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Steve Ekblad’s Guitars

Pictures of rare and unusual guitars from Bunker to Travis Bean with all sorts of shapes and sounds. The more unusual the shape and design, the more we like it!

See a few of the many guitars which have either passed through my hands or caught my interest enough to keep around.

Related Article:
Sonic Wind Guitar – You have to see it to believe it!

31 thoughts on “Steve Ekblad’s Guitars”

  1. PRICE INVESTIGATION
    Colleen Olivier

    Good day
    This is Colleen Olivier in SA

    I have a 12 string Sagadia look like a collectors item

    I would like to know a price that one can get for this item

  2. Unusual guitar of Robbie Robertson
    James Whitsitt

    What kind of wild guitar was Robbie Robertson playing on the last song in "The Last Waltz"? The double necked one….

  3. Skylark Electric Guitars
    Norm LaDuke

    I’m looking for any information about Skylark electric guitars that were sold through J.C.Penney’s catalogs in the early 1980’s.
    Any info on where I can find one to buy would be greatly appreciated!!!
    I was given one as a gift from my Mother (the Deluxe model, with active electronics,and thru-neck,(see thru blue).).It was stolen in 1988, and i’ve only heard of ONE other person with one since. Please help me out with anything that might be useful, Thanx in advance!!!

      1. Re: This popular thread has been given its own page :... Walt
        Walt

        I have the deluxe model. Purchased it around 1983 from JC Penneys for about 280.00. It plays really well, and still sounds good. Only negative is that is it not balanced to well. I use it as a backup guitar when I play live.
        Walt, Oregon

        : I’m looking for any information about Skylark electric guitars that were sold through J.C.Penney’s catalogs in the early 1980’s.
        : Any info on where I can find one to buy would be greatly appreciated!!!
        : I was given one as a gift from my Mother (the Deluxe model, with active electronics,and thru-neck,(see thru blue).).It was stolen in 1988, and i’ve only heard of ONE other person with one since. Please help me out with anything that might be useful, Thanx in advance!!!

    1. : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please
      One of my students has one of these, model 1065, I’d guess 1970’s or 80’s, made in Japan, easy to play after I set it up but very poor sound wise – it’s a plywood guitar – ok for a beginner. Best of luck with it!

    2. Re: sagadia
      Steve

      : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

      Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

      1. Re: sagadia
        roger

        I got one too ! Model 9200 with a Beare and Son label inside. An old girl friend bought it for £15 in about 1973 from a secondhand store in Notting Hill when we were both law students and I nicked it from her. It has been played at lots of hanging around drinking wine parties – sort of Jackson Browne/Leonard Cohen/old blues singers with names like Stovepipe Pete parties. These days it hangs on my wall with [far too !] many other guitars. It does have a great tone I agree. Having read this string I think I shall revisit its wonders. Maybe whack it in the car to play at a country cottage/on the beach feel. It has that sort of sitting in the corner waiting to be noodled look about it. When playing in my band http://www.thebiggirlsbluesband.co.uk I use a Breedlove electro acoustic for acoustic sounds. Dont think the Sagadia would be a substitute – but you never know. Nice to be in touch with you all.

      2. Re: sagadia
        margaret stretton

        : : : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

        : : :
        : : : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

        : : I too have a Sagadia classical model, no. 3914. It has a solid spruce top and Indian rosewood fretboard, back and sides and is beutifully inlaid. I paid 50 pounds for it in 1967 and play it every day. It still sounds suprisingly good. Japanese guitars of this period were exceptional value for money!

        : I did not know they did Classical guitars too. (Mine is is a steel-string Jumbo-type). You are absolutely right about Japanese guitars from this period. They made some great electrics such as the Tokai Telecaster and the Yamaha 2000 model.

        I have a 12 string sagadia guitar. Model no
        A774, ‘exculsively’ distributed by Beare & Son, London. Well actually its a very dusty 10 string these days. Does anyone know what it might be worth? I’ve had it since the early 1970s.

        1. Re: sagadia
          Steve

          : : : : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

          : : : :
          : : : : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

          : : : I too have a Sagadia classical model, no. 3914. It has a solid spruce top and Indian rosewood fretboard, back and sides and is beutifully inlaid. I paid 50 pounds for it in 1967 and play it every day. It still sounds suprisingly good. Japanese guitars of this period were exceptional value for money!

          : : I did not know they did Classical guitars too. (Mine is is a steel-string Jumbo-type). You are absolutely right about Japanese guitars from this period. They made some great electrics such as the Tokai Telecaster and the Yamaha 2000 model.

          : I have a 12 string sagadia guitar. Model no
          : A774, ‘exculsively’ distributed by Beare & Son, London. Well actually its a very dusty 10 string these days. Does anyone know what it might be worth? I’ve had it since the early 1970s.

