The main researcher of the history of rock music in LiveJournal - soullaway , discovered a photo from the 1980s: Viktor Tsoi in an American music store. In general, I have long been occupied with the question: what did Soviet rock musicians play in those years. Decided to do some research on the subject.

I’ll start with Tsoi - especially since he has a birthday today. I shoveled through concert photos and I was able to identify some guitars.

Let's start with a simple one - perhaps the most popular electric guitar in the world: Fender Stratocaster.


However, this may be Fender, a Squier This is Fender's economy brand. It’s not solid to play such a professional musician, but I think it was quite cool in the USSR in those years.

At least, Grebenshchikov on the famous "Musical Ring" in 1986 played on the "Squaer".

Quite famous photo:

The company is listed on the deck: ibanez, but the model could not be identified.

And the guitar Kramer Ferrington

Another guitar from the last - Washburn A.E..

Everything that was above was already perestroika times, the second half of the 1980s, when it was probably already possible to get imported guitars. And the following photos are from the first half of the 1980s.

In many photos, Tsoi appears with a 12-string acoustic Leningrad factory of musical instruments. Lunacharsky.

By the way, Kasparyan in this photo - Yamaha SG

Here's a very early photo:

The chic of those times - Czechoslovak Jolana Star

alla cherednichenko

Tsoi's guitar secret

In the Museum of Viktor Tsoi in the boiler room "Kamchatka" there is a twelve-string guitar of the musician. For admirers, Tsoi is a sacred artifact, and for its famous owner, it was a quality instrument made in Leningrad.

PHOTO by Vladimir NIKITIN (from the newspaper's archive) " class="article-img">

Once upon a time, teenagers played not on American gadgets, but on Leningrad guitars.
PHOTO by Vladimir NIKITIN (from the newspaper archive)

As we were told in the museum, Victor bought this guitar in 1978 in Gostiny Dvor. At that time, it was one of the best guitars presented in the windows of the Leningrad music trades. Yes, and it cost almost the entire average salary of a Soviet citizen. In order to overpower the purchase, the future legend of Russian rock had to save up the money that his parents allocated him for food. I look at the worn label on the guitar and see the almost erased inscription “Leningrad factory of plucked musical instruments named after. A. V. Lunacharsky.

“Indeed, at that time the Leningrad guitars of Lunacharka were famous not only in the USSR, but also abroad,” both musicians and music masters confirm. And the secret of the success of those guitars was, first of all, in a well-built technological chain of the production process, a serious attitude to the selection of materials and the enthusiasm of specialists. These guitars were made primarily from spruce and birch plywood. Also used beech and maple. Wood from the Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions was especially valued.

“As for the guitar that Viktor Tsoi had, its high quality depended, among other things, on natural technological features,” explains Andrey Babichev, hereditary guitar master. - To speed up the varnishing process, the guitars were covered with a special varnish with only one layer. The peculiarity of the Soviet varnish (and there was no other) is that it dried to a flat surface only if the thickness of the coating was more than a millimeter.

As a result, almost all "Lunachar" guitars of that time were too heavily impregnated with this varnish, which naturally affected the quality of their sound. And only 12-string models were not afraid of the excessive mass of lacquer due to the high tension, which was given by 12 metal strings swinging the soundboard.

According to the factory legend, the Spanish guitar of the famous musician Anders Segovia, who in 1927 paid a friendly visit to the Leningrad factory, served as a model for such instruments. He presented the masters with his instrument (according to another version, they used the instrument secretly while the owner was distracted). The craftsmen studied the overseas guitar up and down, copied patterns from it, carefully studied the measurements and location of the springs. It was those copied patterns that served as the basis for the best domestic instruments, many of which are still alive.

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History is full of great guitarists we know and love, we follow their work and learn to play their music. In fact, creating something out of nothing by pulling the music out of your imagination and giving it to the world, so that combinations of sounds have never been heard before, is a special kind of magic! And any musician will tell you that they would be lost without their favorite apparatus. Perhaps this is why many iconic guitarists have played the same instrument throughout their careers. Some for reasons of comfort and efficiency, while others are completely inseparable from their guitar, and thus we begin to associate the instruments with their famous owners.

