The use of the epoxy putty and plastic wrap to create a viable ‘chicken head’ knob was the highlight of the Eko segment. This will be filed in my mental lockbox. Thanks!
Just takes practice. The thing that helped me to be able to solder pretty well, is building guitar pedal kits. Build a couple, and you get a pretty good feel for it after that.
On the Eko the pickup switch selector is not stock. It's a made in USA probably a Chicago company plastic switch as found on old Harmonys and Kays. The original has a distinctive acute triangular shape with black pinstriping. I really enjoy the videos you make.
With that flat side on the shaft the stock knob could have had a set screw to attach it. Regardless neat trick to make the supplied one work. I enjoyed your counting in powers of 2 😊
I agree. I think the selector knob has been replaced. At 20:40 or so we see the inside of the existing selector has internal splines, but the switch would have had a knob with a grub screw.
I had the same problem with the truss rod in a Sterling Mariposa. Returned to Guitar Center, informed them of the problem, they placed it back on the wall before I left.
When you said the delaminated finished looked ghostly, this came into my head: "That her face, at first just ghostly · Turned a whiter shade of pale." Beautiful work. Thanks.
@@desmondcole4300 The St. Vincent model came first. I want to say 2013? Anyway, Omar played that model a lot (there's many pics/videos of him using it during the At The Drive-In reunion), so it no doubt served as inspiration for the Mariposa - which came out 2017 if i'm not mistaken
That EKO is the first guitar I ever had. I've been trying to find out what it was for years. I even painted a Gibson logo on the headstock. That was over fifty years ago and I've finally seem another one. Thank you so much...
My original take was that the knob is a replacement from the original and too much of a lever for the pot, hence it overcoming the resistance of the tightening nut. Seeing the flat on the shaft confirms and compounds the problem. Nice solution by Ted.
Just saw an original on Reverb that has a different switch "knob" that shows the big arrow part of the correct piece pointing away from the pickup indicators so that the little short part actually points at the selection without obscuring the choice. As always, wonderful video!
I bought an Eko bass when I was in the Navy. I was on the USS Nimitz and pulled into Naples in 1977. I bought the bass right on the ship as they allowed vendors to come aboard when we were anchored in port. I taught myself to play on the Eko bass.
I've done a different repair of the nob. You grab a dowel, cut it from the top, not exactly at the middle. And then you insert this in the knob, set it in position by just placing on top of the switch, mark it, take it off and glue it there. This is how I now make wooden knobs out of wooden dowels as well, that I use in my pedals that use a the wood from a jícara tree instead of the standard casted metal box.
Oh also. At least the folds in the video, it's 32k folds. It how computer folks count "in binary", in the sense that you just move the 1, on position to the right. x^2 for math folks.
I can't agree more w/ the previous posters.. Ted, you are a magnificent craftsman. your sensibility and subtle dry humor is so appreciated! I've watched a million of your vids.. you are amazing.
I wanted to say a big Thank You. Today, using the insight into processes, materials, etc. I've learned from you, I put some mother of pearl fret markers on the fretboard of my new Asian CNC 5-string bass which only had side markers. Tomorrow, I'll be "polishing polishing polishing" the frets. I'll never own the caliber of instrument that you regularly work on, but by sharing your experience, you've empowered me to make my modest instrument suit me better, and nicer to play.
Ted, this episode is great. I loved the fixes on the Echo. The epoxy trick is going in the memory banks. Customer would benefit from a refret to get max neck width for sure. And a 3D printed neck pickup ring!
Love this channel. Been subbed for years on multiple phones aka multiple RUclips accounts lol n I've not only never owned a guitar but i don't sing and i have no musical skills lol but he's just that awesome
7:30 "...maxed-out truss rod." Could you insert a washer (spacer) behind the black spinner nut-thingy? It could give the threads a fresh start further along.
Maybe...if it didn't need much tension that can work. But if it's already cranked the other end is likely smashing into the wood. and it's 50-50 you'll get get any more straightening. I've had a couple break through the back of the neck, a very bad situation.
