History
The invention of the Russian guitar is attributed to Andrei Sychra, who also wrote a method for the instrument, as well as over one thousand compositions, seventy-five of which were republished in the 1840s by Stellovsky, and then again in the 1880s by Gutheil. Some of these were published yet again in the Soviet Union in 1926.
This type of guitar has been called a 'Russian guitar,' as it has been primarily played in Russia, and later in the Soviet Union.
The Russian version of the seven-string guitar has been used by professionals because of its great flexibility, but has also been popular with amateurs for accompaniment (especially Russian bards) due to the relative simplicity of some basic chords and the ease of playing alternating bass lines.
The Russian guitar is traditionally played without a pick, using fingers for either strumming or picking.
A two-necked version of the Russian guitar was also popular; these guitars usually had 11 or 12 strings—one neck with seven fretted strings, and another with four or five unfretted strings. There are also some rare specimens that were built with an oval body.
Read more about this topic: Russian Guitar
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