Here are some EKO guitars from the 1960's

THE EKO STORY

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1922 - Oliviero Pigini was born in         Castelfidardo, he was the first of the two sons of         Alfredo and Assunta Piginiendash the second was to be         Lamberto. After terminating his professional education         years Oliviero started working in a small accordion         factory. Thanks to this experience he obtained a job in         one of the most important and famous accordion         manufacturers in the area, namely that of Sante         Crucianelli.

During the second         World War Oliviero served in the civil airforce. After         the war he started his commercial activity, giving birth         to a company that acted as a representative of accordion         accessories.

In 1950 Oliviero got married. \par In         the meantime his commercial activities had gained a         certain success and, based on the positive results         obtained and the need to find new opportunities in the         musical instrument field, in 1960 he founded EKO,         destined to become the biggest manufacturer of guitars in         the whole of Europe.

In 1967 Oliviero Pigini unexpectedly         died, at just 44 years old. There were so many projects         and commercial activities still to be realized. One of         these though, the most important one, was already a         reality thanks also to the activity of his brother         Lamberto and of his colleagues a success that is still a         major protagonist in the musical world and thanks to         which the name of Oliviero Pigini echoes with such         importance around the entire world even today.

1960 - EKO was founded at Recanati,         Italy, with the prime activity of selling guitars         imported from Yugoslavia. The next year EKO became the         first Italian company to participate at the Frankfurt         Musical Instrument Show.

1964 - The new EKO factory was         inaugurated at Recanati; at the time the biggest factory         for the production of guitars in Europe. In the same         year, after just 4 years since its birth, EKO was         producing 182 different models of guitar. All the biggest         names in the pop music scene in Italy and the rest of         Europe were playing EKO guitars.

1970 - The crisis in the musical         instrument sector, an gigantic fire that devastated the         enormous factory and the lack of dynamic force that its         founder always guaranteed caused EKO to temporarily         close.

1980 - Oliviero's brother Lamberto         recovered the EKO trade mark and he resumed the activity         of the production and sales of guitars. Since then,         several exclusive distributorships of musical instruments         produced by the top names in the World have been added to         the guitars.

1990 - Thanks to         years of experience and the capacity of its luthiers,         custom models of guitar have been made by the EKO         laboratories for artists of the calibre of Pino Daniele,         Gianni Morandi, Francesco Guccini, Edoardo Bennato, Alex         Britti and others.

1997 - EKO starts production of a new         series of guitars, EKO's Back, a series of Vintage style         guitars derived from models of the 60s, made with         craftsmen technology and first class component parts: an         immediate success!

2000 - The mitical Shel, named after         Shel Shapiro, the great English singer/guitarist, leader         of the famous group of the 60s, The Rokes, comes on sale         as an exact replica in a limited production version. A         collectors item to celebrate 40 years of the life of a         musical legend: EKO!

EKO Guitar Plant - Recanati, Italy