Excellent excellent Having a very bad day finally sit down after losing a continuous battle with my daughter to find a woodford upload .. Akwaya makes the day better
Depending on personality and upbringing saying "no" can indeed be tough. For me it helped a lot to try and find more mellow/nice versions of no, like e.g. "okay, but not right now" or "Sure, we can schedule that work to be done (in a couple of weeks)" when it concerns scheduling for instance. Maybe that way you don't feel like you have to be 'mean' to some people
I love that old Eko! It's funny to me how similar the Italian and Japanese stuff from this era are. I have a Japanese guitar that a LOT like this one. Similar binding, the bolt-on neck shape, small frets, bridge, and single coil pickups with white covers and black surrounds.
You can always set up a queue of 3 hours worth of twoodfrd vids lol. That's what I usually do 🤣😁 I've seen most of his vids at least 3 or 4 times lol. The best part is you never get sick of them because there's already so many it's hard to remember them.
My sterling stingray also has a truss rod that needed to be cranked all the way to have any effect on the neck. Can I expect it to be a complete write off within a few years?
Every EKO I've ever seen up close (acoustic or electric) has had major finish cracks. I don't know what they sprayed them with, but it's like their trademark. They also made some Vox guitars with the same issue.
I would virtually guarantee that white bat-handle knob was a replacement. It was set up for a splined shaft, which that switch isn't. It's quite possible the original knob was held on with a setscrew. It may have gotten loose and the knob fell off and got lost. The repair you made is obviously good, but just FYI, knobs for flatted shafts came in one of two forms. Either the aforementioned setscrew that would screw down on the flat, or a folded piece of spring. The spring might be steel or some brass-like material. It usually had a flat side with a couple of barbs to stick into the plastic and prevent slipping, and the other side was bent into a knuckle shape and would press against the flat.
The control wiring of that Mariposa, only two (2) individual volume controls, yet clearly there is some kind of tone capacitor on the neck volume pot, while the bridge pickup volume pot appears to have a treble by-pass circuit! Very interesting.
I like your suction cup gizmo for forcing glue into cracks but I’m afraid that it will pull glue back out when pulled away from the surface. To alleviate this problem I modified my own by drilling a small hole in it. That way I can cover the hole with a fingertip when pushing and uncover the hole when pulling back so there is less suction to pull glue back out. Concerning the switch lever on that very cool Eko, I have a feeling that it is not original. I’m no expert on 1960s Italian imports, but the flat on the switch shaft looks too smooth to have been filed by hand. My intuition tells me that the original matched the control knobs and was held in place by a miniature set screw. Anyways, nice camera work and another very entertaining video!
Ted, as an independent repair guy who has experienced several work droughts where the phone just doesn't ring for a couple of weeks, I'd say you're in a pretty good (if tiring) place, buddy.
Larvae, Shawn in the Oxnard shop when it first started Shawn or Shun, laughed at my first guitar I learned on and Michael Tobias helped me out back in 1982 help me out with making me an electric guitar and a 1 piece birch P-bass. Both were way to heavy again I was young and dump. Who knew I was living with premature degenerative disk disease and from 5' 10" to 5' 4" now at 66, plus crippling arthritis. It only started from my 50, so the last 10 to 15 years ago. So Suan laughed at me and I wanted to work for free over there just to learn back in the 1990's. So he laughed and I was going to build my guitars with or without his help. I wanted to make acoustic guitars, but my wife said, make electric guitars first so 2010 to now I'm almost completed 2 guitars. One my design and a odd looking Strat. 2 this year's and 2 per year to make jigs to reproduce the same builds while selling or taking on as much as not to being cautious! Cheers!
Ted, I had lots of friends who had Eko dreaghtnoughts back in the 70s, I had an Epiphone Texan. Those Eko's sounded good and were very popular. I wonder what was made of the Italian makers- for a veneer wood guitar they sounded good.
Thankfully, no “happy little accidents”! :) I think that’s the first Echo I’ve ever seen (I mostly just hear them). …LOL… Sometimes I do amuse myself. :) ❤ from James Bay :)
something odd about the neck PU on the stirling. i noticed a resistor on the pot,next to a cap, a treble/bass bleed circuit, and was wondering if something else in there was shorted or disconnected.
