The Electra Forums

This is an all-black bass that is labeled "Electra-Westone". I'm not sure what the model is & would like to know. By looking through various sites, I think it's a Spectrum, but the label doesn't match. Another engraved piece reads "Made in Japan." Is this a knock-off of some kind? Does anyone know?

TIA

Definitely a spectrum body. if it's got a serial number, the first digit is most likely the year it was made. (I'd guess '84 based on the name/logo and pup config.)

the x-630's had brass hardware, and the x-650's had black hardware. the pup configs changed as the name migrated to Westone

it's a X-650JB in my opinion....

the '82 Electra X-650 just had the pbass style pups, and the '85 Westone X-650 had the big flat magnabass pup(s)....

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1984 X650JB as shown in the1984 catalog. Electra Westone branding was only around in 1984.

What he said. To answer your question- was this a knock-off? No, it was (and is) an excellent quality instrument designed by Tom Presely at SLM and built by Matsumoku. It's doubtful you'd find many modern instruments of equal or greater quality.

I'm biased, I love these things :) But seriously, it is way more than a knock-off, the body design (while obviously a double cutaway like many others) is original, and the Matsumoku-made pickups are second to none.

Congratulations, you've discovered the best-kept secret in guitars- these models are superlative quality and extremely inexpensive. But you know how it is- some people think it's junk unless it says 'Fender', 'Gibson', or 'Harley', regardless of actual quality.

Carlos Santana owned a bass just like this, how's that for an endorsement? :)

Hey, thanks, guys. I didn't know what I had.

Yes, the serial number starts with a "407", so that means it was made in July, 1984? It looks brand new! Thanks!

Thanks for your posts. I just picked up this exact same bass yesterday in a pawn shop for $40. It isn't in as nice as condition as the one you have in the pictures but very restorable. Originally I picked it up to use as a project bass to create a custom bass but the more I read about these basses the more I am considering restoring it to original. My serial number is 4072716 so I am assuming it is an 84. Thanks for help in identifying this thing.
Ltrain
P.S. I am still trying to figure out what all the switches and knobs do. I'm not sure if they all work but I assume the three way switch is for the pickups ( neck/blend/bridge ) and the two way switch is maybe for parallel and series? One knob seems to be a master volume but the other two I'm not sure. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

It is an 84 Electra Westone X650JB you can see it here:http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/x650.php. I bought mine brand new in Illinois and nothing could touch it for the money! The body was nicely rounded on the top rear side like a J-Bass and it has the split pickup, like for a P-Bass on the neck and a single coil J-Bass pickup on the Bridge. I got it for $235 and then spent an additional $125 for Bartolini pick ups. I used it as my main axe for about 16 years before getting a Carvin LB-70. I'm now in the process of converting the Electra to fretless. Can't wait to hear how it sounds. The Bass also came with a little toggle switch that put the pickups out of phase with each other. It sounded a little like an Envelope Filter that opened and closed very quickly.