I love the soviet era stuff, some of them had effects built in and other wacky stuff. I'd like to get ahold of a model called an Aelita

"I've been busy making cardboard guinea pig tanks." Words I never thought I'd hear :)

That hole on the Framus is stock. I've many in the UK just like that 🙂

oh man those soviet guitars have teisco vibes. big fan of the green on black colour scheme

Love the ‘digitally blurred’ written on the painters tape.

"Oh wow! This is a chunky."

This is exactly what I have been doing for the past 30 years. Find old stuff people don't realise their potential and then get the music happening.

@4:20 It''s german standard DIN audio cable, widely used in Europe in the 60's-80's, in west Europe simultaneously with the Cinch/RCA standard, in the east as the common, but for guitar AFAIK was used in USSR only.

The black and green guitar's headstock reminds me of a mandolin. Maybe do a black veneer on it.

Nice video. Recently bought an archtop with case off F/B ($80), sold by Wards, made by Kay. Sold new in 1964 for $47. Cleaned, new bridge, pickguard, strings, steamed the neck with a warm damp cloth, 3lb steel die block with an iron on top. Turned out nice. I used to go to the neighborhood music store and buy junk guitars 'Harvey' kept in a closet in the basement. 20 bucks was high end. Mend'em up and pass them on to beginners. The deal was they got a guitar for free so if they stuck with 'it' and bought a better guitar they were obligated to pass it on for free. If they gave up return it so I could pass on or they could pass on.

Honestly since most of the time people view those types of instruments as ratty pawnshop guitars it would be really cool to see what they can become with some love. Looking forward to this series of yours.

I like to imagine that the people who put those guitars together, wherever they are, feel a sudden happiness in their heart the moment you plug in the refinished version of what they built many years ago. Great channel!

Heartwarming that you have your kid there with you. I'm excited to see what these sound like when they play!

I've seen a bunch of japanese guitars from the 60's. They look pretty interesting. Never seen a soviet guitar though.

i like it when people describe things as "chunky", that neck on the green and black one is so strange, it's so square.

i love that analog digital blurring

I have a book "Elektrogitarren made in Germany" or something to that effect, bought it in the nineties. It has lots of super funky German guitars with aesthetics of cuckoo clocks and accordeons, along with very serious big jazz guitars. Used to be a luthier back then.

i feel like you had the necks reversed maybe

On the Framus you could do something similar to the Gibson Howard Roberts artist model.

Can’t wait, Vance’s idea with the vinyl record pick guard would look really cool on that wood, maybe cut a record and rejoin to make an “S “ shape ?

Great Idea. Resurrecting the old cheap and weird vs. modding or adjusting the usual suspects like everybody else. Super cool.

Oh, oh yes, this is my JAM. Framus is kind of pronounced in a latin fashion: Phrah-moose.

That would be cool to see these older guitars looking like they did in there original era. It's sad to see these guitars with a lot of history to them been to War and back. Can't wait to see what they look like when finish and sound like. Happy Holidays

i love the old cheap weird stuff. If you can get them in playing condition they can produce cool tonal colors for sure.........

Can't wait for the restoration videos on this guitars.

That first acoustic is missing a piece! It should have had a strange pick guard with a built in pickup. When I was 18 was given an identical guitar to try and make playable. It has a pretty bad neck bent sideways and despite this it sounded quite cool but was totally unstable tuning wise. My band used it to record a track on our first CD which was basically a very Tom Waits inspired track and since the guitar sounded so haunted we chose to use it for that janky sound! I had a Futurama guitar too! Haha! This all takes me back, more years than I want to admit!

Can't wait to see what you do with these Tim! Have a great Christmas!

I found a guitar exactly like that in a trash can in about 1995. the neck was separated from the body but unlike that one it was perfectly pulled out from the dovetail. The small sound hole was there as well and had binding, making me think some models had the f- holes and small center hole as a factory. I reset the neck and dowelled it in(I shouldn't have). I added a fingerboard mounted pickup. I gigged it a few times before it fell out of it's homemade case, fell down a flight of stairs, snapped the the head stock and was salvaged for the beautiful fiddle back book matched maple. All else was lost.

On the green pickguard Solo-2 (Соло-2) guitar you need a jumper across pins 4 and 5 of the DIN connector in order to turn the built-in effects on, then the switches and pots will make much more sense. Pins 4 and 5 are the closest next left and right to the center pin, which is pin 2 (ground) - pin numbers on DIN connectors are somewhat counter-intuitive.

