The Electra Forums

Hi,
Just recently got an Electra guitar at a flea market. Believe it or not, paid $20 for the guitar and the hardshell case! This one appears to be a 2242, but I'm not 100% sure. It is a sunburst (more of a tobacco sunburst than a cherry sunburst). It is the Non-MPC model. It is a Les Paul copy, with the three way toggle switch, two volume knobs, and two tone knobs. This guitar was missing the bridge, tailpiece, and both pickups. I purchased reproduction Les Paul bridge and tailpiece, and they fit perfectly. I also purchased a pair of factory Epiphone Les Paul pickups and have installed them as well. After this, I had to replace one of the pots, as it was frozen stiff. After all of these repairs, I have sound in the bridge pickup, but do not get sound in the neck pickup. I did replace the jack to be sure this wasn't the problem. So, I need to get my hands on a wiring diagram to be sure someone hasn't altered the wiring sometime in its lifetime. (It appears someone may have done some soldering on one of the other pots). Does anyone know where I can get this schematic, or does the Electra schematic match the Gibson Les Paul schematic? Thanks so much!! (Please email antiquedealer@bellsouth.net if you can help me out!)

The 2242's I've had the same wiring as a Gibson or any similar H-H guitar with two volume and two tone knobs. (yours sounds like a 2245 if it's a sunburst: http://www.rivercityamps.com/electrapag ... 015-023616 )


There's a nice clear diagram of it here:

http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/braided.jpg

Note that typically Gibson and their imitators would connect the case of all four pots with a ground wire, but actually you shouldn't do that, it creates a ground loop and that can pick up noise. the diagram above is actually better- it doesn't matter how the grounds are all connected together so long as they are connected in a straight line (or 'star') with no loops. One popular way is to wire all the grounds to a single point like a washer and then connect that to the output jack. you could also connect to the pot case and many people do that, but the problem is pots can get damaged if you overheat them so I like to avoid making a pot the central ground point.

Original Gibson pickups, and older Electras without coil tap or phase reverse, use the braided wire shield as the pickup ground as well, rather than making it a seperate wire. The advantage of having the signal ground seperate from the shield ground is that it allows wiring mods like phase reverse and series/parallel. However, for restoring your early electra LP to original working condition, using the braided wire is jsut fine. (I can't help tinkering though, I like to disassemble the pickup and attach a wire to the connection between the two coils so I can add a coil tap switch, usually with a pull-switch pot. Coil tap is so useful on a humbucker guitar.)

Oh, and I think you got the Electra bargain of a lifetime. My 49$ Electra Phoenix (no case) doesn't even come close. Congratulations!

And I realize I didn't realize address your troubleshooting issue. Most of the time the selector switch is the culprit if there's no sound at all. What happens in the middle position? If only one pickup, then there's a connection missing for the other. If they're both dead, then one has a short somewhere.

I'd suggest getting a pair of test leads- alligator clips make it easy, but two wires will do- and attach them to the tip and shaft of a cable and plug it into your amp (at moderate volume, you know what happens when you touch the tip)

Then you can take your two wires and touch parts of the wiring to see what's up. I would start at the pickup leads, which most likely are attached to the volume pots. try touching the leads for the suspect pickup- can you get a signal? (thumping them mostly works but vibrating strings for sure- I use another guitar if that one's unstrung)

If no signal, try disconnecting the pickup and testing it on its own. Remember that different brand pickups use different colors for the leads, do you have more than a single hot lead and the shield ground?

ANyway, that should get you as far as knowing if it's the pickup or the wiring- if your test leads work just fine at the pot, suspect the selector switch next.

And I should have said- credit for the great schematic drawing above not to me, but to Deaf Eddie's site- he has more great stuff here, but be warned, he has a really loud rude audio clip that plays when you load the page. (I know, now you all have to go listen at it). I like his material on the Jimmy Page mod(s).

http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/