I went to the serlingbymusicman site and the specs for the Mariposa state that the Truss Rod is a "Dual Action" so, maybe that accounts for the resistance you were feeling. My Lowden guitar also has the same ridiculous Truss Rod access location as the Larrivee, and "required" a special wrench to reach it. The wrench cost something like $40 way back then and had to be ordered directly from Lowden. 🤣The music store I purchased the Lowden from had an official wrench, so I made a tracing of it, then figured out how to make my own. It only took a few minutes to come up with a DIY design that cost me nothing except a little ingenuity and items I had laying around. Here is the design if you want to make your own, and doesn't require a Blowtorch to make, or taking off the strings to use. This assumes your guitar has the same basic design as my Lowden. 🤓 1. Copper Tubing, about 10.5 inches in length, outer diameter 3/8 inch, inner diameter 1/4 inch. 2. L-Shape Hex Wrench: Long leg 2 and 3/8 inches, Short leg 1 and 1/4 inch long. The Hex size I needed is 3/8 inch or 5mm. 3. Masking Tape 4. Hacksaw (to cut the tubing and possibly the Hex Wrench to the correct lengths) 5. Wrench or hammer A. Bend the Copper Tube so it forms the letter "J" with a sharp bend where the short leg of tube points up. That short length should be 2 inches long, and be parallel to the long tube at a distance of about 2.5 inches away. B. Use the wrench hammer to flatten the tube some on both sides where you bent it. The will give it some extra strength against the torque of turning the Truss Rod. C. Slip the long leg of the Hex Wrench into the short leg of the rod such that the short leg of the Hex is facing away from the long leg of the tube. It should like like the letter "J" with the short leg of the Hex Wrench sticking out and pointing to the left. D. Use some masking tap to fasten the Hex to the tube so it wont slip out. You may need to compress the tub a little to hold the Hex in place. E. Slip the bottom part of your new "J" Hex Wrench between the D and G String and poke around until the end of the Hex Wrench fits into the Hex Nut on the hidden end of the Truss Rod. Then turn the long leg of the tube to the left or right to tighten or loosen the Truss Rod. Wiggle the device to pull it out of the Hex Nut when done. 😎
I have one of those EKOs. that is not the correct knob at all for the selector and if it was, you would have installed it backwards. They're generally installed with the long part pointing in so you can toggle it without reaching as far.
What a disappointment that Music Man is… and I do hold to high regard the Cort factory plant! Hope the owner can get a hefty discount on that one, though great work as always!
Given that it's not the original switch knob anyway, I think I would have replaced it with a white 'chicken head' with a tightening screw onto that flatted shaft. Most photos of the Eko 290 show the long triangular 'tail' of the knob facing away from the pickup legend plate with just a small pointy bit facing towards the pickup choice. What were they smoking?
I have that same Mariposa. Got it from Musicians friend, stupid deal of the day. Came "new" but in a Jackson box. They had to call me to let me know that it would ship from a GC in Texas in the non-original box... I said, as long as it's not off the wall! My string alignment felt off so I sort of cut another groove for the E string because it felt like I was falling off the fretboard a bit. I too have a truss rod that is maxed out. It will not easily move... As for the pick ups, I gutted it for brighter and punchier pick ups and went volume/tone with push pull pot to split the coils. It's a fun guitar and with a little work, it's an overall good buy. Not worth 600 USD in my opinion though.
The shaft on the switch is shaped that way intentionally, it's called a D-shaft and is fairly common in amplifiers and effect pedals. Usually they are used in conjunction with a knob with a matching recess, seems like an odd choice not to since they're not exactly rare or hard to come by but who knows what the situation was with parts availability in 1960s Italy (assuming that both the switch and the knob are original to the guitar in the first place)
I had one of those Ekos about 30 years ago. It was bloody awful, it had about as much sustain as a banjo. That laquer felt about an inch thick and the tremolo arm was bizarre, seemed to be 2 feet long!
