The Electra Forums

I finally took delivery of an original sunburst Corsair I had bought severla months ago.... thought I'd get a pic of the crew...




I'm still waiting on some electronic parts for the Maple one....

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I have too many projects!

NICE!

i've been hunting one of those. now i know where they all are

WOW! What a gorgeous spread!

Knowing how you've brought some of these back from the dead, they couldn't be in better hands!

And considering how aggressively R.... (i'll dodge the search engines on that one) prevents these copies or their parts from being sold on ebay and elsewhere, you've really done us a favor by assembling a piece of history which would otherwise be supressed and unknown.

How do they play?

And <open can=worms> can you comment on the details of their construction which lead you to believe they are made by one factory or another? Any guesses? </open>

Thanks for letting us into your treasure trove, they're really beautiful, you've done a great job!

I'm still feeding the worms.... I've amassed a huge collection of R-copy photos and done lots of chatting with Bassassin on these things...

a detailed piece will be written eventually... but a synopsis is...
(these are my thoughts only, as nothing is definitely proven)

The rightmost 2 are the earliest ('74-'75) bolt-neck version that appear in the Electra Catalogs. The black one was originally a sunburst . both have the full width crushed pearl inlays and tiny checker board binding. there was only one other Brand that had the full witdh inlays and non-R style pups, and that was Ibanez. 33.5" scale. Fujigen Factory most likely. the full sunburst one plays well. the black one had a really bad neck break/splinter, so I'm still tweaking that one. not sure how much more truss rod it can take. might not ever be fully playable....

The maple one appears to be a transitional one. Around late '76 I'd guess, as the 76 catalog shows the bolt neck version, but the 77 catalog shows the neck thru. This one is a set-neck/bolt-neck combo. the neck was bolted and glued in because the route to accomodate the neck pup crossed completed over the neck, leaving not much left for strength if it were just a bolt neck only. unfortunately, they were glued in after the neck was finished, so the glue joint was not the best, and cause lots of failures I'm guessing. This one has true R-Style pups as did the neck thrus. 33.25" scale. Bassassin has one almost identical to this one, but with pearl inlays instead of black, and full maple body instead of caps. His is a Kasugua branded originally, so Kasuga factory probably the checker binding on this one is larger, more R-style. I'm still working on this one. had bad neck break, but appears solid now. still waiting for electronics before I string it up....

the top sunburst one is neck-thru, 33.25" scale, plain white binding. just an all around good copy of a '74 4oo1. only has single truss rod. plays great. neck pup route style suggests Fujigen on this one as well....
this is my favorite.

after looking at lots of pictures, the method/style of how the pickup routes were made seems to have good identification purpose potential.

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

I agree, routing pattern really tell a lot- as we've discussed, I've got some Vee examples that show that pretty clearly. With luck, some of those details will begin to give us clues on all the other body styles.

the black one with the "neck of splinters" is finally adjusted properly, and it plays very well! now we'll see if the neck gives after being under load for a while.......

_________________
My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Well how much more rock n' roll can you get than a bass which could explode in your hands at any time, especially at the climax of a song?

If that isn't sixties, I don't know what is.