The Electra Forums

I'm going to be looking for another home for my 2248wc, that's an ivory Electra tele. I'll post pics soon, it's in good working order but someone has replaced the bridge pickup with a vintage foil-type pickup- sounds fantastic, and a great solution to an ungettable pickup. It's also one of the nicest faded ivory finishes I've ever seen, really dark like it sat in a display case window in the sunshine for a decade.

Anyway, I know some people are nuts for Electra teles, so if this is you, talk to me, I'll be glad to make a deal with friends before putting it on ebay. This thing is pretty, if I get really great pictures in sunset light it will drive the price up- but what I really want is a good home where someone will love it.

Pics to come soon.

Here it is:








I guess you'd have to call it a relic. For those who are into the beautiful weathering effects of rust, this one has it. This is the real thing, no phony rust here.




Somewhere I swer I have a pair of original correct knobs- weird flat chrome ones like hi-fi knobs. If I can find them they will go with this guitar.


Here's where the problems start: teh finish has this really severe cracking around the neck joint. But as far as I can tell, it's compeltely finish cracks. I've tried applying force and there's no sign of cracking in the wood beneath, although you can see the laminated layers. Anyway, this part of the guitar is clamped together by the neck screws and plate, so the body couldn't have cracked here.

What did happen is over time the finish contracted, and it cracked right over the laminated layers because that;s where the surface wasn't smooth.

Anyway, I don't know if that's enough to terrify away every ebay bidder, but it shouldn't be a cause for worry. In any case, if I'm wrong and it breaks apart, I'll buy it back- I'm not trying to give any one a bad deal. I think it's pretty clear that as bad as this looks, it's all cosmetic. I like to think of it as genuine relicking- the kind so horrific noone would dare fake it.



You can see that there's also some nice big chips taken out of the lower edge. I really wouldn't ever consider repairing this damage- this thing is a genuine relic, these are scars of life, and the remaining finish has such a gorgeous color that you could never patch it without it looking worse than a scar.






It's a nice playing guitar, and I'll gladly string it and do a setup to your liking. I do hope this strikes someone's fancy. It's a really beautiful guitar... it just deserves a good home where it gets played.

What are ya wanting for this baby?

Hey are those MOP fret markers? Can you describe the neck profile Paul? Hows the intonation? I've never been a big fan of the 'goofy' logo Electras, I kinda associate them with the cheaper PCM line, but this one's got me intrigued. (is this a PCM?) What's that bridge pickup sound like through a tube amp at 8? I bet it would look nice with a black pickguard and stocker looking single coil. I like the leaf truss rod cover. Did you ever finish that Vulcan? Cheers, Mike.

I didn't finish the Vulcan yet , it's going to be a loss I think- I've got like $200 into the parts and I don't know if anyone would pay that for a Vulcan with a repaired neck. But that's another story.

I think the markers are Mother-of Toiletseat, I'll have to check next time I'm upstairs. Neck profile is moderate- not too far from a typical modern MIM tele. Small and tele-like but not super-thin, nor a baseball bat D. It's actually probably closer to modern tele tastes than the CBS Fenders were. Intonation is fine- with setup, meaning the nut is not screwed up. YOu can set the action well, which means the neck & joint aren't screwed up.

Don't judge Electras by their logo- the same logos were used by different factories; PCM and SLM used the same original art and had them printed on either. You can't really use it to determine which factory made it, either. THis isn't a PCM Electra (I mean- qualified by the fact that early on it's possible PCM ordered the same exact models as SLM, we don't know as they didn't have catalogs). But it isn't one of the early X-headstock or later Korean PCM's we love and dread.

What does it sound like- that's the question, isn't it? I've been meaning to make some recordings... actually I'm selling a couple other (non-Electra) guitars shortly (a Dano Baritone and a Jolana Iris thinline), and it helps to have sound clips. For me this would be critical in choosing somethign like this.

Black Pickguard... sure maybe... I like blackguards too, but this isn't really the yellow of Fender Blonde, it's the Yellow of faded Vintage White, only it was painted in a 'faded' yellow shade to begin with and since then it's gotten really yellow! But if it's a vintage tele look you want, a white picjguard is more correct on a Vintage White tele. I like keeping it stock as much as possible too- this thing has gone through a lot and has plenty of soul, it deserves not to lose its hardware or detail bits jsut to follw the taste of a time.

The single coil... yes, that's the big issue with this guitar. And it's a serious one. REalize- that bridge plate, that funky rounded bridge plate, has a really small cutout and accompanying screw locations, and the body rout is really deep and narrow. That means the bridge pickup is smaller AND taller than any known pickup of any kind- there's no replacement I've ever found that would fit it.

Here's a stock bridge plate and pickup:




when one of these teles loses a bridge pickup it's a big problem. It's interesting that the PO found this solution, which is funky but actually really cool and vintage, since it's an old foil-like single coil. When I faced the same problem with my other 2248, the telerez (see repairs area) I at least had the pickup cover. So I trimmed a modern MIM tele bridge pickup to fit- but it was a really tight squeeze, I had to chop that thing down to the coils, I could hardly believe it would fit and the screw mounting was a butchery job. But it could be done- if you had a pickup cover, which this doesn't have. without the cover you see the poles mis-centered and see that it wasn't really the right fit.

I thought a lot about this one too, and wondered what I shoudl do, and wound up thinking it was best to leave it jsut as is. Because if you try to ream out the bridge plate, it'll be a mess, and that alters it even further from original. Unless a plan is really clean, I would rather not make it worse. LIkewise you could replace the bridgeplate with a more conventional straight-sided bridge plate, but the faded paint will show a clear outline where it was. Better to leave the bridge original. At least it has barrel-shaped tele saddles instead of angle irons like some models- work great, look cheesy.

Was the 2248wc made by Kasuga? I don't think so. I have a bunch of vintage teles, and they kinda fall into three camps based on details as well as feel. This one falls in there with the Electra 2270 and early National teles. I don't think Kasuga made any of the Electra teles we know of. I have one Kasuga tele (a Conrad) and it feels quite different as well as having different hardware.

To me it feels like Fujigen. I have a Matsumoku tele (a Pearl, from Europe) and it's way different too, and lacks either of the funky hardware details- the bridge and truss rod cover.


What do I want for it? A good home, somebody who will try to make it better rather than worse, give it lots of TLC and forgive its flaws. Assured of all that, I'd take $250 + shipping. In some ways it's really nicer than that but honestly the flaws are what they are. If I list it on ebay I'll probably try higher, but that's about (or maybe less than) what I have in it.

But seriously, lemme record some clips with this thing. If it turns out the bridge pickup is dead that changes everything.

If I sell a guitar to someone, and it turns out to be broken or a problem, I'll work with you to either fix it or I'll take it back. I want these things to find good homes, not homes that are unhappy with them.

Thanks; looking forward to the sound clips......

What about making a pickup?? Would it be possible to find a bobbin similiar to the old one. Or making a bobbin? I heard of a company that makes custon bobbins. Don't ask me who I just heard of one.

Good point. You could certainly have a custom pickup wound. I probably have the core original bridge pickup (in pieces) from my other 2248 for it.