The Electra Forums

i been loking for information on my guitar sence i got it the only thing wrong with it is the binding molding there is a picture of it with my sig

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Let's take that topic and make it it's own thread- that way people can reply and add their knowledge to the topic.

OK! Here we are!

Well, let's have a look. It does look like a 2228, silver hardware, right? It's a little hard to be sure in the photo. I'll try to straighten it out a bit here:

[img]http://www.rivercityamps.com/electrapage/images/jamessig[edit].jpg[/img]

It's pretty common for the trem arms to get lost on these. To be honest a tremolo like this is of such limited usefulness on a guitar like this, most players took them off, although they do make it easier to bend strings (even with jsut your fingers).

Binding (the plastic molding strips) is jsut plastic strips. People actually even use scraps cut from a bleach bottle, although those are usually too thin. You can buy this material from guitar suppliers like Stew-Mac:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bindings,_t ... nding.html

You can glue it right in with Duco cement, and you can use superglue to fill any gaps- this will also weld itself into the existing finish, and you should be prepared to sand it back with 600 and 1600 grit sandpaper and then rub it out with rubbing compound- but then it will shine and gleam better than new! (All this stuff you can get from an auto parts store- guitar finish is the same as auto finish, this is how you fix chips in a Corvette etc)

Assuming all is in good working order, a guitar liek this will normally sell for maybe $200 to $375 on ebay. Interestingly, it will probably be worth more in person, because the buyer doesn't have to guess whether it is any good to play. Some aren't- some have warped necks or lousy action or various problems. These models are actually capable of being really good players, if someone takes the time and effort to really set them up correctly. That's something you can do yourself- the question will remain how stable it remains- does it need adjusting all over again?

By all means this guitar -must- have new strings, because it's very vulnerable to intonation problems, and old cruddy strings will make it constantly out of tune. LIkewise be sure to coat the string grooves at teh nut with pencil dust, so the graphite will help the string move smoothly. Go over the tuners, spray them with cleaner and lube and make sure they're working freely, no ferrules missing.

You see how it is. If everything is kept in good shape, it can most likely be adjusted and made to be a good playing guitar- and that's worth $100 to the price, the difference between this guitar as a good player and one that's only suitable as a wallhanger (I have some like that, not this model, but it happens. Some old cheap guitars become useless, while others mature like fine wine. it jsut depends.)

If you are hoping that this is worth a lot to sell, this is bad news for you- though everything you can do to make it playable and adjusted correctly will add to the value.

If you are looking for this to be a good, reliable player... maybe so... but still that's open to question. For sure this guitar will be an excellent way to learn how to do guitar setup. You will master it, 100% guaranteed with this guitar. The question simply remains whether it stays great, or constantly has to be readjusted. It might be fine, my red one did (it had other problems).

Otherwise, it looks to be clean and mostly complete, in good shape. This is why I ask what you want from it- it might be more valuable as a collectors' piece than as a player (i.e. maybe better to sell it and buy something you like better that plays better?)

But it all depends. Sometimes these things have soul, sometimes they speak to you. A lot depends on preference. If it's all ya got, it's dang well better than nothing, I would have loved to have had this guitar at one time.

I don't plain to sell it just looking for information on it. i put new strings on it and it plays fine the neck is not warped and the person i got it from was and old blues musician in new orlean he kept it in its case when not playing it .

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Excellent! I've always felt these could be made good players if properly maintained- the fact that it's been kept up and played by a musician means a lot.

I really like the pickups in many of these early ones- actually single coil pickups under the covers, they have really sweet vintage sound.

Do you find that the neck is solid, the neck itself not prone to bending overmuch, and the neck joint is firm and doesn't shift or cause it to go out of tune?

I'm not picking on the guitar or you, these questions are really useful- your firsthand observations will be helpful to others looking at the same model.

I'm biased because the two slimlines I had were both in poor shape- one had the frets filed down to literally nothing (still played, amazingly, and is now in other loving hands) and the other was (and still is) a basket case that had the finish brutally chipped off.

Other archtops I have are other brands (GReco, unbranded) and not Electras- and they both have their instability issues. That performance is pretty typical of some of the period. Yet others are really solid and good (like Lyle, built by Matsumoku).

We don't know which of the factories made this guitar- it might have been Terada, who went on to make Gretsch, or Kasuga, who went on to make Epiphone, or the renowned Matsumoku, who made Aria Pro and later Electras. It could have even been Fujigen, who made Ibanez and Fender.

(my guess has always been that these were from distributor Arai, which probably means Kasuga or Matsumoku, but we just don't know. This is why we're trying to gather details, to sort this out.)

I'd love to hear any other playing impressions you have of the instrument. What do you play, and how is the guitar?

There are also a couple of forum regulars who have these models, I'm hoping they'll stop by and add their thoughts too.

Here are some pictures of one of these taken apart: