The Electra Forums

Did they keep the same spacing as the old guitars? My x300 series all have a longer spacing from the bridge to the stop tail than &!$son, which allows for better adjustment of the parts for low action.

You are right, I never noticed this before. My X330 and Leslie West does have a wider space between the tail and the bridge than my Gibson, my Xavier copy, my Endorser, or the new Electra Omega (seems to be like a Gibson). All things being equal, this would tend to decrease the string tension slightly.

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Thorny

Yes and allow for the stop tail to be adjusted lower with out the string hitting the bridge.

Yes, and original Les Pauls had the ABR type bridge which are narrower, so the smaller spacing isn't ever an issue with those. But the Nashville, Gotoh, and many import bridges (including electra) tend to be wider, so the wider spacing is beneficial with those. Makes sense. But Electra did not use it consistently. May have had to do with the individual makers Electra was using at the time (some did, and some didn't?). I think the Endorser is Matsumoku due to the MMK pickups and the small dots on the fretboard (consistent with their other guitars). Maybe Terada and/or Kasuga used wider spacing? Or maybe it is by particular model. I never really thought of it before when I owned a lot more Electras Right now I don't have enough variety of models to prove my theory.

Interesting observation.

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Thorny

Every single mpc model I have had and have has the wide spacing. Total of six guitars, 2-310s, 330, 340, 350 and a 940. All are 1976 except the 350 was a 77. Here is a new pick:

And all are likely either Kasuga or Terada... So you agree with me/I agree with you. The Endorser however, does not - and it is Matsumoku. Right now I only have the one example. There are some other models that had tuneomatics and MMKs - so I'd be interested in knowing what those were too. Maybe they also have the narrow Gibson bridge to tailpiece spacing.

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Thorny

Shackleton - those are some nice looking axes!

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RCSBlues

Yes, that is a NICE GROUP of guitars!

Shack, I noticed another thing too - the thinner (not as thick or wide, with smaller saddles and less travel) versions of the bridges actually tend to sound different. The Electra ones typically are wider ones like the Gotoh and close to the current Gibson ones. The narrower bridges are sized more like an ABR but they make them that use the same style metric adjustable posts. Those would possibly allow you to install one on an electra and it may not hit the bridge where it would on the larger sized tuneomatic. But you'd have less saddle travel available for adjustment. How do the smaller ABR-sized bridges sound? They seem to do some nice things to the midrange, and possibly change a bit of the note fundamental. This is all anecdotal and nothing has been done in a scientific manner. But some guitars sound better with that style bridge - even though it is smaller, generally cheaper, and not as adjustable. It can sometimes help liven up a guitar. Just like an aluminum tailpiece changes the tone. You wouldn't think it would as much as it can, but it really can be heard. My real LP has had the treatment with a faber abr-style bridge and a lightweight tail piece (aluminum). I got it from a tone junky, and prior to that I would not have suspected it made as much difference as it did. But it really makes a difference. With the electras, you could experiment with the cheaper ABR-sized import bridges just to see. People swap them out all the time to put on the bigger gotoh styled tunomatics. I used to do so too, but now I am less likely to do that (unless I really needed that extra travel to intonate it).

This might be old news to all of you. But I never really paid much attention to this until just a few years ago.

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Thorny