We’re Listening with EMW: the Instruments of Rock ’n’ Roll During Estonia’s Occupied Years

Les Paul built “The Log” in 1939, an experimental partially solid body guitar, mostly consisting of a block of pine with a neck, strings, and pickups; intended to solve problems of feedback and sustain. Fender followed with the solid body 1949 Esquire and 1950 Broadcaster/Telecaster, facilitating more focused, punchy sound. Among early electric guitar masters were jazz cat Charlie Christian and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who by 1947 was playing electric guitar in gospel and pop contexts, pushing the timbre and volume beyond what had come before her.

So by the time rock and its descendent British beat became global phenomena in the 1950s and ‘60s, the electric guitar was already a symbol of rebellion and sonic possibilities.

Models like the Tonika are considered some of the worst of all time...[with] "high action, terrible intonation, brass frets that easily wore away, an alien body shape, unbalanced weight, unreliable electronics, and non-serviceable hardware.”

The growth of that symbol in Estonia during Soviet occupation was held back, based on a system that tightly controlled imports, including cultural and consumer goods. Musical equipment like electric guitars, amplifiers, and drum kits were heavily associated with the US and its culture. At first, electric guitars were not much in demand, because the associated music was simply not getting around. Once manufacturing of electric guitars started in the mid ‘60s, luthiers behind the Iron Curtain had to start from scratch, and the results were not pretty. Models like the Tonika are considered some of the worst of all time. Online music marketplace Reverb describes the guitars as having “high action, terrible intonation, brass frets that easily wore away, an alien body shape, unbalanced weight, unreliable electronics, and non-serviceable hardware.”