The Electra Forums

I just bought an Electra Omega, it has two chrome covered humbuckers with a 3-way toggle pickup selector, two volume and two tone pots. All the ones I've seen have a 5 position rotary pickup selector, an exposed coil pickup at the bridge, two knobs and two toggles, so I'm assuming it was altered to be more like a Gibson LP. I'm guessing it's between a '77 and a '81 model because it has the wave (Gumby hahaha) headstock, there is no serial number I can find. Also it has a bridge on it that looks like a Gibson ABR-1 with the wire across the tops of the intonation adjustment screws, is this original? I bought it to play, so it doesn't really make that much difference, I'm just curious. The Omega is a little noisy, seems to have a weak ground and I think the pickups need to be potted as they tend to squeal at high volume levels, I'm not sure what they are, aftermarket or Electras, but they have a really nice tone character to them. I paid $375 for the Omega a few days ago.

I also have an Electra MPC X 310, I changed the original crusty and corroded gold hardware (I hate gold hardware) out to chrome Tone Pros with chrome Grover tuners, put a matching set of Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers in it, bypassed all the original effects...a power overdrive and phase shifter (but left all the wiring intact in case I want to put it back later, and also kept the original hardware and pickups), and ran new wiring with a single volume pot and a 3-way pickup selector (in place of one of the original toggles, which is pushed down inside the wiring cavity along with the original volume pot).
I bought the MPC from a very good friend for $100 in 2004, it had originally been purchased new by his brother, he played it exclusively for 15 years until he bought a new Les Paul Standard, then he retired the MPC to his closet, where it remained until he died in 2003, so my friend kept his brothers Les Paul and sold me the Electra at a token price as a keepsake. It basically sat in my closet for about a year until one day I pulled it out and got to thinking the neck felt sweet and it had nice low action, but the hardware was totally worn out and I thought the pickups were ok but they didn't sound as sweet to me as a Gibson LPs, it's all a matter of personal preference, the original bridge pick sounded kind of muddy and dark to me, so I spent about $300 replacing the hardware and pickups and it has become one of my my favorite guitars, plays great, sounds great, looks great...I personally think it looks better with the chrome hardware and the matching black exposed coil pickups than it ever did with the gold hardware and mismatched pickups...I'll never part with it.

Beauties!

Good buy on the Omega;

Really like the black MPC X310!

RCSBlues

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RCSBlues

Thanks, I'm liking the Omega so far, when I got it the pickups were backwards in the bezels, and whenever I bent a string it was popping and creaking...the bridge was backwards, lol, the saddles had grooves worn in them from the strings being opposite, and the intonation adjustment screws were facing the tailpiece and the strings were actually hitting the heads of the intonation screws on their way to the tailpiece. I noticed on my Les Paul with the ABR-1 style bridge (which is what the Omega has) that the intonation screws face towards the neck, but another Les Paul I have has the Nashville style bridge, which has them facing the tailpiece. Turned everything around the right way, set up the action and intonation and it plays very nicely.
I like the X 340 model, the transparent brown finish is nice, I'm a sucker for woodgrains

Appreciated!

Check out a couple of cuts from a performance with it:

Kinetic Energy 1979 Jackson Street Live Audio Tracks
http://bandmix.com/rcsblues/
Click on either song to play on the right;
These are the full versions of these songs and they can be downloaded;
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed – 10:48;
Dreams I’ll Never See – 8.03.

RCSBlues

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RCSBlues

These and additional tracks have been free and downloadable for quite some time now -

http://www.reverbnation.com/rcsblues/songs

Enjoy!

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RCSBlues