The Electra Forums

I saw that one too Leia, thanks for thinking of me! I also considered it but now I'm a little gun shy... I'll probably hold off until I can play my next one prior to purchasing. I would've even considered the X810 had it met my criteria unplugged. I usually don't buy off ebay unless it's a hard to find item like the EB or the Jazz Strad. I got lucky with that one. Now I'm thinking that the quality could be more a guitar to guitar issue. I haven't found that to be the case with the Japanese LPs I've had. The quality from one guitar to the next was very close, even when done by different manufacturers.

I'm still up in air on whether the Jazz Strad was made by same people that made the EB. It very well could be that my Jazz Strad was made by the right person on the right day with the right wood. I've seen this over and over again with Gibson... Just go to any GC and pick the Gibson's up at will and you'll see what I'm referring to. It could be that it was an early model and the manufacturer was trying to cement the contract for more orders and so chose specific builders and wood to builld with. The construction methods on all three I've seen in hand recently appear to be the same, which leads me to believe they were made in the same plant.

Other than the brass nut, inlay designs, and binding which are purely cosmetic and probably running production changes, the guitars don't show any underlying construction differences that would show a different manufacturer. My Japanese LPs, which were both '77s, had definite construction differences that were noticeable and would point to different manufacturers. The serial numbers used were also different and would apply to them as well.

The whole reason for getting the EB was to move away from the trapeze tail piece. I didn't want to modify a perfectly good vintage guitar by adding a stop tail. I really just didn't want to be that guy! Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, that's exactly what I should have done. I tend to play on the heavy handed side and the trapeze does not offer much downward force at the bridge. I found I'd get sympathetic vibrations on the high E and B strings while playing from time to time because of it. Some players use foam between the strings behind the bridge to counter this and that helped but it also deadened the tone somewhat. Players with a light touch don't seem to have this problem.

I'm going to see If I can't get some decent lighting for some pics of the EB now. It's really gray outside and too cold to take pics anywhere but inside so we'll see how it goes...