eldegas.com

El Degas was the first real acoustic guitar that I ever bought. It is an F220 model. I purchased it new from the Guitar Store in Pomona on Holt Ave summer of 1975. I think a guy named AJ was the owner and he sold it to me. It was advertised as "Rosewood" - I believe the back and sides are laminated, it is highly figured and appears to be a lamination of Brazilian Rosewood. I was in college at the time and this guitar was used extensively until I graduated. Then I got a real job and started buying Martin guitars. I gave this guitar to one of my brothers and then it got passed around the family to various nephews and nieces and after about 30 years I just got it back on Saturday, January 2016. The strings appeared to be the ones that I put on it in the 1980s so I changed them and strung it up and started playing it. It sounds great and plays pretty good. I don't believe vary many of my brothers, sisters or other family members played it much so it is excellent condition. Here are a couple of pictures. I welcome any comments regarding the model

Thanks for sharing! The figuring on the back is very striking.

The "F-" models are early El Degas Martin copies. Later on they changed the model prefix to "MT-".

I have some questions if anybody has answers:

Does anybody know whether this guitar was Made in Japan?
Were these models solid spruce top with laminated back? sides? It looks like the top is solid and I cannot tell whether the sides and back are laminated. It sounds as good as my vintage Martins, but the playability is definitely not as good.
Anybody know the standard models? Was the F220 a standard model? I have looked at some pictures of F218 and that one has abalone inlay, binding on the fingerboard, etc.

It has a serial No. 2 which I thought was interesting because most of the labels that I have viewed show no serial number. On the inside neck block there is a long sequence of numbers but they are faded and hard to read.

Any information would be appreciated

This model was made in Japan.

I'm not certain on whether the sides and back are laminate or solid. I would guess solid, but I could be completely wrong.

There's not much info on what models are standard and which are deluxe in the early F- models. There are models that have more flourishes such as abalone inlays, as you've noted - these are generally considered to be the indicators of the more 'deluxe' models that often carried a bit of better fit & finish along with the fancier details.

Unfortunately, zero information has survived on the serial numbering on El Degas instruments (and the label itself seemed to have abandoned serial numbers at some point) so there is no information to be gleaned from that.

What a beautiful guitar!

With top quality builds such as this you want to believe the back and sides are solid rosewood. Certainly it was not unheard of to find such quality materials out of Japan from top factories like Matsumoku, et al.

Generally speaking the original selling price, if known, is the likely indicator. The more solid wood, the more $$$. For the ED line, we're pretty much in the dark though, not much catalogue info has survived.

There are two ways I know of to check the construction. You can look closely at the inside wood grain and try to determine if it matches the exterior. Sometimes it's obvious and you'll spot a mismatch, or a seam or something similar.

But this is not always easy, especially with a top quality build. The Japanese often took great pride in using the same veneer on the inside to make it appear solid. Not deception, just acute attention to detail, and pride of workmanship.

The other method involves removing the end pin and examining the sides of the hole. Not easy either but if it's a laminate you should be able to detect the rings of the layers. Even then you could still have a combination of laminate sides and solid back!

Fun eh?

Thanks for the info on examining the wood grain - I looked and it is hard to tell. I have a friend that is a luthier and I am going to bring it to him. Regarding the price, I recall that the asking price (in 1975) was $220.00 and I paid $185.00 with a hard shell case. It was a lot of money then. The sound from this guitar is outstanding - I own 8 Martins and 2 custom made Brazilian rosewood guitars. The sound of this guitar is right up there with these fine instruments. It has a little bit of buzz/overtone on the high E string. I think the saddle needs to be shimmed or changed. It will go in for a set up job in the next week or so.