Eko Rokes
Jack Marchal
WHAT CAN WE SAY THAT HASN’T ALREADY BEEN SAID ABOUT THIS GUITAR? IT WAS BORN FROM THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BEAT GROUP CALLED ‘ROKES’; IT WAS EXPORTED TO THE STATES WITH THE NAME ROKET BUT FOR LEGAL REASONS (THE NAME HAD ALREADY BEEN USED BY GRETSH FOR THE REGISTRATION OF DRUMS) WAS LATER CALLED ROK.
This model was designed in 1965 and initially used exclusively by the Rokes and commercially launched in 1966-67. It is often said it was inspired by the Gibson Flying V. In fact, there are quite a few similarities. But the Flying V, initially produced in limited copies 1958, was only re-launching a drastic commercial flop. The only important international rock star that used it was Dave Davies from the Kinks, who was occasionally seen with a Flying V in 1966, while Gibson was starting producing it again. But at the same time the Rokes were already playing the instruments named after themselves on different stages all over Italy! It’s only in 1967 that Hendrix will give the Flying V the visibility and the fame that still persists in the heavy metal scene, while the Rokes models were already pictured in the Eko catalogues all over the world …So, one more proof (as if we still needed it) of Pigini’s prophetic genius. Many will identify the shape of this guitar with an arrow, but those were the years of the conquest of outer space therefore it would be more precise to remember them as rockets…
The headstock of the 12 strings has two different versions, one with six tuners on each side, the other with alternate tuners Rickenbacker style. The second one could look like an evolution of the first one but its presence is to be noted on the Rocket folder and this confuses any rational supposition.
Various custom copies were realized for the group and for commercial promotion and the Rokes also was produced in a hollow-body version like the light blue one in the photo. We are still looking…We know for sure that a hollow body bass is in the catalogue and to define it rare is restrictive.
Produced in a very limited version in the year 2000 by Eko and recently a very good Italian luthier Buscarini started a replica of the Rokes.
Italiano
Che dire che non sia stato già scritto su questa chitarra? Nata dal rapporto con il gruppo beat Rokes, fu esportata negli Stati Uniti come Rocket (razzo), poi per motivi legali (Rocket era già stato registrato da Gretsch per una batteria) il nome mutò in Rok. Facile vedere la differenza tra i cataloghi americani e quelli italiani.
Il modello venne disegnato nel 1965, usato inizialmente in exclusiva dai Rokes poi lanciato commercialmente nel 1966-67. Si dice sempre che fosse ispirata dalla Gibson Flying V. Infatti, numerose sono le somiglianze. Ma la Flying V, inizialmente costruita in pochi esemplari nel 1958, aveva solo lasciato il ricordo d’un fallimento commerciale clamoroso. La sola rock-star di rilievo internazionale che l’usava era Dave Davies dei Kinks, che si fece vedere occasionalmente con una Flying V nel 1966, mentre Gibson stava riprendendo la produzione del modello. Ma in quel momento i Rokes stavano già suonando gli strumenti eponimi sui palcoscenici di tutta Italia! E’ solo nel 1967 che Hendrix darà alla Flying V una visibiltà televisiva e una fama che tuttora perdura dalle parti dei heavy-metalmeccanici, mentre i modelli Rokes erano già raffigurati nei cataloghi Eko diffusi in tutto in mondo… Dunque, una prova di più (se ce ne fosse bisogno) del genio profetico di Pigini. Molti identificano la forma di queste chitarre con una freccia, ma erano gli anni della conquista dello spazio ed è più corretto ricordarle come le chitarre a razzo (rocket)….
Eko ha prodotto una riedizione limitatissima nel 2000 e recentemente un bravo liutaio italiano, Buscarini, ha intrapreso una replica della Rokes di qualità.
