Used – 1963 Eko 500/3/V Blue Sparkle

A '60s surf machine made in Italy!

Equal parts janky and cool, the 500 series electric guitars made by Eko in the early '60s perfectly captured the spirit of the era with their sparkly celluloid covered offset bodies and bright single coil pickups.

There were a few options available at the time when ordering a 500 series guitar, including the number of pickups and adding a vibrato. This guitar is a 500/3/V - 3 pickups and a vibrato!

Much like other affordable brands of the era these guitars were never built to last, but they have still gained the attention of collectors around the world for their unique style and tone, which has pushed prices up despite many of these guitars having playability or electronic issues. Rest assured, we have restored this guitar to it's former glory, so it is now playing well with low action, recrowned frets, and serviced electronics - it even stays (mostly) in tune with vibrato use!

The pickup switching works well, and while confusing at first, is fairly self explanatory and offers a great variety of tones. From top to bottom:

M: All three pickups; 1: Neck pickup only; 3: Bridge pickup only (very bright); 1+3: Neck and bridge; 2: Middle pickup; 0: Off/kill switch

Does not include a case, but contact us for a recommendation.

Available at our Wellington store.