The Electra Forums

You guys are crazy

Hey, that x260n is insanely gorgeous. I had one for a little bit but now it belongs to mortarman.

The one I like the best is the first one I had, well, since I started collecting them again in the late 90s. It has a few replacement parts, namely a harmonic designs bridge pickup, grover keys, and a replacement bridge. I bought it played to death and not working, could not even MOVE the pots let alone use them. The frets are so worn it is almost a fretless wonder - and it had deep grooves worn in the fretboard (which I filled with black super glue and scrapings from the rosewood and it looks really good). I crowned what was left of the frets (and it is NOT MUCH). But that baby sounds great.

Another is that awful Leslie West that I bought as a ran-over carcass of a guitar and glued it back together. All I had was a cheap set of prs SE pickups and put them in it, replacement bridge, and replace some pots and a switch that was ran over. The body cavity areas were all cracked around the front of the guitar too, because it was ran over (or otherwise crushed). But this jumble of parts REALLY plays and sounds GREAT.

Neither one of these would be worth much to most of you all because of the non-original parts and rough condition but they are killer playing and sounding guitars. They still look pretty good too - at least - to anyone a few feet away.

This is not to say my stock models are not good too, they really are because Electra made some really good quality guitars. But I like these particular ones probably more because of their character than anything else.

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Thorny

Yeah Chad, I dug the Blonde Invicta out a few days ago and put it through the paces. It needs new strings (as is common with guitars that aren't in rotation) but still played ok. She's not a cream puff, however it's as original as it gets, complete with the Rene Lopez sticker on the back.

Then I picked up the 'new' X280, and even without a comprehensive setup on it yet I really enjoyed it. The pickups are bright and responsive despite the above average output. They didn't start howling (feedback) until I was at basically Live volumes, which is something many of my other MMK guitars will do 20dB's quieter... I like that. In other words I don't think I'll even bother waxing them.

Pull your pickups out Chad, and if they have the soldered on nuts (and just a ink stamped 45) those are the earliest ones. If so, I'd guess your guitar serial number starts with a 001 - 003, January to March 1980 build, but you tell me.

You know sound is so subjective, there's bound to be a cornucopia of opinions about what players prefer. I can appreciate the shimmery clarity of Single-Coils, but deep down, I'm a knuckle dragging sort who likes the sound of a tube amp being tortured by a bright Humbucker, and the MMK45 fits that bill nicely! Cheers, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Hey all, I have owned NUMEROUS Electra's thru-out the years. I have had the MPC models, the Dynasty, Omegas, the various incarnations of the Spectrums, both the Electra and Electra Phoenix, but the one that has stuck with me, has been my 82 X280 Workingman.

It's the most basic of guitars, nothing fancy, thin finish, etc etc, but it sounds exactly like how you play it. What do I mean by that? Well, it's the chameleon of the guitar world! if I need to sound like a Paul, I switch to the neck pup, roll back the tone, pick around the neck, and boom! Paul. Need a tele? Same thing, just at the bridge, and tele galore. Differences in playing style, highlight this guitars abilities. Many times people have come up to me, and thought I had 3 different guitars during gigs!

She's all original, which for me is rare, since I modify just about everything, with the exception of the bone nut. (The original snapped in 3rds on day while changing strings. I intend to eventually replace it with a brass one.)

JD, I think you should get royalties

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SlmGuy