The Electra Forums

I am pleased to announce Electra Fest 2014 plans have been made! I am going to post it here and a couple other places so that the word gets out and people can start planning.

It will be July 19th and 20th in Evansville, IN at The Guitar Lab facility. Evansville is a moderate sized city (about 130,000) near the southern tip of Indiana, It is within 3 hours of Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, Cincinnati, and probably only a little more to Memphis. That should give you an idea of location. So we are fairly centrally located in the US, and while you may not be familiar with Evansville - you likely are familiar with the nearby larger cities mentioned. We have most chain restaurants, and a good selection of local fair. We also have a Tropicana Riverboat for Gambling on the Ohio. Most moderately to lower priced chain hotels are here as well. I think the most handy hotels will be on the "East Side" and there is a regional mall and lots of shopping nearby that area - and it is handy to I-164 which is the partial circle surrounding the city. We have a nearby Guitar Center and several mom-and-pop shops too for strings and things.

The Guitar Lab is a full service teaching facility and studio. We will have a full day of events on Saturday and likely a half-day on Sunday. We will have two medium sized rooms available to us. Restaurants are nearby. There is a break room with a fridge and I will have some drinks there (non-alcoholic only - sorry). Rest rooms of course. One room is a studio with a drum kit. Mike Boren, the owner of Guitar Labs, was kind enough to allow us to use his facility. So thank him when you see him. We can "convert" him over to an Electra nut like most of us are...

I have invited Tom Presley and he indicated he would attend. Tom is one of the key people behind the scenes of the old Electra and Westone brands in the 70s and 80s from SLM. If you are in this group you are invited! I may invite people from the Guitar Lab as well, as this will be an excellent educational opportunity for them to learn about fantastic old Japanese guitars and a crazy bunch of guys that play and collect them. The NEW Electra folks are invited too, but at this point I don't have a confirmation. They are finishing up with Summer NAMM in Nashville, TN on Saturday. My hope is that one or more can swing by if they have time as we are only 2.5 hours away from Nashville. In fact, I have flown out of Nashville's airport, so if you wanted a Nashville vacation you can fit this on the edge of it easily. I'd like to make this an education experience for those that have not attended, and fun for everyone, new or previous attendees.

We will have the usual events associated with Electra Fests past:
- We will bring and share our guitars. Amps will be there to play them too.
- We will have contests for the best guitar of show, and so forth (all in fun)
- We will have the web cam as in previous years!
- We will bring prizes to donate and have a drawing for prizes. In past years we have had multiple guitars, some great condition and some are fixer uppers - but it is ALL fun. Also other prizes - could be anything from an effect pedal, a tuner, or possibly electra SWAG - we don't know what will show up.
- We will have discussion sessions on Electra Guitar History, Repairing Guitars, and possibly new Electras as well.
- This is THE place to be to try an Electra that your buddy has that you have never seen before! Wondering what that module sounds like in an MPC, there you go - someone here will have it and you can find out for yourself.
- We can have some Jam time. I hope to have some local musicians/teachers attend too. So if you don't play bass or drums, we might have someone around that does.
- This is THE place to buy, sell, and trade too - that way if you want to move some electras to get other ones - you can do it in person!
- I have a number of amps too, I will bring (unless I can't for some reason), a vintage marshall, fender, a Bogner, a BadCat, and I know members that usually bring a vintage mesa - I might have a new mesa too - we shall see. This might be subject to space availability.
- what else? You tell me what you want!

