production, a Russian guitar could be bought new for as little as 12 roubles in the 1970s. Soviet factories continued to manufacture the seven string exclusively for quite a long time before making a gradual switchover to accommodate the demand for six string guitars in the mid to late 1970s. Prior to that, western pop and rock oriented guitarists had a tradition of modifying cheap factory made Soviet seven string guitars to six strings (or sometimes to bass guitars) and retuning them to the EADGBE tuning, or as a 7 string use BEADGBE tuning. Conversely, Russian émigré guitarists living in western countries, where only six string guitars were available, have been known to modify six string (and sometimes twelve string) acoustic guitars to seven string instruments, in order to better play their favorite Russian songs. Recently, the repertoire for the Russian guitar has been the subject of a new scholarly examination and has seen increased performance due to the work of Oleg Timofeyev, who has unearthed and recorded works by the composer Matvei Pavlov-Azancheev (1888−1963). Notable composers for Russian guitar Yevgeny Bachurin Ignaz von Held Sergei Orekhov Matvei Pavlov-Azancheyev Vassily Sarenko Andrei Sychra Vladimir Vavilov Mikhail Vysotsky Vladimir Vysotsky See also Bard (Soviet Union) Guitar Guitarra séptima Music of Russia Russian traditional music Seven-string guitar Further reading References External links Alexander Rosenbaum An article about Russian guitars Russian folk music Russian musical instruments Repetitive guitar-tunings Non-Spanish classical guitars