Eko's of the Past...

As anyone who plays guitar will attest, there are always grail instruments, that one never seems to get one's hands on, let alone own. Obviously, the more famous and wealthy the guitarist, the greater access to the pool of desirable guitars. I've had the pleasure of playing a few such instruments over the last fifty-odd years, and also the disappointment of not getting my paws permanently on any of them. But there you go. My mate Kev had the good fortune to get his hands on a pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster from '62/'63, back in the early seventies, when they were still available for reasonably sensible money, ie. less than a new one of the time, about £160. Worth around £25-30,000 these days. A bloody good guitar, nevertheless, current fate unknown.

I actually got to play Roy Wood's Gibson Hummingbird acoustic, at his home in Little Aston, Birmingham, back around 1971, although I can't say I did it much justice, but a nice memory nevertheless, as was afternoon tea with him and his wife, followed by a lift back into town in his Jensen. Just after that, I found my personal grail guitar, a 1967 Fender Telecaster, which was like baby bear's porridge: just perfect. Alas the finance fell through, as I'd only just left school and had no credit rating. The thing was on sale as a shop-soiled example for the princely sum of £171, a whole ten quid off the retail price. Again, it would be worth £20,000 now, although it was genuinely the guitar I would have kept to this day, despite that pecuniary fact. Still, I've still got the best of the bunch: my old Eko acoustic, which has been with me most of my life, and still one of the finest instruments, cheap as it was, that I could ever hope to own...