The Electra Forums

Recently, a website, electraguitars.com surfaced. I e-mailed the owner, and he says "The plan is to eventually bring out Electra guitars."
Now, they could be a small line of hand built guitars, mass marketed, or this is just a hoax. But, I'm not willing to beleive the last one.
If it's true, well, all I can say is yes, please.
Line me up.

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Addicted to Matsumoku.

welp I guess I missed the boat on custom electra modules or I'll just call them felectra or something

...

are you sure that it's really Crate or someone affiliated with Electra originally? Doesn't sound kosher at this time.

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Peavey 5150 w/Bias mod
Custom 4x12 birch cab w/Celestion G12T-75's
Ibanez TS808 OD w/Monte Allums mod
ISP Decimator
Electra X260 Invicta
Ibanez RG320DXQM

I don't see how anyone can use the Electra name without the current owner of the trademark - loud technologies. They were making Crate Electra guitars - if not currently it was only a few years ago. I was sad to see that, as they were very cheap low quality imports.

But, who knows? I thought about looking into it too several times. But that is as far as it has gotten. If he does not own the trademark expect Loud to find out and squash him like a bug. If you DOES - man I wish him the best!

There are not that many hurdles to making a current MPC - the only real ones would be the 150K pots (easy, just order enough and alpha or anyone will make them for you) and the sockets for the modules. Those could be cloned in minutes by some company in China. We all know all the other parts can be off the shelf or close to it. Some off the shelf parts are pretty good these days. Not everything electra was terrific, but most of it was good. Good keys, good hardware, decent finishes, good construction (for the most part). Sometimes it was superb, sometimes it was not - but most of the time very good.

Would someone repro the guitars or just put out more junk ruining the good name? Would they put out the same old copies stamped out in korea, vietnam, indonesia, malaysia, and china? I hope not. I can't see them putting out a high dollar US brand - that would not make sense. Electra's were not "high dollar" guitars - even though some were not inexpensive and very high quality - most were moderately priced.

I can see someone putting out stacks of inexpensive clones and using the name since it is recognized. That is what the Crate Electra was doing - very inexpensive stuff. That is probably what will happen if anything happens. I don't think it actually will happen. But I am eager to see - and hopeful for the best. I just don't want some garbage to come out that will reflect poorly on the good guitars I already have. I would rather something excellent come out.

I think Electra's former place is filled by companies today such as Schecter. They put out very good stuff - great electronics, high quality, well built, good hardware too. They have some original designs, and some innovative wiring too on some models. They can be expensive but you get a LOT of bang for the buck. They also can be fairly expensive. But they always will be about 1/2 or less than a Gibson, and they will likely play better (their more expensive models that is). That is a LOT like electra was doing in its time.

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Thorny

You know, there's a red Crate electra at a local shop for 40 bucks. I was thinking of buying it as a project guitar.

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Addicted to Matsumoku.

Well - it is probably worth that!

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Thorny

Yeah. Well, it'll take some saving, I just spent most of my money on a morely Bad Horsie wah, but I'm not complaining.

You know, I've been drawing up tons of designs of new Electra models.
I only hope that the new ones, if made, look like theo ld models, I mean orignals, not copies.

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Addicted to Matsumoku.

Rondo Music is today's "Electra Guitar Company" IMO. I bought an SX bass from them with a really nice hardshell case for less than $200 including shipping and it rivals a MIM Fender P-Bass - especially when I swapped out the pickups with alnicos from a USA Fender!

A friend of mine bought a Strat copy for $99 and a super nice Agile PRS look alike (real quilted maple top and "Custom Shop" quality finishing) for less than $300!

These are "Made in China" which has the same stigma today that "Made in Japan" had in the 70s! China is coming out with some really deacent guitars for bargain prices now! Ever hear of Blue Ridge Guitars or Epiphone Masterbuilt???

I own one of those! I love the thing to death., Has a col finish too.
And of course, USA Fender pickups just can't lead you wrong.
I dunno, I can't adjust to chinese guitars, I like guitars by American companies, and a few Japanese imports, that AREN'T Ibanez.

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Addicted to Matsumoku.

I'm not sure how old you are but "Jap junk" was a single word we used to describe import guitars back in the 1970s! Alvarez Yairi line was possibly the first Japanese guitar company to offer an acoustic guitar that seriously rivaled the "American standards" of Gibson, Guild, and Martin. Back in the 1980s (When I got mine), you could get one for about$400 that was every bit as good as a $1,000 Martin (I'll put my DY-45 up against a Martin D-18 any day!). Nowadays they are right up there in price with Taylor and Martin and sometimes the Martin models actually win out in cost! Lots of pros today using Takamine, Alvarez, Ibanez, and Yamaha as their main guitars. All of the "Top of the Line" models are now "Made in Japan" with lesser models made in Korea and elsewhere. Guess what is happening with the Korea models, especially with the Japanese labor rates and the exchange rate of the Yen?

Granted, the main attraction of a well-made Chinese guitar is that you are getting a quality instrument for a fraction of what you would pay for something comparable to what is made in USA or Japan. I played a "Made in China" Blueridge guitar that was priced at about $1,500 at a music store in California. Now granted this guitar was comparable in quality to a $5,000 Martin D-45 but I still wasn't about to spend this kind of money for a "Made in China" guitar so cost does weigh in to where the guitar is made.