The Electra Forums

I have mine in a Gibson case, it provides WAYYY better support. Also, if you pull the nut for any reason, you'll have to glue it back in. The way the strings run over it, if it is loose it will pull down and your high E will not touch the fretboard for the first three frets.

Congrats on the Derringer! I am glad that at least 2 of these rare ones are within an hour of my house (yours and Guitrials).

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"This is the way that pop ends, Not with a BANG but with a box set whose fourth disc you never get around to playing” - Simon Reynolds

"My guitar wants to kill your Mama" - Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention

Thanks for all the comments guys. First, here is a picture showing the tiny neck support recess in the case, I'm putting a towel under the neck to raise it up even a little more. Will eventually cut some foam rubber as the body ends up not being supported much at all either.


Next here is a close up of the headstock crack, which is one of those things that looks bad, but really I think its pretty superficial. As these headstocks go, it could be a lot worse!


I've installed the new pickup, (after checking out the MPC diagrams in the resto area, thanks McB!) and well, it still didn't sound right, and the switch was acting really weird. I bought some Caig DeOxit and took a deep breath as I removed the pickguard yet again. Shielded the body with some plastic to protect from overspray and went to town on the switch (actually I was pretty conservative), using both the 'D' and 'Gold' formulas. All I can say is WOW, that stuff is worth the price. Now all the positions work fine, even the Neck pickup sounds better.

After this experience, I am starting to sympathize with people who yanked these 5 ways out. They can be really touchy, and it is an awkward ancient looking thing, very susceptible to corrosion. It truly does sound different, and finally positions 1 and 5 are working correctly. The new Gibson pickup is still having a hard time keeping up with the neck pickup (what did they make these out of!), but after adjusting the height I am starting to get a decent blend. If one pickup is too loud, the both pickup options (three of them on a 5 way) don't sound right.

The Angus was a trip. The box it came in literally had a couple of wax globs on the plexiglass! It had four conductor wiring, so many options were available, but I connected the two coils and used the standard wiring scheme for this vintage (two leads and a ground). It can really sing with some liberal overdrive and I found myself playing passages without a pick, just fretting notes and waiting for the sympathetic vibrations to take over. This body seems to resonate really well. Flipping the rotary to the different positions with this much gain proved it was in fact waxed very completely.

Will work up a video soon, don't mind showing this guy off at all, and here is it's new look with dual covered pickups, not too shabby if I say so myself:

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

lookin' good...

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

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JD's Electras

The guitar looks great! Be careful with foam rubber. I read somewher that it can react poorly with certain finishes. Actually the lack of neck support in that case kind of scares me just looking at it. FWIW the support in this case looks good.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKB-1SKB-63-Exp ... 45faad8a65

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t7eszO-OuM

I put up a video of the X910, tell me what you guys think. I spend some time explaining the 5-way and stuff, but there is plenty of riffing going on too. Cheers, Mike.

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

nice demo! good explanation of the 5-way

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

If you would just act like you were enjoying it ...........

LOL!

Really great riffs; love the 5 way switch demo;

I am glad that someone here owns and will play and appreciate it.

Great job and I am still kicking myself for not buying a new one years ago;

A really rare and beautiful axe; love those body lines.

RCSBlues

Great job on the demo video Mike. It sounds just as I remember my friends years ago. Plenty of power and rock solid resonance and sustain. Very good job on the demo and info on the 5 way.

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

Not sure if that is tongue in cheek or serious Randy! It was about 100 degrees in the studio that day, a bad hair day for me too (but who are we trying to impress anyway!!) and when I'm not tripping over my words I have to kind of concentrate when playing, so I'm the first one to say I look like a dweeb when I play! I'm hoping that most people are staring at the guitar and not my facial expressions!


Most of us are pretty familiar with the Tone Spectrum switch, but I figure that many casual YouTube viewers are totally clueless as to what is going on, so I wanted to try to explain the different switch setting and I recently figured out how to put the captions on there, so I went to town. I can't say enough about that Deoxit stuff man, it really fixed what I thought was a busted switch, and even brought the neck pickup back to life.

The guitar is a solid hunk of burnin' love, the neck is a bit big for me, but the way the chords ring through (that, and the cool shape) really put a grin on my face. It's a shame that more of them didn't survive as this is a really great guitar, and I hope that you all can play it sometime and see what I'm trying to describe.

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

I like the way the pickups sound together - seems to work well. I think the hair gave you a kind of mad scientist vibe - that seemed to work well for you too.

Just kidding you Mike -

I've been in your part of the world in the summer and I know it can get hot and muggy.

I thought you were acting like a kid in a candy store with your new axe;

But you didn't miss a lick;

Really a great job - with all of your videos.

Thanks for sharing.

RCSBlues

WOW!!

What a great find!!! I would love to get that lucky. Enjoy it well.

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Free Your Mind and Your A$$ Will Follow......

Good to see you again BTMN welcome back

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