Interesting bunch of used guitars all of them require some time invested to repair them but otherwise it looks like a good deal for all three . I think it's time for your laser cutter and a old album for a new pickgaurd or two

Number 1- The same make George Harrison started on...just restore it-so cool!

Like father like son !!♡!! You two are having the time of your lives ( brings back memories I'm lucky to be blessed with ).

I've had ,since I was about twenty, a little later 60's version of this framous f hole I've particle restore a nd put an in bridge pick up that give a top notch electric sound.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

I dig it. Looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

had a Framus from bavaria , laminated neck like plywood , semi hollow added a bigsby sold on ebay 20 years ago .a feedback machine but a work of art ..glad i found this .old turds have more to give ,

Pre 70s Japanese and Soviet guitars are so cool. They remind me of 90s underground rock bands having to make do with whatever gear was available in their budget, sure there were pawn shop fenders all over the place but there were lots of teiscos and the like too

Thanks! Happy Christmas and New Years!!!🎅🏻🌞😎✌️🎄🎸

Just wanted to say hello from Stratford CT looking forward to the new videos right up my alley with putting guitars together happy new year.

Fantastic projects ahead of you, looking forward to them!

Those Formanta guitars had built in fuzz circuits and sometimes phasers too. I managed to clone both versions of fuzz circuits in the Solo I (BJT transistor based that’s very close to a fuzz face.) and the Solo II which is an opamp based circuit.

I've always thought that since that the soviet era of import guitars like the old Teisco bodies are so thin they world make good candidates for routing out and capping them to make like thinline style guitars. That works allow you reinforce the neck pocket which I've seen crack or break. Just a suggestion. You could also re- work the wiring. Make more sense of all the switches. Lol. Good luck. Lol forward to seeing what you come up with. 👍

Acoustasonic style type would be great for that Framus, especially since you have those pickups, maybe add an under soundboard pickup too. Just a thought. Sky is the limit on those electrics.

Wouldn't it be interesting to send the signals from each pickup to different amps/pedals? The original plugs could allow that.....

Man I’m from 1978 myself and the green/black one is dope!! Only problem, I’m a lefty! I’m almost scared to go and search for one because my wife would definitely know it was a new addition lol.

I really do love your channel, and how and why you do what you do. Thank you!

6:19 - at first glance this guitar looks like a veneer body...

The back of the body on the that Framus, the first guitar, would make a nice top on an original build.

That black and green is badass.

Excited! I love the aesthetic of old foreign guitars! I bet you can flip them for a decent profit If you so choose!

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of this content

i love the "digitally blurred" tape

Don’t know why I read the title and switched “bought” with “stole”

What a beauty, cant wait to see the future video

Very cool, can’t wait to see how you fix these guitars.

Whoa, that green trimmed one pops,

I used to have a Framus Black Rose archtop - wish I still did... They look awesome Tim - looking forward to seeing what you do with them!

The archtop is based on a ‘petite bouchée’ french jazz guitar

For the guitar with the nice wood grain, maybe do a clear pickguard so you can see through to the wood underneath? Admittedly, the pickup routing and wiring might not be nice to look at.

I just refinished the body of a Japanese 1962 Zim-Gar for a friend, now I have the bug. I've been eyeballing those Soviet guitars on Reverb, so thanks for doing this. I'll be interested to see how it goes.

That last one had the body (look) of a Mosrite Mark II ... like the one Johnny Ramone played.

"Worth the watch" well said. Since you suggested we make suggestions gettin that Framus back to real playability might be something to consider. Happy New Year

Soviet guitars always have a cool look to them.

really looking forward to these vids!

Cool looking guitars Tim. Thanks for sharing.

Hole is stock. Also made under Hopf and Hofner... :}

That's super cool! I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. I'm about to restore an old Teisco as well

More videos like this please!

I've converted a number of those Soviet guitars to a standard jack. In some, the purpose of the extra conductors was as an effects loop, but you need the special amp that went with the guitar. Those are harder to come by.

I had a piccolo-scale balalaika that was was so poorly made it wasn't playable. I guess it was made in the 60's or 70's. I rebuilt it and changed the scale to be a little bit longer and it was loads of fun and perfect to write songs on.

I can't wait to see these. They're going to be amazing

For future reference, Soviet guitars, the mass production models in particular, often times got their wood from furniture factories. You'd be surprised to see the very same wood and veneer and finish on Soviet-made shelves and wardrobes :D I know, I still own a couple of those. I got my hands on the body and neck of a Tonica-650, fixed the cracked neck, stripped down the paint - pretty nice birch wood body, bad beech neck with no truss rod. I will plug the bridge cavity, because Tonika tremolo bridges are horrible and I'm not planning to get one, I'd rather go with a Tune-O-Matic, modify the neck so it doesn't stand out so much, maybe make it a set neck instead of a bolt-on one, cover it with carpathian elm veneer and do a sunburst finish :)) I think that should bring that piece of garbage into the 21st century. Damn shame it's missing so many parts and in such a poor condition, it's one of the first guitars the USSR made, I wish I could just restore it.

