The Electra Forums

Hi. My first post here. I have two Workingman guitars, both black x290s. The first one I bought May 2 on Ebay for $190. The second one I bought about a week ago at Reverb for $225, and it's a beauty, in really good shape and came with a good setup, no fret wear - or recently dressed frets. Other than a few small blemishes it almost looks new.

The first one has a problem. When I tap on the body, the neck pickup reproduces the tapping fairly loud. I think the problem might also be increasing the noise from my hand on the strings?
Can anyone tell me what causes this and what repair it needs?

Other than this problem, the guitar plays and sounds great.

I had a complete setup done on that one at Subway Guitars in Berkeley CA.
If you happen to live in the San Francisco area, this is a guitar shop you should know about. They did a complete setup and cleaned and polished the fret board, for $34, including new strings. They adjusted the truss rod, shimmed and filed the nut, adjusted action and intonation at the bridge, cleaned the pots and switches and adjusted the pickup height.

And the proprietor, Fatdog John, has tons of used and vintage guitars, with a warehouse that contains probably 3,000 guitars, plus amps, parts etc. fatdawg dot com will get you his website.
48 years in business in Berkeley. And yes he has some Matsumoku guitars, probably some Electras.

Okay, I officially have the Electra bug. Yesterday. I bought an x260 Invicta for $200 on Ebay. I was not only the only bidder, but the only one watching the auction. That's because somehow it got listed under acoustic guitars and the listing didn't say what model it was.

Thanks for any feedback or help regarding the pickup/body noise.

Hello, and welcome to the Forums. It is fairly common for pickups to be Microphonic, see the video below for a demonstration of 'before and after' waxing a pickup. In the old days they even called pickups mic's. My brother used to have a Teisco that you could literally talk into the pickup with! This is very typical of Japanese pickups, and the effect is exaggerated when used with overdrive or distortion. Many purists prefer the sound of an unwaxed pickup, they tend to be brighter and more "Lively" than a waxed or potted pickup, all the original Gibson PAFs were unwaxed. Again, the drawback is at loud volumes, they will feedback.

As I understand it, the windings in the pickup coil can basically vibrate causing them to amplify more than just the magnetic fluctuations of the guitar strings that they were designed to. By waxing the pickup, this seals the wires, and keeps them from moving (and greatly reduces feedback or howling). Just keep in mind that the tone of the pickup can be significantly changed after being waxed though, the most obvious result being sometimes a big loss of high end 'brilliance'.

Congrats on your new collection, and post some photos when you get the chance. Cheers, Mike.

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

Thanks for the response. I think I'll leave the pickups alone, based on what you said, at least for now. After all, I don't tap on the body as I play, and maybe some of that string lubricant will help with hand on strings sounds.
By the way, I'm the person who recently asked you about a missing tone pot on an Electra x270 at your YouTube videos. I also asked about comparing sound qualities of pickups on an Aria Stray Cat and on my Workingman, with supposedly the same pickups.

Regarding the pickups, I saw a Stray Cat listing on Ebay that said the guitar has Protomatic IV pickups. If true, that would explain why they sound so different.

Regarding the x270, I messaged the seller twice, asking if the guitar still had the EQ boost circuitry and he never responded. A tone pot is missing and one switch is not hooked up. If anyone is interested, it will probably be relisted soon on ebay, as he has done so in the past. - "Vintage Electra Eleictric Guitar Solid body Mahagany Set Neck Nice"- is how it's been listed (mispelled words included), for $349

I appreciate you sharing what you know. And I enjoy your videos.
Cheers