The Electra Forums

Can anyone help me with this hollowbody Electra?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3078/273 ... a7.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/273 ... e6.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/273 ... f4.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3148/273 ... 55.jpg?v=0

Can't seem to find that headstock on anything although it kind of looks like some of the examples.

Well, it's got the trademark wave headstock and the logo, but doesn't look entirely like a Slim-acoustic. Is there any serial number on it?

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Addicted to Matsumoku.

No serial number that I can find anywhere.

It looks like a PCM product (at least by the logo).

Wel, it definitely needs some help.
You getting it fixed up?

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Addicted to Matsumoku.

Yep, that's a PCM Electra- recognizable by the black logo on a white rectangle. It's probably from the late 60's or early 70's, probably made by Kasuga or Arai.

For years everybody warned away from these models, and some PCM Electras are awful. But the early ones are quite interesting, and certainly valuable as collector's items.

As musical instruments to play? Think Teisco and youa ren't far wrong. Yes, with care they can be made to play fairly, though they can be flimsy and unstable. Pickups on thes old vintage guitars often have a really lovely twangy tone we'd call 'surfish'.

Older hollowbodies can be problematic, as the neck pockets frequently warp. If this happens you can give it new life by shimming the neck. At this period the Japanese factories were starting to make hollowbodies, and sometimes they got it right and sometimes there were problems. I've found some to have overly-flexible necks, for instance.

But it's certainly a cool guitar, worth preserving and fixing and making playable.