Vladimir Vysotsky

There are few people not only in our country, but abroad, whoever is familiar with the work of the Soviet bard and actor Vladimir Vysotsky. He went down in history thanks to the unique style of singing and lyrics with humorous street jargon accompanied by a seven-string guitar. Vysotsky acquired the first famous instrument after the death of Alexei Diky (a Soviet actor) from his wife and, according to his stories, it was made 150 years ago by an Austrian master. Subsequently, Alexander Shulyakovsky made four or five guitars for him, the first with a headstock in the form of a lyre. In addition, Vladimir had a guitar with two necks, which he really liked for its unusual shape, although he did not use the second neck.

Viktor Tsoi

Another outstanding personality of the national culture of the 20th century is Viktor Tsoi. He is known to everyone as a songwriter and founder of the rock band "Kino". Victor received his first guitar from his mother as a gift - it was a twelve-string. It was on it that almost all the hits of the group were written and acoustic concerts were played. The next to appear was an electric guitar - a Stratocaster brought from America. But when he saw a white Yamaha at Kasparyan, he began to dream of the same and even tried to change with him. Soon, Tsoi managed to purchase a white Washburn EA20 semi-acoustic system, which he played in the last years of his life.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix can rightly be considered the greatest virtuoso guitarist of all time, since he was called a genius and a phenomenon during his lifetime. At one time, Hendrix's live performances were among the best in the world, and to this day, many guitarists try to emulate him. Now everyone knows that Jimi was left-handed, but he bought right-handed instruments, because they were mostly sold only, and he could turn the guitar upside down and achieve a unique sound. Perhaps his most famous was the Fender Stratocaster, it was her who was set on fire at one of his concerts in 1967. From mid-1967 until January 1969, he used a Gibson Flying V, which he painted psychedelic patterns on immediately after purchase and played only a few songs on it. He also had an acoustic one - Martin D-45. My favorite electric guitar was the white Fender Strat.

Kurt Cobain

American guitarist and vocalist of the rock band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain (Kurt Donald Cobain) throughout the entire career of the group had a fair share of guitars, periodically breaking them, but only two models became favorites: Fender Jaguar and Mustang. And instead of choosing one, he made a collage of both, and from his sketch, the Fender company created the Jag-Stang, although he rarely used it. After Kurt's death, she passed to Peter Buck (R.E.M.).

Angus Young

The inimitable Angus McKinnon Young, famous for his energetic performance and uniform of a schoolboy in AC / DC, was faithful to only one Gibson SG model ("70 SG Standard - 1968). Later it was modified by order of Young by Jaydee company with the name Jaydee SG and was highlighted in red with lightning bolt inlay on the fretboard.Through collaboration with Gibson, the signature electric guitar - Angus Young SG, where the pickups were designed by Young himself, saw the light of day.

Ritchie Blackmore

Hard rock star and one of the founders of Deep Purple, Richard Hugh Blackmore, remembered by many for his ability to mix guitar riffs with organ sounds, played a Gibson ES-335 for a long time. But since 1968 he began to use the Fender Stratocaster, and when recording the Fender Telecaster Thinline. In the 70s, the main guitar was a white Fender Olympic Stratocaster with a rosewood and cleaved fingerboard, to the headstock of which Richie attached a straplock.

The Beatles

And finally, the immortal Beatles and their outstanding guitars. Among the many instruments of the Liverpool Four, John Lennon's Epiphone Casino electric guitar was most remembered by fans. However, it is revered in two different incarnations: many love it in its original status - 1965 Epiphone Casino in vintage sunburst, others admire the "Revolution-era" that appeared after some modifications (worn body). George Harrison is known to have had a fondness for Gretsch guitars, but is associated with a 1963 Rickenbacker 12-string given by the company's owner while on tour of the United States. Paul McCartney played a left-handed Hofner 500/1 bass guitar, as well as Epiphone Casino and Fender Esquire electric guitars and acoustic parts on an Epiphone Texan FT-79, since 1968 a Martin D-28.

A book about the famous rock musician was published in the ZhZL series

Three hundred and sixty pages about childhood, youth, formation and stellar period, perhaps, the main domestic rock musician - the biography is excerpts from interviews with relatives, friends, close or not quite close people. One of the intrigues of this work is the author himself - "a lawyer from Cheboksary", as he calls himself, and "just a fan of Tsoi" - Vitaly Kalgin, a person who, in fact, never had anything to do with the Kino group, but nevertheless compiled a full biography.

— Vitaly, a few words about the book itself. What structure does it have?
- Since the book was published as part of the ZhZL, it fully corresponds to the format of the series. The content is divided into three parts. The first is Tsoi's childhood and youth, from 1962 to 1977. The second part covers the period from 1977 to 1987. The third tells about the stellar period of Victor's life from 1987 to 1990.

