New Acquisition, I'll call it an EL Degas "Original"

[thornbush]

This one came up on kijiji a couple of days ago and I grabbed it yesterday. After reading up on it here, I've decided to call it an El Dgas Original design.....It looks and plays REALLY nice...one of the pickups needs some attention but still works alright......This one rounds out my collection very nicely....I got it for a very fair price. Original case? Sure does fit it perfectly.










I'll be posting the final one this afternoon...El Degas ES 335

[charles]

We've been referring this one as a copy of the Ibanez Artist.
I love the design. I used to have the bolt on until I found a neck-through model that knocked my socks off (but as of now has no pickups).

[Barry]

She's in really great shape, and I'll wager, plays wonderfully.

Keep in mind though that ED didn't design or make anything, so it would not have an 'original' design. It's strictly a white label brand and all the models you see were made at different times by a variety of instrument makers both in Japan and Korea, and later on in places like Romania (!). It's like buying a supermarket's brand of ketchup instead of the Heinz or Aylmer brand; virtually the same thing with perhaps a few minor changes or omissions form the major brand.

[thornbush]

I've been checking out pics of the Ibanez Artist and I'm not seeing enough similarities to call this El Degas a copy.....the body and headstock are quite different....Seeing as El Degas were masters at replicating instuments, wouldn't they be more compareable?....I don't think we can deffinitely say they didn't come up with their own design...Untill we find a brand that matches this design, top to bottom and was produced pre El Degas......Why not attribute a style to them.

[charles]

It's much more likely, in my opinion, that the Japanese manufacturer pitched an original design to B&J (El Degas' parent company) and they went for it.

[thornbush]

I agree....It makes sense that they would want a style of their own.....

[Barry]

Before assuming that I'd check the Electra line (Matsumoku). That "Gumby" headstock is very distinctive and found on many of the Electras of the late 70's and early 80's.
I don't think it bears any resemblance at all to "Ibanez" which of course is often another white label branding even though owned by Hoshino.

[charles]

It's not an exclusive design, however... see http://westone.netboarder.com/t407-mats ... le-jet-400

The question is whether FujiGen or Matsumoku (or someone else) provided the design & manufacturing. I'll lean towards Matsumoku.

[thornbush]

Nice to see someone replicating an El Degas design....."Laughs".....

[charles]

Too bad they never gave this body shape a name, we need to figure out what to call it!

[thornbush]

Maybe we should have a contest.....NAME THAT GUITAR....have to be a generic type of name, so my submission would be "THE GENRIC" ....Sounds kinda guitarish.

[sambonee]

This exact guitar I have had the set neck and now the neck thru. Both world class.
The design is originally a Greco. Meaning that Greco had it first. Anyone know if they were also strictly a "copying" manufacturer?

[sambonee]

That's the original case too. I Actually received the original tag as well.

[charles]

Greco was the same sort of white label as El Degas et. al. - made by Japanese manufacturers to capitalize on consumer's feelings towards the Norlin-era of Gibson. Greco hit way bigger than El Degas for collectors (likely because they generally seemed to have stayed away from the bolt-on copies - though I'm the first to admit I don't know a ton about Greco so don't quote me on anything).

I figure this is probably one of the first attempts at an original design from the manufacturer (which may or may not be Matsumoku) that gained some traction in the marketplace. I think it looks great.

[Barry]

Greco is one of those names that seems to pop up along with Fernandes and Burny. The latter 2 are still in business, (same company in fact) Not sure 'bout Greco. They had an impressive run in the 70's primarily with Gibson & Fender copies. Still very collectable last time I looked.

A surprisingly good entry on Wikipedia involves both Matsumoku and FujiGen so who knows?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco_guitars