          I’d still like to buy it if you are selling… I have a Yamaha 12 string but I’m slightly disappointed by it. (It is OK, but not special.) Eko Jumbo 12 strings are pretty good if you can get one…

        2. Re: sagadia
          Steve

          : : : : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

          : : : :
          : : : : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

          : : : I too have a Sagadia classical model, no. 3914. It has a solid spruce top and Indian rosewood fretboard, back and sides and is beutifully inlaid. I paid 50 pounds for it in 1967 and play it every day. It still sounds suprisingly good. Japanese guitars of this period were exceptional value for money!

          : : I did not know they did Classical guitars too. (Mine is is a steel-string Jumbo-type). You are absolutely right about Japanese guitars from this period. They made some great electrics such as the Tokai Telecaster and the Yamaha 2000 model.

          : I have a 12 string sagadia guitar. Model no
          : A774, ‘exculsively’ distributed by Beare & Son, London. Well actually its a very dusty 10 string these days. Does anyone know what it might be worth? I’ve had it since the early 1970s.

          I really don’t know, but I’d like to buy it if it is not too much. Do you live in the UK?

      3. Re: sagadia
        Steve

        : : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

        : :
        : : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

        : …And a few other things…. the saddle is height adjustable which is unusual for a flat-top. I have it set to a low action which is still buzz free. I made a phos-bronze nut to replace the original, guessing that this would give more sustain and I think it does. My daughter chewed around the edge of the soundboard while she was teething back in 1980, so I sanded the top down. Now I wish I hadn’t ‘cos I miss those little marks and the finish is not so good as the factory finish was. Finally I changed the machines for gold-plated Schallers which make tuning much easier than with the originals.

        : The sound itself, loads of nice and open bass, really sweet treble and mid range. Most acoustics sound ‘nasal’ to me, but not this one! It was a choice between this and an Eko Jumbo, which was much quieter and lacking in bass. The Sagadia cost £35 against the Eko at about £48. It’s funny how one remembers. I bought it in Carmarthen (West Wales), serial 770. Made in Japan.

        I recently bought a Yamaha 12 string FG 413S-12. Compared with the Sagadia 6-String it has that nasal sound in the bass E, A and D courses, which I mentioned before.

        Hope you are getting on with your Sagadia!…

      4. Re: sagadia
        sylvia

        : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

        :
        : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

        Hi, I have just bought (for £20) a slightly tired Sagadia 12 string Nr A-774(also distributed by Bearde & Son). Had never heard of this make before, but am pleased with it. So answer to your question must be – Yes, there IS a 12 string version!
        Sylvia

        1. Re: sagadia 12 String
          Steve

          : : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

          : :
          : : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

          :
          : Hi, I have just bought (for £20) a slightly tired Sagadia 12 string Nr A-774(also distributed by Bearde & Son). Had never heard of this make before, but am pleased with it. So answer to your question must be – Yes, there IS a 12 string version!
          : Sylvia

          Sylvia,

          Thanks for that. I’ll search for a Sagadia 12 string on E-Bay. You got a brilliant deal on yours!

          My daughter’s boyfriend raves about the six sting every time he picks it up on visits. The bass notes sound very open and willing; not at all ‘nasal’ as on so many acoustics. Can’t wait to try the 12.

          Steve

          PS I found that solos which include following sound good: root note, then 6th, then pull-off to the 5th note, then hammer on 3rd, then 5th, then 6th. Kind of boom di-da doo da-di

      5. Re: sagadia
        Mark

        : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

        :
        : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

        I too have a Sagadia classical model, no. 3914. It has a solid spruce top and Indian rosewood fretboard, back and sides and is beutifully inlaid. I paid 50 pounds for it in 1967 and play it every day. It still sounds suprisingly good. Japanese guitars of this period were exceptional value for money!

        1. Re: sagadia
          Steve

          : : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

          : :
          : : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

          : I too have a Sagadia classical model, no. 3914. It has a solid spruce top and Indian rosewood fretboard, back and sides and is beutifully inlaid. I paid 50 pounds for it in 1967 and play it every day. It still sounds suprisingly good. Japanese guitars of this period were exceptional value for money!

          I did not know they did Classical guitars too. (Mine is is a steel-string Jumbo-type). You are absolutely right about Japanese guitars from this period. They made some great electrics such as the Tokai Telecaster and the Yamaha 2000 model.

