The Electra Forums

OK. I've been collecting this info for years, and finally "put it down" so to speak...

Electra Headstock Pictorial
The Scoop on the mighty Corsair basses
a Non-MPC Outlaw Bass
some other fun stuff...

and some of the projects I've done.....

Enjoy...

http://www.indysworld.com/guitars/

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Good job!

RCSBlues

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RCSBlues

That is way cool! Tons of Corsair Bass info backed up with photos. I especially liked the cavalcade of Headstocks, Excellent! At the risk of ticking you off, I didn't see the X510 (Howard Roberts) Concert Pro headstock under the Gibson area... just saying. Weren't there other 'pointy' headstocks too? In any event, lots of good info, thanks for your efforts, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

I by no means expect that the headstock show is complete... that's just what I had grabbed in the last few years, plus stuff on the bay right now... most likely pics of some of your rigs...

I will add as I find them, or as folks send me pics too... (hint hint....)

... and it takes an aweful lot to tick me off life's too short to be mad about stuff....

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

+1; really nice job there!!

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"... and on the eighth day, God created New Zealanders.

Because even the Australians need heroes."

Tell us about this bass with the early logo McB:

It's exactly like the logo on the Armstrong, which is the only place I'd ever seen it, and is generally recognized as the earliest of the SLM offerings:


I've never seen that on anything else but the lucite, great stuff.

That mpc-less Outlaw is a one off? TOO COOL!

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Awesome job and great info for us all. Thanks

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Always give thanks for everyday, It may be your last so Rock On Semper Fi!!

okay, I've added the Howard Roberts headstock, and a white cutout version...

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

and here...


and the above picture is a good illustration of same spec bass guitars sold by SLM, but sourced from 2 different factories...

Purely my own opinion, but I think the one on the left was made in the Fujigen factory, and the right at Matsumoku...

here's another page I added that I had done a while back...
http://www.indysworld.com/guitars/Electra/jazz-heads/
focusing on just the jazz bass copies (Longneckers)...

The manufacturers listed there again are just my guesses, based on many hours of reviewing Catalogue photos on Vintaxe.com, and discussions with X (Paul)... we were taking pictures of pup routes even to compare ... it was amazing to see the different style of routing used, and how you could see patterns and similarities even in them... I think that was a big breakthru Paul and I had in all this....

if you look at the headstocks page, and see all the fender bass copies with the polished/chrome metal truss rod cover... one of the things I noticed was that all of the guitars that I could find catalogue pics of, that had that chrome trc, were brands generally associated with Matsumoku. (Aria, Ventura, and some others)... also, very specific pickups and even pickguard material... the early electra tortoise shell material has a way different look than most of the others out there... and the early p & J basses used a particular type of single coil pickup (flat lipstick style) that I only found like 1 other brand that used it, again pointing back to Matt...

Also, take your Lucite one. model number 2255. fits right in with all the model numbers, but we don't see it in any catalogues... and it's not like it was the first model number in the lineup... the catalogue shown on this site as '72, I captures as a '73 cat from another site... sometimes you could find dealer stickers on the brochures, or scribblings as to approximate dates they were used..., but dating the early cats is difficult sometimes, as they didn't put dates on them like the later 70's.

As Paul showed earlier (oldest PCM thread) there were PCM Electras as early as '67 for sure, and there was a gentleman on this board who had a Violin bass that he got from a SLM sales rep I think in '68 (memory is starting to fade on that one....)

There's no pbass models that ever show up in the SLM catalogues, but I think from 69-71 there were pbass models sold alongside the Lucite.... from SLM....

One of the things that also made it harder trying to look for patterns in manufacturing or components, is that as they made more and more guitars, you could start to see the quality getting better and better....

now all of this was a couple of years ago, so I hope my recollection is sound, but no guarantees

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Those early Matsumoku Jazz heads are a perfect match to my Global.

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Addicted to Matsumoku.

...

thanks! it's added now....

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Hahaha. I was hoping for more info on this style, until I realized that's a picture of my guitar.

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Record Label: SAY-10
Records & Skateboarding.
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looks like there's a truss rod cover for your guitar on the bay right now....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Electra-197 ... 4146c3fe96

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

This is awesome, mcbrat!

I've got a strat copy (PCM, we think) that has a headstock exactly like the 4th from the left, first row under your "Late 80's Electras (PCM) ???" category. Same red color, same gold "digital" font, exact.

Could send you a pic if you want.

Heck, we need to get together some time. We're like 170 miles apart.....