The Electra Forums

Folks,
I'm looking for a coke-bottle shape Electra bridge (I think its a string-thru) for my 2238. I'm replacing an ill-considered mod - a Fender bridge that spaces the strings a bit too wide for the fretboard.
Thanks!

Here's the stock bridgeplate on my 2238 (body would have been all black originally...) with some compensated brass saddles I put on it. The 'Barrel' type saddles (non-grooved) worked good as the strings will find the right spacing on their own. The saddles that were on there when I bought it were grooved and the spacing was way too wide for the neck as you mentioned. One of the things I really like about this guitar is the tiny neck, may not be for everyone, but I dig it. Also has a 24.5" neck scale unlike a Fender, another plus if you ask me.

The bridge plate itself is nothing to write home about, and you can see that new holes had to be drilled to accommodate a standard Tele bridge pickup mounting screws, and as X189player and I both found out, the original hole for the bridge pickup is tiny, you either have to whittle a standard pickup down, or enlarge the hole to get one to fit.

There may be a 'string through' version, but as you can see on mine the strings thread through the back of the bridge on top, not through the body. Mine is a pretty early version with pearl (not black) fret markers only to the 17th fret, so possibly later versions had a different bridge, I don't know.

Does the bridge on yours currently have six separate saddles or three bars like mine? Is the output jack on the control plate or the side of the guitar? Post some pics and tell us how things progress, Cheers, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

P.S. yeah those necks are skinny, here is a picture showing how the strings don't quite line up with the Neck pickup pole-pieces , but are correct for the neck width:

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Mike, nice guitar! A previous owner installed a fender bridge with 6 barrels on mine. Yes, the jack is on the control plate and the dots look the same as yours, so maybe an early model as well.

I took some pictures but can't seem to find a way to upload them -- I'm sure the button is right in front of me...

I been using the Electra as a test bed to learn wiring and build. I swapped out the bridge pickup (chrome cover) because it was way shrill, and then swapped the humbucker to get a better volume balance, since I really like the mid -switch position and wanted a nicer blend. I changed all pots and switches as well. There's also a tele mod involving changing the tone pot to volume connection, moving the wire to the center lug on the volume pot.

I''m not sure if it sounds a lot better, but it was fun to do! Oh, and I sanded that yellow poly stuff off the back of neck.

Have fun,
Peter

Plev, there is an Img button (image) in the post a reply screen just above the text box, when you click that it will insert some html code and you just paste your hosted picture url between the two commands. I always preview before submitting to make sure it looks right (some pictures are huge!) and lined up with the text correctly.

I too had a hard time getting a good blend between the two pickups. A Bridge single coil has a hard time hanging with a humbucker in the Neck position where the strings vibrate a lot more and are louder. I ended up mounting the neck humbucker right to the body, well under the pickguard as you can see by the lack of visible mounting screws there! But the pickups finally got a blend to my ears.

Always keep the stock parts if you mod one of these Electras for originality sake, or gearheads like us who need the hardware. 'Buck Owens' was heavily modded (like yours) before I got it, so I didn't feel too bad changing some stuff and making it a playable axe. The new pickups are hotter, the bridge has better intonation and the sealed tuners (already there when I got it) are a definite upgrade. Its not real collectible anymore, but I'll be keeping this one for a while anyway, and I've only got about $150 into it, so its no big deal! Cheers, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Mike, got the pics working - here are some photos of the beast:

Well heck man, that doesn't look too bad at all, in fact thats a sharp looking little guitar there Peter! I like the aged pickup switch topper, and your pickguard is much better looking than mine (and still has all the mounting screws!). The control plate on mine kinda bows up in the middle like that too.

I can't really tell how the strings line up with the neck from those pics, but I assume the E strings are getting close to the edge or you wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place. I see the extra pickup mounting holes on the bridge, which lends me to believe the pickup you took out was probably the stock (cheesy!!) pickup, or at least it was in there at one point.

You'd have to be pretty lucky to come across the stock Bridge somewhere, but I don't want to sound too pessimistic... you may be able to fabricate one from scratch, as there isn't that much too it. It may be tough to retrofit that Fender bridge with three bars like mine (which solved the spacing issue) but who knows, maybe there is enough space on the ends for (even) more holes. I had to file down the ends of the compensated brass saddles I bought (under 20 bucks) to fit close enough together, but that was easy. The six barrels you've got allow for better intonation, but don't give you any room to shave them down to fit closer together, so you do have a little bit of a dilemma there. Chew on it for a while, and tell us what you come up with.

Overall, I really like the way these tele's play, and I think it's worth the effort to get it so that you enjoy playing it, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

If you can't find a bridge, you could try replacing the saddles with a roller type. That should free up some some room for string alignment.

Thanks for the compliments! At times this has been my fave guitar. I'll think about looking for or making less wide barrels. The set screws are too near the edges on the current barrels for me to grind them down. Roller bridges might work but I dont want to get too far from a Tele feel.

I saw a rusted-up Electra bridge on ebay a few months back, but it started too high at around $40, it was reposted for less but I lost track.

I'll keep you posted

This vintage style bridge might do it for you. It's 76.5 wide as opposed to 80.5. Might be enough to do the trick.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/Vintage-S ... _p_29.html

Interesting. 7.6 is the width of my current bridge - I guess the key is the barrel width and position. I'll see if I can get a bit more detail from them. Thanks

I think the barrels included with that bridge are grooved, but at least that gets you back to three bars which gives you some options. I think the set of brass compensated (un-grooved) barrels I bought were about $20 bucks shipped. I did end up filing the ends of the barrels to fit closer together. Not to make a bunch of extra work for you, but it sounds like you're having fun working on this one, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Yeah it's totally fun messing with this axe. That's what's so nice about these cheap Electras - there's nothing at stake if I go wrong - anyway everything I'm doing is reversible.