      6. Re: sagadia
        Steve

        : : have u heard of this guitar distributed by bearde & son of london please

        :
        : Yes. I have one and it sounds great. My wife bought it me in 1974 and I play it nearly everyday. The intonation was slightly wrong as supplied however, so I filed the bridge piece flat and now run each string through brass ‘eyes’ cut off old stings. By sliding the eyes back (behind where the plastic bridge piece would have been), I can intonate each string individually. I’d love to find a Sagadia 12 string if there is one! I think the secret of Sagadia’s great sound is its very thin sound board. Despite being ply it sounds better than any other acoustic I have ever tried except one.

        …And a few other things…. the saddle is height adjustable which is unusual for a flat-top. I have it set to a low action which is still buzz free. I made a phos-bronze nut to replace the original, guessing that this would give more sustain and I think it does. My daughter chewed around the edge of the soundboard while she was teething back in 1980, so I sanded the top down. Now I wish I hadn’t ‘cos I miss those little marks and the finish is not so good as the factory finish was. Finally I changed the machines for gold-plated Schallers which make tuning much easier than with the originals.

        The sound itself, loads of nice and open bass, really sweet treble and mid range. Most acoustics sound ‘nasal’ to me, but not this one! It was a choice between this and an Eko Jumbo, which was much quieter and lacking in bass. The Sagadia cost £35 against the Eko at about £48. It’s funny how one remembers. I bought it in Carmarthen (West Wales), serial 770. Made in Japan.

      1. Just bought a Sagadia 774 from a charity shop for £30, it's FAB!
        Steviegeegee

        Happy as heck to add this Beare and Son to my acoustic collection! Clearly old, I guess 1970s when Japanese 12 strings were sold in the UK (I had a Hokada), has hardened into a beautiful tone, little fretwear, bows ok, been owned by a good player as it is well kept, no belt Mark’s, no belt scratches, properly strung and stays in tune- so important for a 12 string. There is no date stamp or serial number that I can see, but there is the number 0519 – with the zero in red ink – on the inside lower strut rib. Needs a new nut and a strip down. Have been trying to justify yet another guitar and back to 12 strings after 45 years, but can hardly believe my luck from simply going for a walk in the sunshine! Charity too. Well, here goes…

      2. 12 String Sagadia.
        Keith Gunstone

        I have a 12 string, model A774, bought in 1973. I can’t remember exactly what I payed for it but I remember trading in a Hoyer plus cash. It still sounds beautiful although a little worse for wear. Rich sounds throughout the range and a brilliant resonance. In the process of replacing machine heads. I tend now to string it as a six and tune open G. I’ll never part with it. I don’t think I’ve played another model, and I’ll admit that my knowledge is limited, that has the depth of my old A774.

      3. This Very Willing Sagadia Guitar
        Stephen Smith

        Did I mention that I added really good German electric guitar tuners to it (Schallers)? This meant drilling-out the holes left by the original ones. The Schallers make the guitar much easier to tune (being low-geared) and the tuning also much more stable. If you consider doing this then choose a high speed drill setting to avoid chipping/ splitting the rosewood veneer on the fron and rear face of the headstock, using a bench drill or pillar drill to do the job and clamping carefully. (I found out the hard way having used too low a speed!) The retailer who sold me the Schallers made me promise not to let anyone know who had sold them to me because Schaller are sensitive about being used for after market sales – or so I was told!

        The guitar is propped up by my side. The sound which everybody describes makes it ideal for composition puroposes. Just one more thing. I know the model number but I can see no serial number only the ‘Model 770’ number. So where is the Serial No.?! The only other imprint I can see is ‘Japan’ stamped crudely on the back of the headstock, at an angle, slightly off-centre. Whoever did the stamping seems not to have cared how they made their mark! In engineering terms the positioning is ‘a bit pissed’

        Love, love, love this guitar.

        1. Is THAT the serial number?!
          Stephen Smith aka Steffan

          There is a ’55’ printed on a strut near the sound hole, upside-down. I always thought it was a part-number but thinking about it, maybe it is the serial number? That amounts to forty-four years thinking it was a part-number and not thinking it was the serial number. Dhowh! I have been wrong about other things too…. wrong about more serious things mind you, but not wrong for such a long period of time!

          1. Is THAT the serial number?!
            David Harriman

            I’m not an expert at all, but just had a look inside my Guitar, and can’t find anything that I would describe as a serial number, apart from possibly the model number, because they all seem to be individually stamped on the “Beare and Son” label, so maybe that’s it?
            Inside my Guitar up around the underside of the base of the neck there is stamped “Made in Japan 19 08 72” so mine was 45 yesterday, and still sounds superb! Maybe someone reading this has “insider knowledge” and all the missing answers….?

