The Electra Forums

I think what i ihave is a tele style 2207c semi hollow body but mine is a little different from the one pictured on the site (ie abalone logo on headstock and daul humbuckers ) I bought this guitar from a friend about ten years ago and regardless of what new toy i pick up or what my buddies come over with this guitar continues to garnish the most attention.
I have been planning a complete hotrod/overhaul but almost feel a little guilty about drilling the head-stock to fit the grovers I just installed. A new bridge is next and after that pick-ups may be in order if i can't chase down the gremlins that are causing my switching problems. WHAT I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW IS:, DO I HAVE SOMETHING HERE THAT I SHOULDN'T ALTER TOO FAR BEYOND STOCK AND WOULD I BE CORRECT IN MY ASSUMPTION ABOUT THE MODEL.

Well, all I can offer is my opinion- I have one of these that I rescued from a bad refinish and dead pickups.

On one hand, they are very cool guitars. If you change it, I would be sure to keep the parts and be very careful about changes that can't be reversed.

On the other, these guitars were made to be played, and tuners are certainly one detail that makes a positive improvement with minor impact (extra holes in the headstock.) Is this a guitar so rare and special you shouldn't change it? No, I'd keep the original tuners though. There are adapter bushings that allow you to use vintage small shaft tuners with later larger holes.

DO NOT use drill bits to enlarge the tuner holes though. Many manmy people have tried it, and nearly always the bit grabs and tears huge chunks out of half your holes. Intead, use a hand reamer, and don't worry about the fact that it will make a tapered hole. THis is the correct luthier's method.

As far as bridge and pickup choices, if you can store the original stuff and upgrade, go for it. I have to agree that even original Fender-made humbuckers in the tele deluxes were kinda weird, and the Electra copies are much the same. The staggered-coil pickups are really cool, but I can't say I like the sound of them.

One solution is to leave the entire pickguard intact with pickups installed, and get or make a new pickguard for your choice of new pickups. LIkewise save the bridge.

Here's my bottom line with customizing a guitar vs. keeping it original: rare unusual guitars, sure, keep em original. Otherwise, go ahead and customize a guitar to your liking IF the intent is to make it play better, and IF you can get what you like best by changing it rather than replacing it.

I've seen some people who want humbuckers on a single coil guitar, or a hardtail bridge on a trem guitar. Why carve up a perfectly good guitar when you can trade it for one better to your liking? It's like kids who get their first car and then are intent on customizing it when it would have been better just to start with something they liked better to begin with. To put it another way, if you assume this is the only guitar you can have, so customizing is the onyl way to get something different, then that's a mistake.

One interesting detail is that we don't really know which factory made the Electra deluxe teles, but my guess is it was Fujigen, who also made Ibanez and Greco, and who went on to build for Fender Japan in the 80's. Some Electra teles were pretty clearly not by them, but some may have been; if so this makes your tele an interesting missing link in history, the way Greco teles are.

Thank you so much for the info. The grovers are already in but no extra holes or big chunks. I would really like to bring this guitar back to at least sounding as good as it used to . This was My first electric guitar. i have since taken a liking to an old hohner les paul copy for the harder stuff but I still find myself picking this guitar up for anything from blues to rock-a-billy and even a few old punk tunes. From time to time switching problems frustrate me to the point that hang her on the wall for a few weeks buy i always find a reason to bring her down off of her perch and every time is like reuniting with old friend.