EKO was founded in Italy by Oliverio Pigini, an accordion maker who saw the writing on the wall and got into the guitar business in 1959. He soon partnered with the LoDuca brothers, Tom and Guy, vaudeville performers who built up a large distribution network that began with accordions and sheet music and soon included Magnatone amps, picks, and more. EKO also made guitars, basses, and accordions for Vox, and was the largest instrument maker in Europe by the mid ’60s.
This bass is truly unique, starting with the “mother of toilet seat” woven fiberglass body, which is feather-light and absolutely oozes coolness. The pearloid tuners match the body, which is accentuated with a “3-D” gold sparkle stripe that looks like it was squeezed out of a toothpaste tube. The futuristic body shape is very angular, and, oddly enough, prefigures the shape of BC Rich basses in the ’70s. The 30"-scale neck is slim but chunky— much like the Hagstrom Futurama profiled in November ’06—with low and fast action. Its glossy black paint has held up remarkably well. The “trapeze”-style tailpiece is sunk into the body and hasn’t budged a bit over the years, and the roller-type bridge offers a modest amount of adjustment.
The best part of this bass, though, is its sound. The basic tone is amazingly hi-fi for its day, courtesy of its triple-pole pickups, which have two rows of Hofner-like staples bordering a larger row of magnets in the middle. The pickup and its black plastic casing date this bass to 1964. The 4-way metal pickup selector looks groovy, but its protruding stem could hurt if you’re not careful! The matching silver knobs adjust master volume and tone for each pickup, and work really well in a variety of positions. Cranked all the way up, the EKO has a growly, gnarly top end that almost gets into Chris Squire territory. With the high end rolled off and with the front pickup soloed, it sounds almost like a Hofner with a touch more clarity and definition.
This bass is a surprisingly versatile axe from an era when many instruments had one sound with minor variations. It is a gas to play and even more fun to look at. With this mystery bass, EKO managed to simultaneously celebrate its accordion-making roots while exploring bold new designs. Bravissimo, EKO. Until next time, Arrivederci!
DAVE POMEROY
Dave Pomeroy has played on hundreds of CDs as a sideman and has released ten solo and band projects on Earwave Records. His latest is Dave Pomeroy and Friends—The Taproom Tapes, a two-CD set of spontaneous live improvisations featuring 14 of Nashville’s top players. It’s available at www.davepomeroy.com.
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