The Electra Forums

I came across a 2242 Black Rock on Ebay one day and the owner was asking a buy it now of 350 and had the option for " make an offer "..... I noticed that the auction only had a couple minutes so I said " what the hell"....and threw out a offer of $150. To my complete suprise the seller agreed! I thought I had the steal of a life time!!! Well, when it arrived I was very pleased by the overall apperance. I knew it was a " player " and was going to be banged up.... heck, i think think that adds to the " soul " of the guitar and gives it more cool factor. After playing it I came across some obvious issues but nothing that a simple Basic Setup and changing out of the pots couldn't fix.... Well, when it was all over I discovered that I wanted this thing to play perfect and wanted to fix everything on it ( except the scratches and normal wear .... i actually wanted that to be the way it was ) ..... I ended up putting another $467 into it before it was done making the grand total $646 . I then thought "darn, i could have got a cool Endorser in mint condition...... well, lesson learned. But, I do love my 2242 Black Rock NOW.... especially now that I put in a spilt coil/phase pop top volume knobs... it plays right up there with my 1985 Les Paul.... and has more tonal options! In the end I didn't get a " deal of a lifetime " but I did get something very unique and cool... ..... it still was worth it.

Check it out:
http://electraguitar.wordpress.com/

So long as you are happy with it and enjoy it I think you are a winner. Congrats on a fine Electra.

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

+1
A lot of what you put into was discretionary. You brought it straight into the 20th century with new wiring, fret job etc. You customized it for yourself - that's a good thing right? I've done that sort of thing a lot - mostly with amps but also more than a few guitars. Some are labors of love, some I just get in too deep to stop, and some are just worth it. Heck, I just spent $200 on rounding up backup tubes for an old Ampeg Amp and I'm sure I'll be chucking another couple hundred at it soon for internal surgery. It's worth it to me and that's what counts.

Your guitar should be good to go with little to no work for a long time. I say well done!

Agreed, all of my Electras are customized. I am a player and have to play it live, so I had to make it fit me... I mean, I wasn't even alive when these were being produced.

That said, in my Super Rock I have all new wiring, new frets, American pots, new selector, Seymour-Duncan Distortion in the Neck, and a Seymour-Duncan Invader in the Bridge (coil-tap). Now my Super Rock can sound like a Tele or sound like the Thunder God, himself.

Eye of the beholder, I say. Great score.

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I hear what you're saying. I think that when you purchase any vintage guitar you're expected to do some form of modding to make it worthy of being played live on stage. I bought 3 vintage Electras from a pawnshop and paid $250 a piece. I got a '72 Black 2244 , '75 Black MPC X-310, and a Red MPC X-320. I had the '75 worked on by my guitar doc so it would set up properly and sound the best it could with all it's original parts. It's microphonic,but it can be tamed to be usable. My son is into vintage gear like me and he wanted to keep the guitar all original. By the way , I paid $70 to get it cleaned up in and out and make sure the neck and intonation were right. Here's a pic of him using he guitar in church service.

What did your guru do to get it up to snuff for gigging?

The microphonics can be greatly reduced usually just by potting the pups. If that doesn't turn the trick shielding the cavities with copper lining can help somewhat, too.

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

He cleaned all the pots, 5-way rotary,cleaned the fretboard, straightened the neck, intonated it, and touched up the back of the neck. I told him to leave the pickups alone and my son would deal with that on his own. So far my son has been able to deal with the mircorphonics with no problem.

Very nice pics of your son putting it to excellent use too!

3rd Day being performed there?

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

No Iceman. You'd think being from Texas that our church would do southern rock Christian music,but we haven't done any of their music yet. I do like their music a lot though, so hopefully in the future we will.

Hello all, I'm the new guy here, its my first post so I'll try to keep it short.
I think investments in guitars are hard to value in monetary terms... Can you put the enjoyment you get into a $$$ value? Some people think only in value terms but I say only if you HAVE to sell it... Here's my Electra with her sisters...
74' Deluxe, modded Alvarez, natural 2253w, heavily modded Squier...

The natural 2253w was found at a farm auction with a hardshell case and had mild issues like a busted tuner and dead pots. Grampa paid six bucks for it. He put Grovers on it and CTS pots then gave it to me. I've had it for close to 20 yrs and put a Warmoth pickguard on it, blacked out the bridge, and swapped the neck pup out for a Dimarzio super II. She's a beauty, low action and a small fast neck. I play her some in a praise and worship band I'm in. Peace, Carl.

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2253w, its not a MPC or a set neck, but it is a sweet tele custom tribute.

Nine tuners on the Red Tele...? Curious to be sure.

What scale is your 2253? Welcome aboard.


P.S. I agree that even if I sell an axe at a loss, the experienced gained has been a plus.

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

Hmm, just went and measured it, never really felt different. So, I'd say 25.5" , when I said small I meant narrow and thin profiled... I was going to replace the bridge a while back and a standard Fender bridge leaves the E strings hanging off the fretboard!!! Its too wide! I have a question too, Electra was made by Matsumoku after 77... who made them before that? I only find history on the MPC etc. nothing on the earlier stuff.

Like that 9 string neck? E A Dd Gg Bb e powerchords plus jangle! that ones getting a GFS retrotron in the neck someday. I got that neck off of ebay for a flat hundred, it was supposed to fit a tele... but was almost 3/8th of an inch too wide, so I put the heel thru a table router 3/16ths each side ( below the fretboard ) and she slipped right in the pocket. The original neck is goin' in a GFS partscaster tele I'm building...

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2253w, its not a MPC or a set neck, but it is a sweet tele custom tribute.

Nice axes;

Welcome aboard!

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

http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/RCSblues.php

Listen to X340: http://bandmix.com/rcsblues/

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RCSBlues