I looked up more copies of the Eko Model 290 and sure enough, it's the wrong knob. Someone must've broken the fragile, probably broken, factory knob with that knob meant for a knurled shaft. The factory knob was a similar shape and color but had a pointer opposite the paddle. having the paddle over the indicators seemed wrong.
I think that switch is supposed to have a chicken head knob with a set screw, I had a similar guitar way back in my teen years and it had this type of setup. I seem to remember the one I had being a 12 string, it was stolen before I had a chance to do anything but string it up.
After seeing the EKO headstock I recognized I had owned a matching 6 string and 12 string EKO acoustics when I was stationed in England in the mid 70's. They really sounded nice. I recently tried googling the EKO brand but had no success.
You covered a great deal of interesting ground in the video. Thank you for the ride. May I ask a non-musical instrument question? Do you have chiggers in the region of Canada that you are in?
I have three USA Ernie Ball Music Man guitars here, ranging from 2001 to 2021, and the spoke truss rod adjustment is ALWYAS really tight and feels super sketchy on all of them.
The use of the epoxy putty and plastic wrap to create a viable ‘chicken head’ knob was the highlight of the Eko segment. This will be filed in my mental lockbox. Thanks!
I only come for the philosophical ponderings
Yup!
That makes for an awkward appointment with the Shrink...
I’m just for the polishing.
And now we know what makes you... never mind.
I’m 65, someday when I grow up I want to be able to solder like you!
Just takes practice. The thing that helped me to be able to solder pretty well, is building guitar pedal kits. Build a couple, and you get a pretty good feel for it after that.
"Action speaks louder than words", while checking the string action. Priceless. 😂
I really can't thank you enough for all you've taught me in the last few years.
I’ve learnt a lot too :)
And this is why we are addicted to Ted's channel.
On the Eko the pickup switch selector is not stock. It's a made in USA probably a Chicago company plastic switch as found on old Harmonys and Kays. The original has a distinctive acute triangular shape with black pinstriping. I really enjoy the videos you make.
With that flat side on the shaft the stock knob could have had a set screw to attach it. Regardless neat trick to make the supplied one work. I enjoyed your counting in powers of 2 😊
I agree. I think the selector knob has been replaced. At 20:40 or so we see the inside of the existing selector has internal splines, but the switch would have had a knob with a grub screw.
I had the same problem with the truss rod in a Sterling Mariposa. Returned to Guitar Center, informed them of the problem, they placed it back on the wall before I left.
When you said the delaminated finished looked ghostly, this came into my head: "That her face, at first just ghostly · Turned a whiter shade of pale." Beautiful work. Thanks.
Scott, it’s honestly reassuring to find out that there are others out there with minds that go off in the weird directions that mine does. 😉🤣
..a whiter shade of teaburst
My weekly therapy and well rounded educational TV. We never know what is in store. Philosophy, history, you name it, it's all here.
Peace ✌️
Excellent work as always, Ted! Thanks for sharing some of your day-to-day work with us!
I'm sure many know, but mariposa means butterfly. The shape of the guitar is evocative. Another great video. Thanks!
I have one and it's a blast to play. What I wouldn't do for a "non-Squier" version, though.
Reminds me a lot of the EB St. Vincent model. I wonder which was the chicken and which was the egg
@@desmondcole4300 The St. Vincent model came first. I want to say 2013? Anyway, Omar played that model a lot (there's many pics/videos of him using it during the At The Drive-In reunion), so it no doubt served as inspiration for the Mariposa - which came out 2017 if i'm not mistaken
That EKO is the first guitar I ever had. I've been trying to find out what it was for years. I even painted a Gibson logo on the headstock. That was over fifty years ago and I've finally seem another one. Thank you so much...
Hope you're safe from the wildfires Greetings from Wales!...stay safe
It's always great watching your videos.
The flat on the switch is by design. The "correct" knob for this should have had a grub screw which tightens against it.
Even a set screw would be a kludge. The "correct" knob would be one meant for a D-shaft pot/switch (fairly common on amps and pedals).
@@DefconMasterStill needs a setscrew against the flat part on the shaft so the knob won't fall off.
