The Electra Forums

Morning all!
I have a Electra 2261 Tritone bass that I've played and enjoyed for many years and now a question has come up about the stamping on the neckplate.

The bass itself is a late 70's with the wave headstock. The original bridge has been replaced with a Epiphone SG bridge. Everything else is as it came from the factory but the neckplate doesn't seem right. At the bottom it says "Made in Japan" and above that is a serial number that starts K770xxx.

What I've read tells me the plate should also be stamped with "Steel reinforced neck" and the serial number should be all numbers- no letters. The plate on mine appears to match the ones used by Ibanez et al from the FujiGen factory.

So is this plate original, or did someone replace the original over the years?

thanks so much for your help!

It is possible that it is an original neck plate. SLM Electra back in the day sourced guitars from multiple factories and sometimes switched factories during a product lifetime. We know for sure (from former SLM high up Tom Presley) that certain factories specialized making a particular type (ex. semi-hollow or LP style) and SLM would use different factories to avail on these products. Can you remove the neck plate and see any evidence that might show if it was replaced? Indentations or finish differences as a telltale sign?

_________________
"This is the way that pop ends, Not with a BANG but with a box set whose fourth disc you never get around to playing” - Simon Reynolds

"My guitar wants to kill your Mama" - Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention

Thanks- I had no idea SLM used various manufacturers. There aren't any indentations or anything else that indicates the plate isn't original. So the stampings are odd if it's from the Matsumoko factory?

Starting to look like my bass is a step child of Uncle Mat's!

Hardly a step child. There were several manufacturers used by Electra. Simply because it isn't a Matt product doesn't indicate it is inferior (as you should know from playing it). Several of Electra's top lines were made by other factories, Terada in particular.

Hey Workingman- "step child' was just my snarky way of pointing out my own ignorance- until looking into the neckplate I thought all Electra's came from the Matsumoku factory. Never for a moment thought of it as inferior! A moment playing these basses and guitars will lay that thought to rest for sure.