Incoming: another Musima Elgita

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:22 am

Got this one for Â£80. Prime communist eurodrek from the DDR, made in scenic Markneukirchen in the late sixties - early seventies. Before 1973 anyway, because my other Elgita is a '73 and that's a later version with different pickups and headstock shape. I'm particularly excited about these mystery stealth pickups. Kinda hoping there's a trashy bar magnet in there for hot tones. Downers: non-original knobs, and missing trem arm holder/claw thing.

My other Elgita (with replacement Jazzmaster-profiled neck).

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:33 am

Will you be demonstrating it at The Garage on saturday?

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:38 am

Pretty unlikely it'll arrive this week, then it'll need stripping-down, probably rewiring, bridge is probably rusted solid too and will need a good WD-40.

I will be playing my other Elgita as usual though.

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:19 am

Nice, what happend to that blue/black one you used to have?

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:37 am

The Eterna. I regret selling it now, even though it was a beast. Holding out for an Eterna Deluxe now, which has controls covering every inch of the scratchplate.

kypdurron · Post by **kypdurron** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:52 am

my brother has an Eterna Deluxe. If you're interested in buying it and he in selling it I can get you connected. It's basically wall decoration at his home, so maybe he is.

From what I figured it may need some work on the electrics, but I thought it was almost playable.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:46 pm

Yes, definately interested. I'd need some pics though. Rewiring is no problem at all, as long as the parts are there and it's structurally sound.

Viljami · Post by **Viljami** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:31 pm

Am jealous. Weren't the DDR-guitars the cream of the communist crop?

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:54 pm

Gonna be a bitch to tune

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:19 pm

Very cool, I'd love to play one of these at some point. There used to be a cool little guitar shop near me that sold this kind of thing but sadly it didn't last the credit crunch so I never really got a chance to try this kind of thing out.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:08 pm

colabonham wrote:Am jealous. Weren't the DDR-guitars the cream of the communist crop?

Supposedly, but there wasn't much competiton, a few Czech Jolanas excepted

However, quality or refinement-wise these don't touch Framus or Hagstrom or most other western european guitars of this era.

kypdurron · Post by **kypdurron** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:59 am

I thought most Jolanas Ive played were closer to western quality than the Musimas. And a Jolana with all the parts (which is the main problem) and in good working order commands much higher prices.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:11 am

Rilly? The Jolana Tornado semi is a pretty good guitar, but the solid bodies are generally worse than these solid Musimas.

The pricing of Jolana guitars is also the same if not lower that the Musimas. On ebay there's some priced quite high that never sell. Musima hollowbodies seem to benefit from a bit of the 'Ostalgie' bug.

Don't get me started on stuff like this...

kypdurron · Post by **kypdurron** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:56 pm

but that's an ok guitar model

ac88 · Post by **ac88** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:26 pm

relevant:

► Show Spoiler

Those eternas are so sexy, love the headstock. How does it play? It looks like it might sound thin like a teisco.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:37 pm

Out of interest, how many guitars do you own now Tim?

JohnnyTheBoy · Post by **JohnnyTheBoy** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:45 pm

Hubba hubba..Those are pretty fab tim..that Eterna is gorgeous...reminds me of a Burns Bison..not sure if that's intentional or not..

This is my first guitar...semi-acoustic from i think, the 60's...no labels, and the f-hole label has been ripped out, so im thinkin its a lawsuit somethin-or-other from Japan..maybe an ibanez-factory made??

Have you ever had dealings with Brandoni in Wembley? www.brandoniguitars.co.uk
...some of his Italian Eko guitars are really really nice...

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:08 pm

that has a definite whiff of teisco about it ^

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:30 am

ac88 wrote:It looks like it might sound thin like a teisco.

Akshully, it's more like a Jazzmaster/Jag. Pickups sit somewhere between MIJ Jazzmaster and AVRI proper JM single coils. The trem is very like a Jazzmaster in use too, and relatively thick bodies and beefy necks mean the sound isn't thin.

fran wrote:HOW MANY?

I did a list. Last year I sold-off the more valuable guitars that were sitting around not doing much, but I still got some nice vintage Hagstroms.

Electrical Guitar Co Custom
Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Tele Thinline
Musima Elgita
Musima Elgita
Hagstrom I
Hagstrom III blue
Hagstrom III sunburst
Hagstrom Swede
Hagstrom Viking
Squier CV Strat

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:46 am

timhulio wrote:
fran wrote:HOW MANY?
I did a list. Last year I sold-off the more valuable guitars that were sitting around not doing much, but I still got some nice vintage Hagstroms.

Electrical Guitar Co Custom
Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Tele Thinline
Musima Elgita
Musima Elgita
Hagstrom I
Hagstrom III blue
Hagstrom III sunburst
Hagstrom Swede
Hagstrom Viking
Squier CV Strat

Ah, cool. Glad you hung on to a fair few Hagstroms, you must have been the top UK collector at one point.