ELK acryl guitar, any idea about how old and which model?

[frankpaush]

I am waiting for an ELK-guitar ... unfortunately I can't identify the model.
Any ideas here?

The body is transparent acrylic

[frankpaush]

...noone???

[VintAxe]

Hi Frank.

Almost every major Japanese guitar maker produced their own version of the Dan Armstrong guitar. It looks like ELK was no exception.

From what I can tell given my limited amount of ELK literature is that they only used that Block Letter logo for a short period in the early 1970's. I'd guess your guitar is from about 1972.

Here is an article about these Japanese copies. Unfortunately, I don't think the ELK copy is mentioned.

[frankpaush]

... nice link, thanx. But except the body material not much similarities with the DA ....

[Spud1950]

The ELK brand is another obscure make with very little info available. Identifying specific models is just about impossible. Here's the most extensive info I could find.

"Elk was a Japanese manufacturer (Miyuki Ind. Co.) who started out in 1953 making amplifiers inspired by the Fender amplifiers of the day. The original brand name was Echo. In the early 60's Miyuki started making pro quality guitars under the brand name of Elk and changed the brand name of the amplifiers to Elk as well. The brand probably stopped in the early 1980's.

Miyuki also used the Luxor and Royal brand names for their amps in Europe.

In 1969 there was a big fire in the factory, burning many amps and guitars. Quite a shock for the people who worked there.

It seems that the later Elk amps had solid state preamps and tube power amps."

[frankpaush]

..yes, I came across this myself during my google search..
Maybe more info is hidden in Japanese areas of the internet somewhere ... it is quite impossible to find anything there, when there is no latin written content.

[VintAxe]

I agree that this is no true copy of a Dan Armstrong Frank; more like an "inspired by" DA model. This is one reason I think it may be a bit later than the more sincere attempts at copying a DA we see from other companies.

I only have rough brackets on the use of that block logo. I know that in the late 60's, ELK used a script logo and by the mid 70's returned to the script logo. I have some ELK literature I haven't uploaded because I can't put a firm date on it yet. My best chance of dating it comes from comparing models in the brochure to advertising in dated Japanese magazine publications. This is slow work

[frankpaush]

..wow, you are able to read Japanese publications?

[VintAxe]

No way I read Japanese Frank, but I can still use the print ads in their publications to help date guitar literature.

So for example, I have a print ad from a dated Japanese publication like Japan Music Trades:



This ad is typical in that it pictures both a guitar and amp with prices. The first thing the ad tells me is that ELK was still using the script logo in 1968. I can also look for the same equipment in ELK brochures to put a date on an undated brochure. If you find the same equipment in a brochure selling at the same price as the ad, you can be pretty confident they are from the same year. If you find the same equipment in the brochure but the price is a little higher, you can assume the brochure is a year or two later than the ad.

Of course, it's still guesswork, but it is better than nothing. The reason I say it is slow work is that late 60's - early 70's Japanese music publications don't show up that often, and when they do, they are typically expensive.

[Bassassin]

What a fantastic guitar - way more cool than any Armstrong copy.

Jon.

[Spud1950]

I agree.Very cool looking guitar. I really like the way the dots are done on the fret board. I haven't seen many,but the ELK's I've seen so far appear to be very nice quality guitars. Let us know how it sounds and plays once you get it.

[frankpaush]

more picks on http://www.guitarworld.de/gwpages/gear, ... ,1543.html
or more on http://www.musiker-board.de/vb/userthre ... ost4106127

(hope it can be seen??)

sounds nice 60ssinglecoily quite sharp on the bridge, ringing bells on the neck pick. No microphonic problems. Really nice player (I didn't expect that!)

EDIT 2: more pics on my site:

[frankpaush]

... I am not really sure if this are single coils? Does anyone know those picks?

[VintAxe]

Hi Frank. Just a little more information on your ELK.

I got an ELK brochure today that pictures your guitar. The model is CTL-500 and it originally listed for 50,000 yen.

The brochure is dated 1972.

[frankpaush]

Hi, vintaxe
nice to get more Thanx !!!

I saw the picks of the ELK today sorted as Schaller Pickups
at Musikkeller -> http://www.musikkeller.com/mk/index.php ... %20gitarre (Nr 508), that might explain, why they were looking that familliar to me. On the other hand it seems quite astonishing to see German picks installed on a Japanese Guitar ....