Elta Solo, made in USSR

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Elta Solo EGS-60, made in USSR

Rarity:

[rare]

For several years we were trying to identify this guitar, and curently we think it is Solo from Elta plant, Eletz, Russian Federation. Still there's no written evidence of the fact it is Elta. The neckplate features a small pinetree logo, and those instruments are also known as "pinetree" guitars. One example of Elta Solo is on permanent display at Moscow Politechnical Museum, it belongs to a small exposition of electric musical instruments from the 70's.

The neckplate text:
Type EGS-60, #4167, price 180
Inner label text:
All the fields (part name, quality control etc.) are empty. On the bottom of the label two signatures appear:
Udavitchenko - casting (?!), I pr (?!), 6/XII/78
Letnikova - polishing, I pr, 6/XII/78

The label gives us the exact production date - 6th of December, 1978. The price of the guitar - 180 roubles - is not high neither low; for example, Formanta costs 230 roubles, Tonika - 180 Roubles, Rostov Bas 2 - 145 Roubles and Roden bass - 130 Roubles.

The neck is set with two bolts and the overall weight is very light. The tuners are set in a cavity carved inside the feadstock. The tooth wheels and string axes are made of Zamak (aluminium and zinc alloy) which is not at all heavy duty, and fixed (so not interchangeable !!). Simpliest construction one can find... The body is also very light, so it might be poplar (or pine?). The frets are bare bronze and the fretboard isn't even varnished !

This guitar comes from
"Lordbizarre's electric guitar and amp museum"
Rock! electric guitar and amplifier repair
Leuven, Belgium, Europe.
www.LordBizarre.com

Pay attention to the differencies between those two: the pickguard, the body shape, fret markers etc. Apparently, most of the work was done by hand and although it's a fact there are no two guitars that are the same this time the differencies are brutal.

A couple of pictures of the same model, sent to us by Alexander Skoroletov. The instrument was found during the repairs at the village house near Kiev, Ukraine. The pickups are not adjustable in height, the neck is very thick and has no trussrod. Tremolo is fixed with four bolts with nuts that go through the body. The bridge is made of plexiglass and the strings rest on a straight metal bar (which means the first and the sixth strings are higher above the fretboard than the third and the fourth strings). String length is not adjustable.

Closeups of the "pinetree" guitar:

On the right here's another guitar that was made at the same plant as the "pinetree logo" one. It has rocker switches just like this Aelita and the shape is copied from Futurama II (everything except for the pickguard). It also has no model name - only the price 130 Roubles.

Picture courtsey of JunkGuitars.com.