My original take was that the knob is a replacement from the original and too much of a lever for the pot, hence it overcoming the resistance of the tightening nut. Seeing the flat on the shaft confirms and compounds the problem. Nice solution by Ted.
Just saw an original on Reverb that has a different switch "knob" that shows the big arrow part of the correct piece pointing away from the pickup indicators so that the little short part actually points at the selection without obscuring the choice. As always, wonderful video!
That switch knob could have had a metal insert that fit up against the flat side of the shaft, and is now missing.
I bought an Eko bass when I was in the Navy. I was on the USS Nimitz and pulled into Naples in 1977. I bought the bass right on the ship as they allowed vendors to come aboard when we were anchored in port. I taught myself to play on the Eko bass.
I've done a different repair of the nob. You grab a dowel, cut it from the top, not exactly at the middle. And then you insert this in the knob, set it in position by just placing on top of the switch, mark it, take it off and glue it there.
This is how I now make wooden knobs out of wooden dowels as well, that I use in my pedals that use a the wood from a jícara tree instead of the standard casted metal box.
Oh also. At least the folds in the video, it's 32k folds. It how computer folks count "in binary", in the sense that you just move the 1, on position to the right. x^2 for math folks.
I can't agree more w/ the previous posters.. Ted, you are a magnificent craftsman. your sensibility and subtle dry humor is so appreciated! I've watched a million of your vids.. you are amazing.
Really, thank you for that. It just reinforced what I've learned.
That Larrivee is violently pointy. But wow, she booms. Beautiful sound.
I wanted to say a big Thank You. Today, using the insight into processes, materials, etc. I've learned from you, I put some mother of pearl fret markers on the fretboard of my new Asian CNC 5-string bass which only had side markers. Tomorrow, I'll be "polishing polishing polishing" the frets. I'll never own the caliber of instrument that you regularly work on, but by sharing your experience, you've empowered me to make my modest instrument suit me better, and nicer to play.
Always love seeing Eko repairs. I’ll never get rid of my 1980/81 lefty Ranger XII❤
I talk to myself like this too. Self therapy👍
Ted, this episode is great. I loved the fixes on the Echo. The epoxy trick is going in the memory banks.
Customer would benefit from a refret to get max neck width for sure. And a 3D printed neck pickup ring!
I have to admit when I just want to chill out I go to Ted. Calming and great to watch. Thanks Ted.
Love this channel. Been subbed for years on multiple phones aka multiple RUclips accounts lol n I've not only never owned a guitar but i don't sing and i have no musical skills lol but he's just that awesome
You could get a LOT meaner and still be a charming man. Good luck trying anyway. Iconic pronounciation of 'Chicago', too.
A twelfth generation Canadian!😂😂
The Master at work yet again! Always good to see the creativity used.
7:30 "...maxed-out truss rod." Could you insert a washer (spacer) behind the black spinner nut-thingy? It could give the threads a fresh start further along.
Maybe...if it didn't need much tension that can work. But if it's already cranked the other end is likely smashing into the wood.
and it's 50-50 you'll get get any more straightening. I've had a couple break through the back of the neck, a very bad situation.
Been waiting all week for this! Thank you, Ted! We really appreciate the extra work you put in to make these vids, sir. Thank you so, so much!
Wow. An Eko like that one was my very first electric guitar in 1967.
Excellent excellent
Having a very bad day finally sit down after losing a continuous battle with my daughter to find a woodford upload ..
Akwaya makes the day better
Depending on personality and upbringing saying "no" can indeed be tough. For me it helped a lot to try and find more mellow/nice versions of no, like e.g. "okay, but not right now" or "Sure, we can schedule that work to be done (in a couple of weeks)" when it concerns scheduling for instance. Maybe that way you don't feel like you have to be 'mean' to some people
Great show as usual. Love seeing the old guitars and the fixes.
0:10 …. My favorite line is, “youll see that type of thing in them big jobs” I like it because they are all big jobs
I appreciate that even though you're swamped with work, you still make enjoyable content for RUclips.
