mickeyboy's Reviews

A vintage Japanese made guitar of the highest quality

The Ibanez Artist series of guitars were simply stunning. They were built to the highest standards using

the best woods and materials available. My 2629 hollowbody in the distinctive 335 shape is simply a wonderful guitar

that would compete with any Gibson 335 in terms of build quality and playability. The super 80 pickups are awesome.

The guitar came in two variations, the 2629 and the 2630 which was a slightly upmarket version with gold harware and

more binding around the f holes, neck and headstock. Many professionals used this guitar including Steve Miller and Steve Marriot.

Quite simply an awesome guitar..if you see one buy it !

Eko Barracuda...well worth checking out !

The original Eko Barracuda was made by Eko guitars in Recanati Italy. The guitar was an improved design following on from the first version of the model...The 290. Improvements included a much better system of joining the bolt on neck to the body of the guitar. Eko increased the thickness of the neck pocket and reduced the thickness of the neck heel.This change resulted in a much sturdier mating of neck to body. Other changes included improved single coil pickups. I own both an earlier 290 (1963) and a later Barracuda (1974) as shown here. The later Barracuda model just feels a better build quality. The guitar is extremely playable once it has been set up properly and a full range of tones is achievable, from warm jazzy sounds to overdriven rock or anything inbetween..a versatile instrument for sure. In recent years they appear to becoming very collactable and are attracting increased prices on the likes of Reverb (although be wary, some sellers are asking exhorbitant asking prices). If you are into older vintage hollowbody guitars that are still affordable then you might want to check out the Eko Barracuda. Its not a Gibson 335, thats for sure but it has a distinctive charm and I just love both of my Eko's There is a wonderful website dedicated to these fantastic old Italian guitars called Fetishguitars.com..check it out. Incidentaly, Eko manufactured guitars throughout the later part of the 60's and early 70's for Vox. The equivalent models in the Vox lineup included The Bobcat and Lynx models...basically rebadged Eko's with asthetic changes ..but they were Eko's all the same !