1965 Silvertone Arched back model 698

Dated code 0665 - June 1965, Made in Italy by EKO.

Includes original soft shell case with blue felt lining.

This is a rare, vintage Silvertone model 698 made by the Italian EKO company.  For a short period of time in the mid ‘60s Silvertone contracted with EKO, rather than Harmony, to produce these clones of the Harmony 600 series guitars. Date code of 0665 tells us it was made in June 1965.

After researching marketing info and what others have researched online, this appears to have a solid spruce top, laminated maple back that is pressed into an arch shape, and laminated maple sides. Really nice binding all around the top and back of body. Beautiful burst finish with killer checking in the finish but no cracks in the wood. The back especially has cool spider checking.

The sound is surprisingly loud and rich.  Wonderful midrange voice and decent bass, though not as much low end as a larger dreadnought. This is a set neck rather than a bolt on like most other examples.  The action is a bit high.  It sounds great as a slide guitar.  The neck some relief but with a neck reset and maybe a little saddle adjustment to lower the action, this could be a fantastic player. There is a very slight gap at the back of the bridge between the body, and possibly very slight bowing of the top in front of the bridge. These are both subtle and do not appear to be a structural problem, but I wanted to share that for full disclosure. It seems very solid and truly sounds fantastic and loud for its size.

There is a great video on youtube of someone taking the neck off of another 698 EKO built set neck which is very informational, so it is definitely possible to give it a neck reset. Message me and I can send you the link.

Here is a description and more info from Silvertoneworld.net.

“The 600 series was a consistently popular guitar, and had a few interesting deviations from the main line over the years. One variation was a lovely all-mahogany model with a faux tortoise pickguard, another was an all-black 1217 towards the very end of the model run, and one was an off-the-wall Made In Italy EKO-built arched-back bolt-neck that was only listed in the '65 Wish Book. The line well and truly came to an end by 1972, ending a nearly thirty year run.  I'd like to see a graph of 600 Series sales vs. 604 sales; wonder who'd win?”