US-made Eko?

[HonketyHank]

I bought a pig-in-a-poke about a month ago from an ebay seller. The instrument photos are here (scroll down a bit after opening the page): ebay listing.

I was prepared for anything, but when it arrived, it looked pretty nice and potentially repairable, even by a klutz like me. I did repair it and it does play halfway nice and it looks quite good all cleaned up (I did leave the head as-received). Birds eye maple rim, flame maple five piece neck.

So here's the deal. If I am going to play it, I want to know what is "Eko". I have dug pretty deep on the internet and what I keep seeing concerns Eko stringed instruments made in Italy starting in about 1959. I think they started with guitars, then in the late sixties expanded to include mandolin, banjo, etc. The best I have heard about their quality is maybe 'unremarkable'. And the pictures of the mandolin-banjos they produced are nothing like what I have, at least the ones I have seen.

Now ... I am almost positive this instrument was made in the USA. The hardware is all non-metric and all the main dimensions come out nicely in inches instead of cm. And I think this instrument is older than the 1960's. It is solid, nicely built. Sounds decent (for a mandolin-banjo). The case looks just like cases provided with instruments from the 1920's and 30's. The instrument looks and plays a lot like my Vega Little Wonder from about 1915 and much, much better than my noname (probably Oscar Schmidt) from the 1920's.

Was there a musical instrument company in the US (or maybe Great Britain) using the "Eko" name before the Italian company was founded? If so, any info about them would be appreciated.

FWIW, I attach a photo of the peghead of my "Eko" and a peghead of one of the Italian "Eko" mandolins. Note that both logos are in script and both are underlined, but they are quite different.
My Eko
Italian Eko

[Bill Snyder]

There is a pre WWII Eko mandolin in THIS THREAD.
HERE is an Eko mandolin/banjo said to be from the 70's. Does yours look much like this one? The logo resembles the logo of the Italian Eko you posted a photo of.

[HonketyHank]

There is a pre WWII Eko mandolin in THIS THREAD.
HERE is an Eko mandolin/banjo said to be from the 70's. Does yours look much like this one? The logo resembles the logo of the Italian Eko you posted a photo of.

The post linked in your first line is a definite Bingo. Logos are exactly the same. The link in your second line is the mandolin banjo produced in the late 60's, early 70's, by the Italian Eko company I referred to in my original post and that instrument is not at all similar to the one I have. (And the logo on the peghead is identical to the second photo I posted as "Italian Eko".)

Thanks for finding that thread about the Favilla brothers. I tried searching for Eko on the forum, but the search function did not like a three letter word. I'll see what I can find out about the Favillas.

[barney 59]

I do believe that your quest to discover the US made EKO will turn out to be fruitless. Some of the Eko electrics were really goofy but awesome at the same time. Kind of the ultimate "Grunge" guitar. Lots of buttons and interesting effects possible. Jimi Hendrix had a Rangemaster made by Eko but marketed by Levin of Sweden that he used in recordings. I've only seen their guitars as acoustic instruments and they were certainly "Unremarkable" but playable. They made a lot of different styles in their instruments and maybe some weren't very successful in marketing and few were made. Very likely whole lines of them were never imported into the US. That might explain your difficulty in finding an exact match to the one you have. I didn't think that Eko goes back to pre war. Learn something new every day!

[vic-victor]

There is always a chance that Eko (being a large Italian company) fould a local banjo-maker in the US for their line of banjo-mandolins.

[allenhopkins]

Check out this 2009 thread; someone talked to Tom Favilla about a connection with Eko, and he said there was no official arrangement, but Eko was "notorious" for putting their logo on instruments they distributed for other companies. So...

[Bill Snyder]

Same post I linked to above.

[MikeEdgerton]

I'm not totally convinced that Tom Favilla was totally aware of everything his company did in the years prior to him joining the firm.

[Jeff Mando]

Appears to be a 20's US made instrument. Looks like Waverly tuners. Purple felt-lined case also looks like US cases that we've seen on many old US instruments. You might check the latches to see if they are stamped with a manufacturer name.

[HonketyHank]

Will check the case out for mfg name when I get a chance. I'm an old guy so I am going to bed.

[HonketyHank]

I went over the case pretty closely and found no indication of a manufacturer of the case or its hardware.

I took a few shots of somewhat unusual features of the instrument that do not show up in the listing photos I linked to above.

One shot is just another shot of the peghead logo. It is inlaid MOP but the lacquer has yellowed over it, so it looks a bit like a decal or paint. Another is rather telling -- the neck attachment hardware (more specifically, the lack thereof). The rim and neck are drawn together tight by a single wood screw. Rather unusual and very unusual for an instrument that seems to be finely finished. But it seems to work pretty well. Next is a shot of the heel cap. Most heel caps are flat. This one is rounded. I can't remember seeing a rounded heel cap like this on another banjo or banjo mando. Finally the tuners. Not at all unusual, but they seem pretty cheap. I know they are awful to work with. Very stiff, even with the tension screws at their loosest.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I had an Eko acoustic guitar in the 70's, a hummingbird copy, very heavy and dull sounding, like it was dipped in a plastic finish. I also had an Eko bouzouki, Greek style, that was quite nice. Both made in Italy.

[JH Murray]

I have a 1920's Beltone banjolin that is identical to your EKO. Beltone was a New York distributer who bought instruments from many factories.

[HonketyHank]

I have a 1920's Beltone banjolin that is identical to your EKO. Beltone was a New York distributer who bought instruments from many factories.

I think you have provided the evidence that might be called a 'coup de grace' for my investigation. Based on others' evidence and yours, I conclude that I have a fairly decent banjo mandolin made by an unnamed company that sold instruments for rebranding. Rather like the Kay banjos of the early 1960's (many different brands but the same banjo).

I also think that the most interesting part of all this is the revelation that 'Eko', as a trademark, is much older than the Italian company that operated in the 1960's and up through recent years. How this latter company came to use the same trademark with a similar logo might well be interesting. I wonder. There might be a story there.

[MikeEdgerton]

Look at the heel cap on the mandolin banjo down a bit on this page. I'm pretty sure that yours is a Favilla and the old and new Eko brands had nothing to do with each other.

[Nevin]

Is it possible someone put an Eko neck on a US made body as repair?

[MikeEdgerton]

That's an old neck on an old banjo pot. I believe we have seen other old Eko instruments on the cafe.

Bill Snyder previously linked to this thread.

[Jeff Mando]

Finally the tuners. Not at all unusual, but they seem pretty cheap. I know they are awful to work with. Very stiff, even with the tension screws at their loosest.

Tuners probably just need a cleaning and lubrication. Simple to do and you'll be good for another 80-90 years!