The more I watch this video, the more I want a guitar with a rotating selection switch instead of the standard sliding ones. Keep it awesome 👍
Thanks for sharing your wisdom and also the. Brief images of you fretting the finger board while playing. As usual amazing work.
Fine work Ted, Thank you
That Eko is cool. Glad you were able to patch it back together again
Starting at 7:02, tell me I'm not crazy when I'm seeing the squeaky chicken toy reflected on the neck pickup...
Loved the G string use for setting an intonation point! Thanks for sharing. 😊👍
Yes, this was new for me as well. Nice!
From my old mentor, Don Teeter in Oklahoma City.
I love that old Eko! It's funny to me how similar the Italian and Japanese stuff from this era are. I have a Japanese guitar that a LOT like this one. Similar binding, the bolt-on neck shape, small frets, bridge, and single coil pickups with white covers and black surrounds.
Thank you for your time and sharing your knowledge!
yer awesome dude...i love watching your videos thanks
Innovative solutions as always, great stuff!
sets up the larrivee for fingerstyle, plays it with a pick. love you ted.
What a cool bunch of guitars, great video as usual, wish they were 3 hours long.
You can always set up a queue of 3 hours worth of twoodfrd vids lol. That's what I usually do 🤣😁 I've seen most of his vids at least 3 or 4 times lol. The best part is you never get sick of them because there's already so many it's hard to remember them.
@@J.C... I usually watch them twice, he posts them an hour or two before I go to bed, they help me sleep, his soothing relaxing voice, ha.
Thank you, Ted. That Sterling guitar has a very beautiful, rich tone! Maybe that is why it has no tone controls
My sterling stingray also has a truss rod that needed to be cranked all the way to have any effect on the neck. Can I expect it to be a complete write off within a few years?
Every EKO I've ever seen up close (acoustic or electric) has had major finish cracks. I don't know what they sprayed them with, but it's like their trademark. They also made some Vox guitars with the same issue.
If you put out a 10 hour compilation I would sleep to it.. food for thought... watch time will jump immensely
I would virtually guarantee that white bat-handle knob was a replacement. It was set up for a splined shaft, which that switch isn't. It's quite possible the original knob was held on with a setscrew. It may have gotten loose and the knob fell off and got lost.
The repair you made is obviously good, but just FYI, knobs for flatted shafts came in one of two forms. Either the aforementioned setscrew that would screw down on the flat, or a folded piece of spring. The spring might be steel or some brass-like material. It usually had a flat side with a couple of barbs to stick into the plastic and prevent slipping, and the other side was bent into a knuckle shape and would press against the flat.
The control wiring of that Mariposa, only two (2) individual volume controls, yet clearly there is some kind of tone capacitor on the neck volume pot, while the bridge pickup volume pot appears to have a treble by-pass circuit! Very interesting.
Always enjoy seeing something from Larrivee on the bench. My 96 C-10 is still going strong.
That acoustic sounded pretty damn good. amazing job as always.
For the selector switch I'd had gone for a set screw. But then I'm a machinist, I like threads and such.
Great solution for the knob . You always satisfy my luthiery hankerin.
Is that a little love for Bill Alexander? He was my Bob Ross...
Worse week to come to Chicago, hottest days of the year. Have a good time
Minor detail: The name from the Mars Volta guy is Omar, not Oscar 😊. Great video, as always!
I like your suction cup gizmo for forcing glue into cracks but I’m afraid that it will pull glue back out when pulled away from the surface. To alleviate this problem I modified my own by drilling a small hole in it. That way I can cover the hole with a fingertip when pushing and uncover the hole when pulling back so there is less suction to pull glue back out.
Concerning the switch lever on that very cool Eko, I have a feeling that it is not original. I’m no expert on 1960s Italian imports, but the flat on the switch shaft looks too smooth to have been filed by hand. My intuition tells me that the original matched the control knobs and was held in place by a miniature set screw. Anyways, nice camera work and another very entertaining video!
Ted, as an independent repair guy who has experienced several work droughts where the phone just doesn't ring for a couple of weeks, I'd say you're in a pretty good (if tiring) place, buddy.