- How does it differ, if different, from other biographical works about Viktor Tsoi?
— There is a lot of new material in this edition. I have collected previously unpublished interviews, memoirs, quotes, comments and testimonies of both the Kino musicians themselves and representatives of his inner circle. It was important for me to find as much truthful evidence as possible. In 1991, the book of the St. Petersburg writer Alexander Zhitinsky and Marianna Tsoi “Viktor Tsoi. Poetry. The documents. Memories", which for some time became a good help for fans (in addition, the book by Alexander Zhitinsky "Tsoi forever. A documentary story" is also known. - Note. ed.). As for other books, alas, these were continuous repetitions, timed to coincide with dates.

Who did you meet while working on the book?
- In the process of writing the book, I met a variety of people, including Tsoi's close circle. This was the hardest part. Over the years, so much nonsense has been written about Viktor that many of his friends did not want to help, meet, or talk on the phone, a priori believing that I was just another dreamer journalist who would mix up and add everything. But as a result, I managed to talk even with those who at first categorically refused. As for specific names, then, of course, these were the musicians of Kino. And also - Inna Nikolaevna Golubeva, mother of Marianna Tsoi; tour director of the group Oleg Tolmachev; friends of Viktor Tsoi's youth - Anton Galin, Igor Petrovsky and many others.

- Have there been any responses from Victor's father, son, friends and like-minded people to the book?
— Of course. Without the approval of the musicians of Kino, Tsoi's relatives and friends, the book would not have seen the light of day. I sent the text to everyone so that they could correct inaccuracies or express their opinion on controversial issues. I think the most important thing is to give everyone the opportunity to speak. And who is right, who is to blame, or how everything really happened, let the reader decide.

Vitaly, tell us about yourself. What do you do?
“For the last two years I have been writing books. It all started as a hobby, but time began to take more and more. In the future, I will either return to the practice of law or continue my research.

"No politics, purely inner peace"

From the biography, a rather definite image of Viktor Tsoi appears. A person who has a "rare melodic gift" and "perfect hearing". Persistent and hardworking - if it concerns his favorite business. Simple in everyday life, restrained, concentrated. And at the same time fun and easy. And also, according to the closest, extremely vulnerable.

This is how his friend Maxim Pashkov characterized him, talking about crazy youthful parties in the company of the first St. Petersburg punks: “We must pay tribute to Victor. Although he participates in these events, against the background of others, he retains a human face, a sense of humor and does not stoop to vulgarity. Tsoi was much more conservative than the rest of the company, and in our "fun" he never went to the end. There was never any frivolity in him.”

Andrey Panov, the leader of the AU group, shares a rather funny story about buying the first professional guitar: “My parents left for the south, left Tsoi ninety rubles at the rate of three a day. And Tsoi had a dream, like everyone else, a twelve-string guitar. He ran and immediately bought it. It cost 87 rubles. And for the change, because he was hungry, he bought sixteen kopeck whites from the Victory Park. And that means he screwed them up on an empty stomach. He remembered this for a very long time. He said he was lying green, alone in the apartment, dying. There was no way to get to the toilet. Lay for several days. I haven't eaten belyashi since then."

“Then, like a tank rolled,” Boris Grebenshchikov recalls his first meeting with Tsoi. - I could not even think that the author of such a size grew up in Kupchyna and is still unknown to anyone. The next day, he began to call his sound engineer friends, persuading them to immediately record Tsoi's songs, while the guys still want to play. I am very happy that I was at the right moment and at the right time.”

There is a rather unexpected episode about one of Tsoi’s works, told by Inna Nikolaevna Golubeva: “He got a job as a worker in the park management department, where he carved a children’s wooden sculpture in the Quiet Rest park on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, 81.” Until now, in that park you can see some of Victor's works, for example, "The Sad Lion" ...

“Choi is not an actor - things are not going well for him with the gift of reincarnation,” Artemy Troitsky’s memoirs are cited in the book. - He "hooked" the audience with something else. Maybe it is precisely because there is not a drop of fuss or playfulness in it, but there is reliability, calmness and honesty. It is not surprising that in our hysterically prone times, many see in him, if not a savior, then at least a real hero.

And here is what Georgy Guryanov said about the so-called revolutionary nature of his songs: “Regarding the song“ Changes ”. It has no politics. Absolutely. An absolutely philosophical treatise, there is not a word about politics, a purely inner world ... "