TOKAI MAD, who is also famous on this site, featured my CM-560 in his you tube video introducing ELK.
TOKAI MAD told me, "This CM-560 has a very important place in the history of Japan guitars. This is because Japan manufacturers were the first to produce original custom guitars that could be used by professionals. However, in the subsequent copy wars centered on Greco and Tokai, ELK was forced to move from original shape guitars to copying. The CM-560 is a short period of production, and I think it's more difficult to find a good quality one than to find a vintage Strat."
Made in the early 1970s, this guitar was the top original guitar in the ELK lineup. What is unique is its structure.
The body is semi-hollow. The back is hollowed out of oak wood, both sides are hollowed, and the central part is solid.
The neck joint is also quite unique. It extends into the pickup cavity and scrapes off the upper side to make room for the pickup.
The pickups are single pickups made by Schaller from the time when it was still West Germany, with 12 small bobbins that can be adjusted individually. It is also known as the first guitar in Japan equipped with foreign-made pickups.
Sound-wise, it looks like a mix of Strat pickups and P-90s, the overtones are tremendous, and both low and high sound brilliant.
The neck inlay has five mother-of-pearl inlays in one position, and a total of 50 mother-of-pearl inlays are embedded in 10 positions.
In addition, it is luxuriously built with lines on both sides of the fingerboard.
Look at the headstock. It is not warped back, but is arched from the beginning with a shaving. It seems that the purpose is to secure tension.
It is close in size to Melody Maker.
The parts are also highly original, and overall, they boast a great degree of perfection.
TOKAI MAD told me, "This CM-560 has a very important place in the history of Japan guitars. This is because Japan manufacturers were the first to produce original custom guitars that could be used by professionals. However, in the subsequent copy wars centered on Greco and Tokai, ELK was forced to move from original shape guitars to copying. The CM-560 is a short period of production, and I think it's more difficult to find a good quality one than to find a vintage Strat."
Made in the early 1970s, this guitar was the top original guitar in the ELK lineup. What is unique is its structure.
The body is semi-hollow. The back is hollowed out of oak wood, both sides are hollowed, and the central part is solid.
The neck joint is also quite unique. It extends into the pickup cavity and scrapes off the upper side to make room for the pickup.
The pickups are single pickups made by Schaller from the time when it was still West Germany, with 12 small bobbins that can be adjusted individually. It is also known as the first guitar in Japan equipped with foreign-made pickups.
Sound-wise, it looks like a mix of Strat pickups and P-90s, the overtones are tremendous, and both low and high sound brilliant.
The neck inlay has five mother-of-pearl inlays in one position, and a total of 50 mother-of-pearl inlays are embedded in 10 positions.
In addition, it is luxuriously built with lines on both sides of the fingerboard.
Look at the headstock. It is not warped back, but is arched from the beginning with a shaving. It seems that the purpose is to secure tension.
It is close in size to Melody Maker.
The parts are also highly original, and overall, they boast a great degree of perfection.
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