Larvae, Shawn in the Oxnard shop when it first started Shawn or Shun, laughed at my first guitar I learned on and Michael Tobias helped me out back in 1982 help me out with making me an electric guitar and a 1 piece birch P-bass. Both were way to heavy again I was young and dump. Who knew I was living with premature degenerative disk disease and from 5' 10" to 5' 4" now at 66, plus crippling arthritis. It only started from my 50, so the last 10 to 15 years ago. So Suan laughed at me and I wanted to work for free over there just to learn back in the 1990's. So he laughed and I was going to build my guitars with or without his help. I wanted to make acoustic guitars, but my wife said, make electric guitars first so 2010 to now I'm almost completed 2 guitars. One my design and a odd looking Strat. 2 this year's and 2 per year to make jigs to reproduce the same builds while selling or taking on as much as not to being cautious! Cheers!
Ted, I had lots of friends who had Eko dreaghtnoughts back in the 70s, I had an Epiphone Texan. Those Eko's sounded good and were very popular. I wonder what was made of the Italian makers- for a veneer wood guitar they sounded good.
Those sound chamber men are notoriously hard to deal with. ;)
I like your playing by the way.
Fun fun fun!!! 👍🏼😎 Sunday Funday!
Thankfully, no “happy little accidents”! :) I think that’s the first Echo I’ve ever seen (I mostly just hear them). …LOL… Sometimes I do amuse myself. :)
❤ from James Bay :)
Cool guitars, all!
something odd about the neck PU on the stirling. i noticed a resistor on the pot,next to a cap, a treble/bass bleed circuit, and was wondering if something else in there was shorted or disconnected.
I went to the serlingbymusicman site and the specs for the Mariposa state that the Truss Rod is a "Dual Action" so, maybe that accounts for the resistance you were feeling.
My Lowden guitar also has the same ridiculous Truss Rod access location as the Larrivee, and "required" a special wrench to reach it. The wrench cost something like $40 way back then and had to be ordered directly from Lowden. 🤣The music store I purchased the Lowden from had an official wrench, so I made a tracing of it, then figured out how to make my own. It only took a few minutes to come up with a DIY design that cost me nothing except a little ingenuity and items I had laying around. Here is the design if you want to make your own, and doesn't require a Blowtorch to make, or taking off the strings to use. This assumes your guitar has the same basic design as my Lowden. 🤓
1. Copper Tubing, about 10.5 inches in length, outer diameter 3/8 inch, inner diameter 1/4 inch.
2. L-Shape Hex Wrench: Long leg 2 and 3/8 inches, Short leg 1 and 1/4 inch long. The Hex size I needed is 3/8 inch or 5mm.
3. Masking Tape
4. Hacksaw (to cut the tubing and possibly the Hex Wrench to the correct lengths)
5. Wrench or hammer
A. Bend the Copper Tube so it forms the letter "J" with a sharp bend where the short leg of tube points up. That short length should be 2 inches long, and be parallel to the long tube at a distance of about 2.5 inches away.
B. Use the wrench hammer to flatten the tube some on both sides where you bent it. The will give it some extra strength against the torque of turning the Truss Rod.
C. Slip the long leg of the Hex Wrench into the short leg of the rod such that the short leg of the Hex is facing away from the long leg of the tube. It should like like the letter "J" with the short leg of the Hex Wrench sticking out and pointing to the left.
D. Use some masking tap to fasten the Hex to the tube so it wont slip out. You may need to compress the tub a little to hold the Hex in place.
E. Slip the bottom part of your new "J" Hex Wrench between the D and G String and poke around until the end of the Hex Wrench fits into the Hex Nut on the hidden end of the Truss Rod. Then turn the long leg of the tube to the left or right to tighten or loosen the Truss Rod. Wiggle the device to pull it out of the Hex Nut when done. 😎
I love that EKO, was the tailpiece supposed to have had a vibrato arm?
Yes, it would have had a very long arm extending all the way from by the spring.
@@ParaBellum2024 thanks!
That Eko turned out pretty sweet.
I have one of those EKOs. that is not the correct knob at all for the selector and if it was, you would have installed it backwards. They're generally installed with the long part pointing in so you can toggle it without reaching as far.
