Two Is Better Than One…

Back in 1977, I acquired a black Eko Ranger E-20 acoustic guitar in a swap deal. I knew even less about guitars back then than I do now, but that Eko quickly became my favourite guitar to play. For a tall fellow I have relatively short fingers, so I struggle with wider guitar necks. The Eko neck is narrower, and the fretboard slightly curved, enabling short-fingered fellows to master it more easily.

The E-20 doesn’t have a cutaway, but it does have 21 frets, 14 of which are above the soundbox. My Spanish guitar has 19, my mini-Guild and Ovation 12-string both 20. The Eko strings are also slightly closer together, and it feels more like an electric guitar to play. I recorded the “Inheritance” album on my Eko, like a celebration of the instrument in case it one day failed me after 42 years. It didn’t, but it had begun to creak.

About seven years ago, I took my Eko to a recommended luthier in Blackpool to have a pickup fitted. It was away from me for a couple of weeks, and it felt like losing a limb. As I write, it’s having its second holiday with another luthier and friend based near Hawick. It’s having new pickups fitted, the machine heads replaced, and its neck re-setting. I also wanted a better gig bag for it, because the current one is soft and not much protection at all.

Last week, bereft of my beloved original Eko for a week by then, I started looking online for hard gig bags. Previously, I’d been unable to find one that would accommodate its longer neck. So imagine my surprise when I found a hard gig bag on eBay, containing an identical black E-20 for £150.00. Making sure the deal included both, we then set off for the five hour journey to Stranraer, and the guitar I picked up – already fitted with a pickup – is in excellent condition, probably dating a little earlier than my original.

Its previous owner had passed away, and it was being sold on behalf of his family by his band mate. The guitar had been well cared for, cherished like I cherish mine, so it feels like a privilege to have taken ownership and given it a new lease of life. I restrung it this afternoon, and it sounds like my original when I first acquired it.

So I now have the luxury of two fabulous black Eko E-20 guitars. I’ve played many other guitars, but none suit me as much than these. The original will always be the original, even in its refurbished form, and it will be reserved for recording, with the new one becoming my gigging guitar. It feels slightly heavier, less fragile, and it suits its adapted hard case. The previous owner had the same problem in finding one, and cut into the foam at the neck end!

I acquired my original Eko in Norwich from the lead singer of a Devon band, took it with me to Bristol, Bath and Reading, where we had our first marital home, up to Sale in Cheshire, across to the Blackpool luthier, up here to Berwick upon Tweed where we now live, and now to Hawick for a refurb. The ‘new’ E-20 lived in Stranraer, so these instruments have covered four corners of this land. That also feels like a big part of this story.

Peace.

John