I will supply a list of area things to do, restaurants, and so forth on your "off" time or for your spouse if they come with you.
- I'd like to plan a dinner at my favorite Pizza and Micro-brew place nearby (but it will be everyone buy their own - sorry).
- We have Holiday World - one of the nicest Amusement Parks and Water Parks in the world about an hour or so away!
- KY and Barkley Lake are about an hour and a half away, and about halfway between here and Nashville.
- I mentioned the Riverboat Casino
- I will try to get a good deal at a decent hotel, but i will need numbers of attendees to work with them.
- if you have a specific request I will see if I can help

So if you take a summer vacation, you may spend a few days at one of the nearby Cities or vacation destinations and head over here for the weekend before heading home (or start the week off here, and then go to a vacation destination). There are LOTS of possibilities with this - especially if you are driving a distance to get here. You can go to NAMM if you are in the music business that week before and then head here over the weekend for a day or two of the fest. Anyway you get here, we want you here . It will be fun.

Please let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, or plan on attending. Please PM me on if you are attending or not. I know I could not attend every year - sometimes you just can't. But hopefully this year will be special. I know I am looking forward to Tom Presley attending and asking him questions! I look forward to seeing you here.

If you plan on attending - Please PM me and let me know what days.
Keep checking for more information on the planned events schedule in the Members Only area!

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Thorny

plans are ON TRACK for the Electra Fest 2014

I have confirmation from several major collectors on the board attending and bringing some of their collections.
I have a confirmation from Tom Presley that he will attend
If you said that you are sending items for the drawing/giveaways portion, please contact me and send those so they will be available.
If you are bringing those with you, that is fine (just want to make sure I have things on time and not all at the last second).

If you plan on spending a day at Holiday World - tickets are about $5 less if you buy them online and print them rather than buying them at the park. I am looking for other deals too.

Mesker Zoo and Botanical Gardens is pretty nice as well - and it is not expensive. It can take several hours but won't likely take all day. And I like going to Burdette Park (nice to picnic and the park has a nice public pool with a water slide).

I recommended the Drury Inn East for the hotel as a usually inexpensive but nice place to stay, but any "east side" hotel will be fairly close (and there are MANY from which to choose). Most seem OK, but I live here so I haven't actually stayed in them. Good restaurants are all over the East Side as is Eastland Mall. This general area is West on the Lloyd Expressway off of I-164 exit #7. Deaconess Gateway Hospital is conveniently located at the other side of that exits as well - doubt you'll need it but hey it is about a 1/4 mile away.

I expect most of the presentations to happen on Saturday from noon to 5, and Sunday to be more leisurely playing and enjoying the instruments and closing up sometime Sunday afternoon. Thanks every one that plans on attending.

Guitar Lab location: 1010 S Weinbach Ave, Evansville, IN 47714
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Guitar+Lab/@37.962338,-87.529313,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x7556562d50ad2c20

See you there!

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Thorny

If you are sending anything electra-oriented for the giveaway portion, please PM me and I will send you my address. We are running out of time! Guys bringing stuff with you, please disregard. Thanks.

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Thorny

Bring lists of your guitars, serial numbers, and items so you can keep track, and give a copy to the person at the front desk. That way, if there is any question we can always pull up a list and see what is on your list. It might make things a little more secure. The site has two entrances, but only one is usually locked from the outside. In addition, the studio also has a lock on it (I am pretty certain of this as well). Still, i it is good to keep track of things. If I am leaving anything out, let me know.

Hope to see you all Saturday morning. I am available Friday during the day too as I will be taking off to prepare. Call me (PM me for my number). Thanks! Safe Travels! See you this coming weekend!

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Thorny

Here is a pic of Tom Presley showing off the phoenix prototype compared to a production version. The prototype is very nearly the same except the pickguard. The production one is mine and does not have the right knobs (should have the switchmaster ones).




The evolution of the design in the Tom Presley design - to the Westone and Alvarez models:





Some things prominent in Tom's designs -
- very well made
- quality electronics and hardware
- balance - you can balance that guitar on your hand
- tap tuned wood
- secure neck joint, similar to new Phoenix S models
- sculpted neck joint
- graphite nut
- roller string retainers
- locking keys
- very light "floating strat" style feel (warbles like crazy too, pretty neat)
A very nice guitar!


Meet some crazy people along the way


Dynasty Winner! (4 guitars were given away that day)

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Thorny