Help me identify, if you would?

[Renaissance]

I came across a deal I could not pass up a few weeks ago. Young lady was getting rid of two guitars she had not played for a few years. Her asking price was so low, I assumed it had to be theft or a scam. We chatted a while and she allowed me to come check them out. Once I get there the 1st thing I notice is the Takamine (EG460SC) G series. I was a bit floored (I have been looking for this model for a while) it needs new tuning pots and a battery, that's all! I immediately informed her of it's worth and that it is discontinued. She shrugged and said it was a gift from an ex and they haven't been together for quite a while. I pressed a bit more and told her, in it's current state she could get a couple hundred dollars for it. She insisted on the original agreed upon price. I then checked out the blank acoustic (no makers marks, no inner sticker), tuned it and gave it a play. It definitely needs nylon or nylon hybrid and has an amazing sound. Before giving her what felt like far too little for both I reminded her, they are worth four times what she is asking. She appreciated my honesty and said "seems like they're going to a good home and that's all that matters to me." FIFTY DOLLARS later, I left her place, both guitars in hand. 

 

 

So the help I am asking. It looks like an older Eko, possibly a Yamaha, but I don't think it is either. What do you think?

[Bizman62]

Hi and welcome!

That headstock sure looks familiar but searching for "Eko acoustic headstock" didn't give the result I was hoping: The closest match was their five string banjo! Looking for "old acoustic guitar headstock" gave a Chapman and a Randy Jackson that have something common with yours although being newer. A very old Gibson also looked a bit like that.

Your guess about it being a Yamaha might be the key, that one looks like an inexpensive Japanese one from the sixties or so. Not to mention that many smaller Western makers outsourced their production to Japan back then.

 

[curtisa]

Pickguard and bridge with those two plugs at each end of the saddle are trying to ape the Gibson Hummingbird, which was a very popular model acoustic for cheaper brands to clone in the 70s. Could be any number of makers from that period. With no makers mark on the headstock you'd need to do a bit more examination to have any luck of identifying it. Maybe poke a torch and mirror into the soundhole and look for stamps inside?

Definitely not a Yamaha - they were always really good at adding their logo to their products, and the headstock shape is completely wrong. Yamaha did do a copy of the Hummingbird at one point, but it was much closer to the original in terms of looks.

[henrim]

No idea whatsoever, but that pickguard suggests it was made for Batman.

[Bizman62]

Taking another look with more time, that scratchplate shouts Eko Ranger. But the headstock looks like that of on old Kay. But Kay seems to have used the bell shaped truss rod cover. Framus used that kind of a truss rod cover and also a zero fret and a batman style scratchplate but their single point headstocks have straight sides and softer corners.

Guitars have been manufactured in several factories for a number of brands. This Decca is a good example, apart from the headstock it actually looks a lot like yours.

A couple more pictures showing the exact shape etc. might help.

[Renaissance]

[curtisa]

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

that scratchplate shouts Eko Range

The scratchplate shouts brand non-specific Hummingbird clone. Do a Google image search for '[insert your favourite 70s import brand] Hummingbird Acoustic' and see how many hits you get.

To me it looks like a fairly plain-looking Dreadnought acoustic that's been dressed up to look more like a fancier model. The body has a basic untinted finish. The binding is plain. The rosette around the soundhole is fairly nondescript. The fret inlays are just simple dot markers.

The headstock stands out only in that it's been tinted to not match the body, which seems unusual - maybe someone debadged it and refinished it to hide its origins for some reason?

Other things worth noting that may point to its heritage: position matker at the 10th fret instead of the normal 9th and the use of a zero fret, which may indicate it's a cheaper model with European origins.

[Bizman62]

9 hours ago, curtisa said:

The scratchplate shouts brand non-specific Hummingbird clone.

Maybe that. To me the scratchplate of a Hummingbird is a bit different to that of the Eko Ranger. The Hummy plate has the smallest tip at the upper bout whereas the Ranger and the guitar in question have the smallest point in the middle, like the head of Batman. That said, I found a photo of a Kawai "Folk guitar" with that Ranger shaped pickguard, decorated in the Hummingbird style. If memory serves me right, in the early sixties many builders both in the US and in Europe outsourced their production and the actual manufacturers used parts that were at hand, which has led to the situation that it's very difficult to tell the actual maker of many cheaper guitars of that era.

 

[ADFinlayson]

I'm pretty sure that's a Framus Humingbird knockoff - They made a wide range of budget classical, steel strings, archtops and hollow electrics between the mid 40s and 70s in Bavaria. Lots of different pickguard designs that seamed to spill over into different models, no consistency to headstock shapes, some with intricate headstock inlay work and some with nothing at all, not even a decal. But they nearly all have the 0 fret and that design of truss rod cover. Here's 2 I've got in the shop right now.

I must have had at least 10 in this year to work on and I remember seeing that identical headstock shape on an archtop although I don't have a photo to prove it. They made a lot of very cool guitars, but IMO not great guitars, they were all budget instruments after all. Over here they tend to go for max £300 in good condition, everyone I've seen has not been in playable condition - the zero fret is normally worn down to nothing causing a lot of buzz and insanely high action, knackered tuners. All of the later ones have beautiful finish checking though as they were all finished with nitro.