eldegas.com

... has anyone here tried contacting any of the major Canadian retailers for leads?

Long & McQuade? Steve's Music? Or places like The Twelfth Fret in Toronto? Certainly some of the older workers must have some info to share.

We've had some fellows from back in the day chime in to people (who've shared their conversations here) or come here to give their two cents.

Generally, many of the older retailers I've heard from didn't have a whole lot to say about the brand. It was a lower cost brand knocking off the pricier American brands - it simply fit a segment of the market. Had good guitars, and bad guitars - like any other brand.

I think the folks in Ontario and eastward will have best luck finding any retailers from the 70's & 80's with experience with the brand - seems they were most prevalent out there.

Yeah, like Charles says, ED was just another line of guitars being carried by retailers which had no particular level of recognition.
I accompanied another member last year to visit the remaining vestiges of the old B&J distributorship (now Kaman). We spoke with a fellow who was around in the 70's and he did remember the brand, had mostly good things to say about it, but unfortunately, he had zero records or other information. It's as if El Degas never existed so complete is the obliteration or indifference of information.

I have a feeling that when B&J was acquired by Kaman, much of their info on the El Degas brand was eliminated or already non-existent.