What a disappointment that Music Man is… and I do hold to high regard the Cort factory plant! Hope the owner can get a hefty discount on that one, though great work as always!
Given that it's not the original switch knob anyway, I think I would have replaced it with a white 'chicken head' with a tightening screw onto that flatted shaft. Most photos of the Eko 290 show the long triangular 'tail' of the knob facing away from the pickup legend plate with just a small pointy bit facing towards the pickup choice. What were they smoking?
from Herzog to Bob Ross
I have that same Mariposa. Got it from Musicians friend, stupid deal of the day. Came "new" but in a Jackson box. They had to call me to let me know that it would ship from a GC in Texas in the non-original box... I said, as long as it's not off the wall! My string alignment felt off so I sort of cut another groove for the E string because it felt like I was falling off the fretboard a bit. I too have a truss rod that is maxed out. It will not easily move... As for the pick ups, I gutted it for brighter and punchier pick ups and went volume/tone with push pull pot to split the coils. It's a fun guitar and with a little work, it's an overall good buy. Not worth 600 USD in my opinion though.
I love those pickups and selector switch on the EKO semi-hollow…
Thanks for playing them after you repaired them! 👍
A luthiery mezze is always welcome! ❤❤❤
i've been restoring a wandre bridgette bardot - be great to see you work on a wandre!
Hi, I think you did put the switch nop the wrong way around.
Als it is not the origional one.
Nice to see you work, thanks.
The shaft on the switch is shaped that way intentionally, it's called a D-shaft and is fairly common in amplifiers and effect pedals. Usually they are used in conjunction with a knob with a matching recess, seems like an odd choice not to since they're not exactly rare or hard to come by but who knows what the situation was with parts availability in 1960s Italy (assuming that both the switch and the knob are original to the guitar in the first place)
Great work, I really like the ECHO
I had one of those Ekos about 30 years ago. It was bloody awful, it had about as much sustain as a banjo. That laquer felt about an inch thick and the tremolo arm was bizarre, seemed to be 2 feet long!
Man i had no idea omar helped design this. No wonder its so cool.
Better to be nice than to be the guy who roasts you for trying to get things serviced
Oh, it's just the wrong knob completely. Looks like it should have a pointer knob with a D-shaft interface. a standard type of electronics knob.
I looked up more copies of the Eko Model 290 and sure enough, it's the wrong knob. Someone must've broken the fragile, probably broken, factory knob with that knob meant for a knurled shaft. The factory knob was a similar shape and color but had a pointer opposite the paddle. having the paddle over the indicators seemed wrong.
I think that switch is supposed to have a chicken head knob with a set screw, I had a similar guitar way back in my teen years and it had this type of setup. I seem to remember the one I had being a 12 string, it was stolen before I had a chance to do anything but string it up.
I can't believe its a brand new guitar with a maxed out truss rod. Bro should have sent it back
After seeing the EKO headstock I recognized I had owned a matching 6 string and 12 string EKO acoustics when I was stationed in England in the mid 70's. They really sounded nice. I recently tried googling the EKO brand but had no success.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eko_Guitars
Fetish Guitars has a very comprehensive list of Eko guitars. I own a few Italians!
I was surprised there was no mention of that crack on the treble side of the sound hole on the Larrivee. Was it just in the finish?
I've never played a cut out that wasn't missing the bass. And I like a strong low end. That's why an HD-28 is my favorite.
23:13 man that guitar must be a joy to play!
I’m very surprised by how cool it sounds.
You covered a great deal of interesting ground in the video. Thank you for the ride.
May I ask a non-musical instrument question? Do you have chiggers in the region of Canada that you are in?
I'm in Kingston, ON and we don't have them, but I'm expecting them any day now
I have three USA Ernie Ball Music Man guitars here, ranging from 2001 to 2021, and the spoke truss rod adjustment is ALWYAS really tight and feels super sketchy on all of them.
I’ve got to say… that’s the oddest (and maybe coolest) pickup selector switch I think I’ve ever seen. Kind of clunky, but also kinda funky.