Rammstein guitarist Richard ZK has shared a compelling story from his early years in East Germany, shedding light on the extraordinary efforts he made to get his hands on his first quality electric guitar — a Fender Stratocaster. The account reads like a Cold War-era thriller and offers a rare glimpse into the life of a musician behind the Iron Curtain.
Born in 1967, Richard grew up in East Germany, a nation still reeling from the aftermath of World War II and split in two by the political tensions of the Cold War. With West Germany enjoying relative economic prosperity, the communist East struggled, especially when it came to access to Western consumer goods — including high-end guitars.
In a recent interview with Guitar World, Richard recalled how dire the situation was for aspiring musicians. “There obviously was a shortage of good guitars,” he explained. “I had one crappy thing made by Diamant. My wish at that time, because I was listening to a lot of Hendrix, was to own a Fender Stratocaster. In my heart, that’s the one I felt I needed to have. But we couldn’t get them in East Germany.”
Determined to get his dream guitar, Richard resorted to desperate measures. At the time, he was selling jewelry at local markets and managed to exchange 12,000 East German Marks into 1,200 West German Marks — an enormous sum. What he did next required a leap of faith.
“I met a guy in a coffee shop who traveled between the East and West,” he recounted. “I didn’t know him or trust him. But I gave him all of that money in the hope he would bring me a Strat next time he was over. I had no idea if I would ever see him again.”
With nothing but hope and a gambler’s courage, Richard handed over his savings to a stranger, fully aware that he might never see the man — or the guitar — again. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.
“Three months went by and there was nothing,” he said. “I was thinking I’d been really stupid, of course, he was going to take the money for himself.”
But just before Christmas, the gamble paid off.
“There was a guitar bag in front of my door with a black Stratocaster inside,” Richard revealed.
Unfortunately, the dream didn’t live up to his expectations. The Fender’s sound and feel were not what Richard had envisioned after years of longing.
“My expectations of the Fender were so high because it was a serious guitar with proper pickups,” he explained. “I thought it would help me play all the things I wanted to play… which led to frustration. I was used to playing humbuckers on that crappy Diamant guitar. The single-coils didn’t sound right, I was wondering what the fuck they were. I learned from that lesson and later sold the guitar.”
Despite the initial disappointment, the experience marked a major turning point. By 1996, three years into his journey with Rammstein, Richard switched to ESP guitars — a relationship that continues to this day. His new LTD signature model is loaded with high-end features, including a pair of Fishman Fluence humbuckers, demonstrating how far he’s come from the days of backdoor deals and border-crossing guitar dreams.
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