The Electra Forums

Hello everyone. I've been visiting the page here for a while just admiring all the cool Electra's, and I decided to join the club. I found a trio of Electra's in a pawnshop and picked them up yesterday. I got the shop to make me a "package" deal on all 3,and I think I came out o.k. Anyway I'm glad to be part of this community and would like to learn more about these cool line of guitars. Here are my 3 that I picked up,and I'd like to see if I can confirm the age of the guitars. The Red is a '81? MPC X-320, middle is a '72? 2244, and the right is a '77? MPC X-310. I'd appreciate any corrections to the dates.Thanks in advance for all the info.




Here were 2 hanging on the wall at the pawnshop:

Hey Tex....how lucky can you get? They look very nice. I've found just one around here (eastern NC) in 5 years of looking. Strange, isn't it?

And hey....welcome to the forums.

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JD's Electras

Welcome. That's quite a first post - 3 Electras in one fell swoop and 2 MPC's! I hope a couple modules came with the guitars. As far as your dating goes - it sounds like you are pretty close. The serial numbers would help if you have them although they are not always conclusive. Check inside your MPC control cavities for a cloth tab used for the 9v battery. Sometimes there are dates on that tab. Congrats on what appears to be 3 real nice guitars - and thanks for the pictures!

I just noticed the sticker under the guitars "Gun Control means using Both Hands". I think that's a good one!

Thanks Jead. The Black MPC came with the Modules (Phase Shifter & Power Drive) so I can check inside the cavity,but the Red didn't come with any. Thanks for the info.





Thanks JD. I get pretty lucky at the Pawnshops,but it takes making the rounds everyday. I'm an outside salesman with a 75 mile radius route which allows me to hit a lot of shops along the way.

Now thats egas in a good way for certain. Congrats on a great first Electra score. Those are three beauties you have there and Wow 2 MPC's on a first score also. Welcome to the forums. I agree with Jead that there shouls be a small white cloth tab inside the MPC compartment for the 9 volt battery. Sometimes there is a daate printed in black on that. If not then if yours have the silver foil tabs on the back of the headstock you can narrow the production year down to a specific time frame at best. Thanks for the pics and Welcome. Looks like ya got the egas bug going full speed. Arthur

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

Thanks mortarman. I appreciate the additional info. I'm sure it'll help. Yea, Egas for sure.

Welcome aboard. Would like to see a closeup of the Red MPC's headstock back... looks like a stamped s/n, which would be unusual, but maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me. As far as dating, I thought the LP shapes were generally discontinued by 1980, so another reason why I'd like to see that marking. The 'wave' headstock is introduced in '77, or late '76, so big red was made after that.

The rarest bird you picked up is the Black MPC, open book headstock, so one of the early ones, and the MPC compartment is held in place with the two thumbscrews, another clue that it is a very early MPC. It would be replaced shortly by a one hinge design, and finally a two hinge cover that would stay with the model until it was discontinued. Again, because of the headstock shape, we can estimate a 1975 build date, and hoping there is a date stamp on the cloth Battery pull.

They all look pretty clean and straight (original), congrats. I agree with JD, I rarely see these in the pawn shops up here (despite their pawn shop reputation), and to find three clean ones is a great run of luck.

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

Welcome aboard and congrats on your purchases - 3 in 1!

MPC X340 – SN 15487 purchased new in 1977 and
MPC X330 – SN 11193 – apparently a 1977 model although purchased in 1979;

Compare to your SN's and you may be able to narrow down the production dates.

Your talent is God's gift to you;what you do with it is your gift back to God.

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i352/RCSBlues/My%20Electra%20Guitars/DSCN0233.jpg
http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/RCSblues.php
Listen to X340: http://www.reverbnation.com/rcsblues/songs

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RCSBlues

Just noticed that the Red MPC has the single hinge on the MPC cover as mentioned above, an early adaptation. So I would guess that Big Red's birth year is closer to '77. I think that may just be a 'Made in Japan' sticker on the back of the headstock, not a stamped s/n.

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

Thanks for trying help me out with my guitar dating. I really appreciate all the help. Here's the pic of the red headstock and of the black to see if it helps any. I also just noticed that the Black MPC sticker on back headstock says X-230. They made a mistake didn't they? Thanks again to all for helping me date these guitars.

I don't get it. Both those s/n's should indicate 1980 but there's no way I can imagine the X310 having an open book at that time period. I'm going to speculate that someone put that incorrect X230 sticker on for some obscure reason. The X320 is interesting too with the single hinge, as Mike pointed out. I thought that for sure by 1980 they would have been double hinges. Something new everyday here in Electraworld.

Well, we have some discrepancies here now! The Black MPC is definitely a Model X310, but the model number penned into the foil tag says X230, which is supposed to be a Natural finish Omega... curious. Could be a typo from the factory, as could be expected on a handwritten tag, but who knows for sure.

Thanks for providing both tag pictures, as this proves something that I've been saying for years: the foil tags are USELESS for dating these guitars!!! The Black X310 with the openbook headstock is clearly the older of the two, yet the serial number is higher than on the X320 Red MPC example. It is my theory that the Foil Tags were grabbed out of a common bin and used as needed, not necessarily in numeric order, and there is no proof that numbers weren't reprinted and potentially used multiple times (if you ask me).


Did you find any markings on the cloth Battery pulls?



Jead, the Foil Tags do not adhear to the YMMxxxx dating scheme of the 80's.

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

AARGH! For some reason I thought the foil stickers were a semi-accyrate way to date.

I looked inside the Black MPC and there wasn't any dating what so ever. I did have the older Red Module (Phase Shifter) and the Black Module Treble/Bass equalizer. The Red doesn't have the Modules and there is no cloth either.

Howdy Texsun! My congratulations to you as well. Very enviable triad you have assembled.

The infamous black & gold "MADE IN JAPAN" sticker once again rears its head. I have seen that exact sticker on Aria, Vantage, Hondo, Memphis, Vox, Oakland, Bruno and now finally Electra.

Wonder how many more labels that remora has attached itself to?

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...throw me a frickin' bone here, people...