      4. Sagadia Guitar
        David Harriman

        Hello everyone. I realise that I’ve come to the party quite late here, but I am also the proud owner of a Sagadia Guitar, having bought one a couple of years ago off E-Bay for £6 from a bloke who didn’t appreciate it’s quality, and just seemed to be selling house-clearance type stuff.
        The Guitar was absolutely filthy, covered in attic-dust/fluff/cobwebs, and had half the strings missing. All in all a very solid but sorry-looking specimen.
        I took it home and took it to pieces to clean it. The machine-heads and the two engraved plates went in the dishwasher, and came out looking brilliant. I used a Stanley-Blade to very carefully scrape all the finger-crud off the fret-board. A light spray of furniture polish over everything else (I know the purists say “no” to this), and shook a dry dishcloth about inside the sound-hole for the fluff inside there.
        I restrung it, and once the new strings had settled-in it sounded superb, and still does. It has a good volume without distorting the notes, with a lovely clear ringing and open sound.
        The model number is 9105, and it still has the label inside saying that like other Sagadias on here, it came from “Beare & Son, London”. Looking inside the sound-hole up towards the fret-board there is a manufacturing date 19 08 72.
        It must be said that I’m not a brilliant Guitarist, but like Steffan and his number 770, I compose and play my own songs, but don’t have a dog, and the family are not really that interested, they just seem to think “Oh Dad’s going-off on one again”.
        All in all though, a most excellent Guitar, and because they are not very common, we little band of owners on here seem to be members of a very exclusive club indeed!

      5. yes I have a Sagadia
        Dean Thomas

        I have had this guitar from new , it was purched for £75.00 back in 1973 in a little music shop called Hobbs Music , in Lancaster Lancashire , I managed to save up for it by giving the owner Mr Bruce Hobbs , 3 quid a week untill I paid for it .The guitar sounds better today than it did when when first boought , becoust since then it has been proffesionally set up , frets files , bridge set , new nut , This guitar is a 6 string model no A771 , I have taken it all over the world with me its taken some knocks , but still sounds so sweet , some of the comments on here say theyre plywood , well this one is a pine top , with mahogany body with a rosewood fret boars , and what looks like a mahogany neck, its like playinf an electric guitar same sort of feel , realy nice action , and its up for grabs on ebay due to having too many guitars now.

        1. Sagadia
          Steffan

          I Have number 770 which my girlfriend bought me in Carmarthen (Wales) in 1973 (£37). It is a fantastic guitar and as you say very sweet. Most six strings sound a bit dry and ‘nasal’ (many horribly so) but this one is very open and full-sounding with a great breathe it-all-out of the sound-hole kind of bass response. The intonation was slightly out as bought, so I filled the adjustable bridge so that the plastic piece was flat to the metal. I then cut off the ball ends of old strings, so that I could run new strings through them (using the ball ends as kind of mini-bridge pieces). It is a bit hard to explain but this means that the strings meet the bridge slightly behind where they would have done before. Using the ball-ends also means I can stagger each one so that each string is intonated individually (as in an electric guitar). This way the harmonic at the 12th fret sounds the same as the fretted note for each string. I love the way that playing one fretted note sets up sympathetic responses in all the other open strings. This is especially good in the key of Em. My mistake was to sand-off the surface finish on the sound board to remove the tooth marks my daughter left all around the edge of the body of the guitar when she was teething. Those marks were really sweet. Ah well, the sound is fantastic.

          I also tried an Eko Jumbo at the same time (as I always liked these) but this was more expensive and did not sound as good. I play number 770 every day still inventing tunes nobody hears except the dog and that girlfriend who became, and still is my wife.

      6. DIA, Model 1065, distributed by Beare & Son London
        Werner, Hamburg

        Hi,
        my parents bought this model on Ibiza this year. First I thought it´s just a cheap guitar because I just start learning playing guitar.
        After looking for a western guitars in several shops here in Hamburg I have to apologize. Of course, it doesn´t sounds like a western guitar but it has a smooth, warm but clear sound. A small corpus but a very fine sound.
        I am happy to have it.
        I would like to know how to maintain it and perhaps somebody knows something about the “history” of this model.
        I guess it will be perfect for folk songs. I guess picking will be the right way to deal with it…

        Have a nice day, too.
        Werner

      7. sagandia
        Anonymous

        Hi all, wondering if anybody can give me advice on a Beare & Son acoustic guitar no:40 Japan that my uncle found in his garage he picked it up from a car boot sale years ago, i cant find the year on it and just wondered what it could be worth ?

        Many thanks

  4. skylark guitars
    ken norris

    I recently bought a skylark electric guitar. Very unusual. 5 piece maple/ walnut neck through body, 25 1/2 " scale,2 open face active ,tapping zebra p/u;’s Ash body,5 position rotary tapping switch, 24 jumbo fretts. Any idea of their origin? killer player. would appreciate any info. Thanks.

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