounded nicer. I had a trip to the 2nd hand shops, in Newcastle in 1979 and fell in love with a well used but comparatively sweet sounding Eko 12 stringer, just because it sounded nice. I subsequently I lugged around parties and informal jams for the next couple of years. This was an important instrument for me because it steered me away from lead guitar into exploring chords and into song writing.
I then stopped playing, moved away and lost touch with my buddy. This year I eventually recorded my first solo acoustic album, and one of the songs (flowers) was written on on the Eko. I remember distinctly sitting cross legged in the garden on a sunny day writing it

By a strange twist of fate my friend heard of the album release and Facebooked me on Friday and said, "we should meet up and anyway I need to give you your guitar back". We met today and I have it. It is in the same battle scared condition I left it and still has the same strings on (well 10 of them). Despite the age of the strings it still has a bit of 12 string jangle and reckon it is going to play fine.
Amazing! I am so pleased to have it back.
Here is the song that I wrote by the way, which summed up how I felt at the time:
https://eddiemole.bandcamp.com/track/flowers

ICBM · January 2019

I like Ekos a lot, despite their 'cheap old junk' reputation. They may not be the most finely-crafted things, but they're well-built and can almost always be set up to play very well because both the neck angle and bridge are adjustable. Mostly they sound a lot better than you would expect for a fairly heavy plywood guitar too.

The singer I work with has the 6-string version and it sounds great - it's also inspired more songs than all the other guitars we've used put together. I like the song

. (You need to edit off the bit after 'flowers' in the link or it doesn't work.)

Pinhead · January 2019

Thanks, agreed, it is heavy and built like a tank but it is also usable and fun.

Merrick · January 2019

I have (almost) the exact same story! Re-united with an old Eko Ranger 6 that I'd "left" with an old friend and lost touch with.

Not a great instrument by todays standards but, as a youngster, it was a leap forward for me as I'd just started gigging regularly and needed a "proper" guitar. (£35 in the early 70's was a lot of money!)

40-odd years later I ran into the old friend who was keen to re-unite me with the Eko, exactly as I'd left it!

I think the similarities of this story (I'm in the North East too) are mostly possible because of the build quality of those old Ekos. Pretty much indestructible! All that internal bracing may have compromised the sound but we never had to be gentle with them!

Pinhead · January 2019

Merrick said:

I have (almost) the exact same story! Re-united with an old Eko Ranger 6 that I'd "left" with an old friend and lost touch with.

Hah amazing. Forget those fancy tone woods. These bits sum it up "Not a great instrument by todays standards Pretty much indestructible! All that internal bracing may have compromised the sound but we never had to be gentle with them!"

Well I have put new strings on it and it still has its old character and jangley sound. I will keep it by my side from now on.

Strangefan · January 2019

I have been there actually only this month, I. Met with the deplorable @Bridgehouse who held on to my 68 guild until my finances enabled me to get it back from him, which took a good 6 months, and then met me about 50 miles from his home, horrific behaviour for a musician... But he made my year lol

Bridgehouse · January 2019

Strangefan said:

I have been there actually only this month, I. Met with the deplorable @Bridgehouse who held on to my 68 guild until my finances enabled me to get it back from him, which took a good 6 months, and then met me about 50 miles from his home, horrific behaviour for a musician... But he made my year lol

Last time I do that for you. Had to drink crappy Starbucks coffee and put up with your inane chatter @Strangefan - as well as stare at your ugly mug

Wouldn’t have done anything different tho mate - always worth the look on someone’s face when you reunite them with their fave guitar

Strangefan · January 2019

Lol it was looking at my face for an hour which was the carrot on the stick for you! Honestly tho, it truly made my Xmas, the guild will never leave me again!

Bridgehouse · January 2019

Strangefan said:

Lol it was looking at my face for an hour which was the carrot on the stick for you! Honestly tho, it truly made my Xmas, the guild will never leave me again!

I thought you said your face was a turnip on a post not a carrot on a stick

Phil_aka_Pip · January 2019

I have a soft spot for Ekos

jellyroll · January 2019

Phil_aka_Pip said:

I have a soft spot for Ekos

Good to know you’re Eko friendly...

equalsql · January 2019

Phil_aka_Pip said:

I have a soft spot for Ekos

Same here.

Back in 1976 it was a right of passage for us budding players to own an Eko Ranger 12 string dreadnaught.

Blinking heavy they were too with their crafty bolt on necks.

ICBM · January 2019

They’re really very tough. I once fixed a 6-string one that someone had left for several months in a very damp pub basement... the neck was badly warped, just for once beyond the ability of the various adjustments to make playable. I told the owner I would keep an eye out for a replacement neck, put it at the back of a cupboard and eventually forgot all about it.

A year or so later I found it, remembered whose it was but not what had been wrong with it, so I phoned him and asked - he said I’d told him that the neck was knackered. I said it wasn’t now! There was nothing wrong with it at all -just leaving it alone to dry out had been all it needed. Easiest repair ever

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Finding an old guitar friend!

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