The Electra Forums

So I met a fellow in a parking lot tonight and handed him $400. In exchange I got an X340 with a story and some unique features.

Columbus, Ohio hasn't had very many "famous" homegrown bands. One that came close was "The Godz", a heavy metal act that has played in one form or another since 1975. Their original guitarist was a guy named Ronnie Hughes, who now plays for Stranglehold, a Nugent tribute.

The guy I got this X340 from claims he bought it from Ronnie a few months ago and that Ronnie played out with it pretty consistently. The interesting thing here is that our local Electra dealer, the String Shoppe, from where I got my X130 in 1982, was tied in to the Godz in some way... I remember that much from the Eighties. So there's some plausibility to it.

On to the guitar.



What's this?



It's a trapeze tailpiece? And it looks like the ones Electra fitted to the early 335 clones.



You can see the holes. The guitar wasn't meant to have this tailpiece. But it's clearly old and beat up, same as the rest of the hardware. Incidentally, it's an 01xxx (have to go check) serial number, to make dating even weirder.

Let's look in the back.



I've never seen modules like these. They kind of work, too.



The wood is VERY dark and the hardware is beat up.

It's easily the loudest electric guitar I have ever played unplugged. It is LOUD, almost like a Martin Backpacker or something. Very loud, very resonant, a real player.

So. How do you guys think that trapeze got on there? Should I change it "back"?

If you want a guitar with some history to collect, leave it. Modules look like early epoxy...First run.
But on an interesting point if you check out the post on Redeyes X340.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=4924&start=30
we have Dale sockets on ours and modded open book head stock(A 76' I thought). You have a plain open book head with Amphenol sockets(and just when I thought I had it figured out). And if you have a foil sticker instead of a stamped serial, it wont make sense compared to a phoenix serial#. I think we need your FBI friend on the case. Before I was just confused, now I'm totally lost on any early dating.

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SlmGuy

I saw this one but did not know what to make of it so I let it pass. It is interesting in that my Elvin Bishop has the same trapeze tailpiece you have on this one. I have MPC modules(epoxy) ones like these and they are indeed the early ones. The seem to last without problems but if you ever have a problem then its done as it is encased in the epoxy. Very nice looking Axe for certain. If it has history and you like the way she plays then leave her be as is. It looks to be an easy fix to put her back to original. Great score Congratulations.

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Always give thanks for everyday, It may be your last so Rock On Semper Fi!!

This fellow needed cash *today* --- I drove 180 miles to pick it up. He wasn't going to ship, so you didn't miss out.

. . . . and he SCORES! Nice one Jack.

I vote for leaving it as-is, that's very unique!

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Who needs a Fender Jazz when you can get a perfectly good Spectrum bass for $50?

Hey Jack...I, also, would leave it as is....however, that tailpiece will most likely fetch upwards of 150.00 if you decide to remove it and go back to hardtail. The Ibanezers will grab that up.

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JD's Electras

I'm not a huge fan of LP's but that is a sweetheart; leave it be - it has some real mojo happening with that trapeze!!

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"... and on the eighth day, God created New Zealanders.

Because even the Australians need heroes."

I would change the tailpiece. To me it just doesn't look right and there's no advantage to a trapeze over a standard LP type tail. That's my opinion.