The Italian Job: Vintage Guitars from '60s Italy

The 1960s saw a huge increase in demand for guitars in Europe just as it did in the US, leading a bloom of local manufacturers there. With a design language all their own, Italian companies like EKO, Wandre, Crucianelli, and Galanti began producing instruments that sometimes seemed more like functional pieces of art than workhorse guitars. As distribution grew and diversified, the range of Italian brand names grew as well, giving rise to the likes of Davoli, Krundaal, Framez, Elite, and Noble. Never boring, always eye-catching, these vintage European gems provide an antidote to the funky Teisco-fueled vintage Japanese resurgence.