The Electra Forums

I just picked this guy up from ebay and it was delivered today. Missing a tuner button, 3 way switch tip, and a knob. It was very dirty and that sure must have helped keep the price down. I had a button for the tuner and I have a correct knob floating around someplace. I know these are made by our beloved Uncle Mat and I figured the chances of coming up with an Electra V are slim, so I'd go after this one. It's really in pretty good shape cosmetically no big (or small) cracks or dings through the finish. The horns are in real nice shape too. I was very happy to discover MMK 45's inside. The neck pickup is fantastic just like a 45 should be, the bridge is VERY trebly - so much so that I think there must be something iffy about it. Maybe it's wired funny or the cap is desoldered from the pot. I'll need to open her up again and have a look. So, Neck pup sounds real nice, Neck and Bridge together are nice, but bridge alone is not so good as it is. Has anyone had any experience with these? I'm wondering if the bridge should be so harsh.






I just noticed from the pictures that the bridge pickup looks like it's upside down. Another anomaly about this guitar is that the neck plate is installed upside down as well. Someone clearly did some tinkering. It plays really well, very little fret wear, and has better sustain on it than I expected. Once I get it sorted out, it'll be a real fine player.

Looks like a solid rocker to me. great score, clean it up,tune it up, crank it up and rock on.

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

MMK's huh, that's cool, my Flying Wedge does NOT have MMK's in it. Obviously the bridge pickup is always going to be brighter than the neck pickup ( because of the location, the string harmonics are higher closer to the bridge, or string 'starting point') but this one must be abnormally tinty for you to mention it. Not sure what to tell you, except that after 30 years some pickups do fail. I had a Dimarzio SD that lost about 60% of its volume and bass response almost overnight, which I figured was a short in the coil somewhere... but I never took it apart or anything, just a guess.

The two pickups should be going opposite directions, this puts the pickups in phase. If they were both going the same direction (ala Peter Green, Brian Moore, Jimmy Page) the pickups will be out of phase when you're in the 'Both' pickup mode, which will give you a thinner 'boinkier' sound. Some people like that tone (see above!), but normally the two pickups should be like yours.

A lot of times I'll see pickups going the same direction in auctions (from the top you can see that one end of the pickup has one pair of tiny holes in the bobbin, the other end has two pairs of tiny holes), and at that point you know 'someone' has been in there playing around, or simply didn't reassemble the guitar correctly... which always makes my eyebrows raise a little.

It looks like a really nice example man, good call! I remember back when you were getting rid of a bunch of guitars Jead, looks like that trend has changed lately! Enjoy, Mike.

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

Mike, I'm still kind of selling by necessity - right now my MIJ Squier Strat I've had since about '85, and an X730 will be going on the block soon - probably the supercharged ebony neck one. I've been lucky enough to pick up a few days work lately and I've scoured the bargain bin for the 2259, this V and the "fretless" bass. I can't seem to pass up achep but fixable Electra.
I always thought the leads from the pickups should be either coming out towards the pots or coming out from the same side. The neck one looks "normal" to me but the bridge does look flipped. I think I remember you mentioning Duane Allman as another guy with out of phase buckers. Regardless, I'll test that pickup for continuity and probably rewire like the diagram below. If I recall, your wedge has super magnaflux's?

Well, I was going to re-wire but when I opened her up again I found that the wiring was nearly exactly like the schematic above except for the cap. The legs on the cap weren't long enough for the job so I put it back and rehit all the solder points. It's exactly the same. Very trebly bridge with seemingly a fair bit less power. Both pickups measured about 10.7 so they're plenty hot. I didn't flip the bridge pup either as what Mike said makes sense even if I'm used to seeing leads all to one side. I'm now officially confused by the pickup situation. Anyone have a diagram that might prove the bridge is what it's supposed to be?

Good to see that V landed with a forum member. I had it on my watch list and was tempted to take a whack at it myself.

At one time I thunk I was gonna get a V collection going but it never "got off the ground" after my V2.

'85 Squier you say?? E- series serial number per chance? FujiGen Gakki build one might hope?

Hey bigboy, why don'cha call me sometime........SOON!

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...throw me a frickin' bone here, people...

E series it is. And a Fuji Gen I do believe. All fender vintage spec parts except pots and pups which have been changed to REAL Fender Vintage noiseless. 7.5 radius neck too. It's a good 'un.

A color other than red? (He asks hopefully as his mouth continues to water)

We are in complete agreement on this... they are good 'uns!!!

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...throw me a frickin' bone here, people...

This is a color other than red. Matter of fact it's much different from red. I also changed it to REAL 5 way switching.

You, uhh, didn't buy that as the 4th owner from a guy in Apple Valley, Mn. by any chance?

My 1st guitar was that exact model and color. I purchased it absolute mint condition from the original owner in 1987 and sold it along with a Boss Turbo Distortion 2 pedal a little more than a year later to my buddy Paul.

I have always regretted that sale (picked up the red one as new "old" stock in '89) and have always held onto the idea that one day.....one day..... I would redeem myself from that moment of poor judgement.

If you are truly sincere about having to let that one go anytime in the future, please know that you already have one VERY interested party to contact.

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...throw me a frickin' bone here, people...

I bought it new. 2nd electric guitar I ever bought. It's on ebay right now and has less than 24 hrs to go.

Cool. If it does not go there pm me with your lowest acceptable price on it. Thanks Jead, good luck with the V!

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...throw me a frickin' bone here, people...

BAD NEWS - After futzing around with the wiring today I found the bridge pickup is dead - well half dead anyway. One of the coils still has continuity - the other dead as a doornail. Naturally the other humbuckers I have available don't fit the opening. This was a single wire bucker and now I'm kind of out of luck without another. MAJOR BUMMER! I'm going to post a grovel in the parts wanted area and hope for some pity.

Man that sucks. Same exact scenario occurred to me a couple months back with a Genesis (xa1530) I had purchased. Ended up being one of the solder joins inside that dead half had disconnected. CAREFULLY unwrapped it and resoldered it and now is good to go again. Perhaps yours has the same fix needed?

Already had a SD Parallel Axis Distortion purchased and installed though so now it will sit till I decide someday to refit it back to original specs.

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...throw me a frickin' bone here, people...

I unwrapped it and disconnected the leads wiring the coils together - one coil dead the other OK. In effect that was giving me a coil tap effect and that explains perfectly the boinky, trebly sound and volume drop I was getting. Each single coil is also wrapped and I haven't unwrapped the offender yet. I pretty much figured there was a break in the winding and it was shot but I really should go the extra step and have a look inside there I guess. At this point it can't hurt anything. It's encouraging to hear you had success with yours.