Very interesting indeed! However, my first impulse would be to check the thruss rod. I mean, if something is crooked with that one there could be some tricky repairsteps ahead.

Tim i love this kind of stuff ,love to do things like that!

Tim here is hoping you and yours have a very happy(hey Vance) holiday season!

That hole in the framus is probably actually stock. I have seen several with the small round sound hole, but most had the teardrop shaped f-holes. I have also seen old literature that shows the sound hole as well

Cool Guitars. Curious to see what happens with the green one and all of those switches.

That green and black guitar is sick! Great video

Those Soviet-era guitars are a close resemblance to Jags and Mustangs.

important: The hole in the center of that first architop framus you show in the video is absolutely stock! Don't know the precise model but it might be something like a Framus "queen" or a "black rose"

You could buy a thin sheet of brass Trace the old pickgaurd and cut out the button parts drill the potentiometer holes you would have a copy of your old pickgaurd now made of very thin brass now glue leather on too it also cut and drill out the holes and stuff after it’s glued on now you will have a nice stiff pickgaurd made of brass and leather that is also shielded cause of the brass so that’s a plus did this my self on a cigar box guitar build it came out beautiful. Now the round sound hole cut in the other arch top guitar you could wire up a small speaker in that hole with a nice screen cover over it with a small on board amp with maybe one affect like crunch or distortion just some ideas I love too build too God bless love the show can’t wait for the next Tim

Just found this video. Absolutely incredible idea. This is what I do. I love to buy old guitars like this and make them players!!!! I love to use them on recordings. Great video man!

For the soviet mahoganny, I would refinish the whole instrument, but I would certainly make a transparent pickguard, to keep the wood visible. If you fear scratches on the pickguard, you might sand the transparent pickguard to make it transparent-ish/whit-ish. On the black one, if the electronics don't work, or d'ont make sense, it might be interresting to rewire the whole thing. And since so many knobs and switches are already present, why not including an amp in the guitar ? Anyway I like your idea of looking for unusual / old / brocken instruments and make them live again. Next, you do the same with basses ?

What a score, looking forward to the revival! 👍🏽

On the solo 2 there is a fuzz effect with an on off switch a volume and a tone for it and a phaser effect with an on off switch a volume and a tone and 3 pick up on and off switches with a master volume

That black-green one😳💕

The sound hole in the Framus is, in fact, original. I have the same model and it has that same hole, in the same place, only bound. I paid £30 for it from a flea market in the East End of London about 20 years ago. No tailpiece, bridge or tuners, so a project piece. The neck is enormous. It’s great for gypsy jazz, not a great deal of sustain, but, pokey.

That black and green is soooooo wicked! Looking forward to the process!

The pickguard from the first Soviet one looked like it was some sort of scuffed aluminium in the video, could be cool to actually

The cracks in the Finish are referred to as checking and it is very common on vintage guitars

I like the look of the metal pickguard on the second guitar, maybe a hammered steel pickguard would look nice

Looking forward to seeing these. Before you go too nuts on the red one, I remember seeing pictures of Hopf or Hoyer arch tops with F holes and a round sound hole. It could be original. Either way, cool stuff.

Very exciting, I have one soviet guitar that I did a botched refret on, it's an Aelita. It was far from stock: repainted, jack and tuners replaced, part of the body cut off. And it's also got some mysterious wiring: four MASTER volume knobs! And those weird tone switches soviet guitar makers used to love. Subscribing to see what you do with them.

I think you should restore and modernize the soviet guitars, especially the black one

Use roofing material for pick guard, ah, Asphalt with passing lane stripes.

Really like the vibe of the black and green one, could do lots of different things with those switches. And I think it’s funny I watch your channel for the guitars and my mom watches for the guinea pig tanks lol

very excited to see future videos with these, I've never really thought about electric guitars from the Soviet Union so this is incredibly interesting to see

I think I remember hearing the in built FX need the 5 pin connector in order to work properly with how these guitars are wired. Thats if the circuit board has not corroded

Wow such a great idea. Nice video. Can't wait to see the final builds. Mahalo for sharing! : ) 🐒

those soviet guitars look absolutely amazing