The Electra Forums

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Don't want to gloat...

_________________
My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

it arrived. it's rough. shouldn't take too much to make it a player, but i can see why it was an orphan.

The expected damage to the bridge, typical really. Same old story- give monkey screwdriver, monkey says "gee, why are these six screws holding the bridge loose?" Tighten em down, then touch the whammy bar and whoops! The Tek-glide bridge is a fine 'vintage strat style' bridge, but it's made of cast pot metal, and I've seen many of then with the front edge chipped or broken off. This one at least is cosmetic but doesn't reach the screw mounting holes.

Other than that, a BIG chip off the side of the fingerboard at the first fret. Looks like it'll need some filling. Plus the usual dings and chips, which of course look really visible on the blue burst finish and would be hard to hide. It amounts to a candy apple blue sunburst.

The good news is the electronics are all intact and seem like they should get back together without too much trouble.

Hi X, what do these play like? I can't imagine what the sound would be like, eh! That body shape is very reminiscent of my Spectrum GT bass; is that a valid observation? My short-list of desirables is now exclusively Westone/Electra - I am such a fool, I mean, I'll never see what I want out here, and notwithstanding the offer of help - thank you so much! - what are the odds!!
And the freight would be a real killer, and that's before you approach the shipping companies handing of fragile guitars! Any thoughts?

Yeah, do you want this one?

Actually, seriously, if you paid the cost of shipping you'd want one in better condition I'm thinking.

What do they sound like? Hugely versatile. Those unbalanced coil humbuckers mean you can coil tap them without much volume drop- so they range from a very warm, sweet humbucker tone that ranges from jazz to warm rock tones. (people often assume they're Dimarzios) Then coil tap for a very nice thin single-coil sound, better than most tapped humbuckers. That gives a tonal range "from LP to tele" as someone put it. Then if you add a single coil or two to the mix, you get the more complex overtones of a strat-type pickup.

If I had to be critical, I'd say the single coil pickups have less of the overtones than what we think of as a strat pickup- maybe that's the weak point, but that's fine by me as I'm not crazy about the strat sound anyhow.

The necks are great, very responsive and great touch. Easy to adjust down to very low action if that's your bag, or more robust if you prefer. There are several different woods that were used in the bodies, the early ones had wonderful light ash with beautiful grain, and with brass nuts they have both a warm bottom end and a sharp spank. The later ones were maple- yes, solid maple bodies, and many are quite heavy! And that makes those particularly bright, good for that sharp distorted tone during the solid state 80's, or if you're a clean freak like me, they make for a very crisp bright jazz tone that can be rolled off to leave many beautiful harmonics behind.

Do I sound like I love these guitars? Yes, because even before being a collector, I'm a player, and these guitars are really wonderful to play. When I started collecting guitars I started getting other brands for a change, and I realized how much I'd gotten used to the high quality of The MAtsumoku-made Electras.

If you are going for one (and especially if you're facing high shipping costs), I'd suggest holding out for one of the really premium ones- the set neck Spectrum FX's, or one of the pointy ones that share the same deluxe pickups and electronics: the X-shaped Dimension IV, or the Monark, which is rather rare.

And shipping a solid body guitar isn't so bad, especially if you take the neck off (assuming it's a bolt-neck). I usually wind up paying aroun $100USD to ship a guitar from europe to the US, can it be much more to NZ?

Thanks for the offer! But you are right, I think - I'll hold out for the "right" one! My list is getting very specific; I've discovered, thanks to David Blair, that there is a Westone in S-H-S as well, so that at least broadens the chances of finding one, albeit slightly!

The tones sound really, really cool and I'd love to get my hands on one; here's hoping!! It doesn't hurt that they look icy, as well!!

So I'm after an H-S-H and an S-H-S, MUST be Uncle Matt and must be affordable!

I certainly hadn't thought of dismantling a guitar for shipping; what a good idea! And you're right, of course, shipping is a mere detail. In fact I have family all over the globe - and good mates as well - so there is always someone coming home. I'm thinking hand luggage!!

Thanks for the info - John's on the hunt!!

THe only S-H-S I know of is the X195, which by coincidence is the one we were talking about in this thread. :)

http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/x195.php

The Thunder III, version 3 - bottom of the page...

http://www.westone.info/thunder3v1.html

Cool, I didn't know about that one!

That looks like a real player! Beautiful pearl finish. I love the way the later Uncle Matt necks join to the body, too; it's really easy to get all the way up to the high frets. One of the things I love about my X-950.

Matthew