The Electra Forums

Hello, all,

I am a luthier in South Texas and have recently "refallen" in love with Electra guitars after restoring 2 out of 3 of one of my clients' recently purchased "pawnshop prizes." He found a killer deal in a small town pawn shop and bought 3 Electra LP's and a Ventura bass that were owned by a guy who owned a guitar store in teh 70's and 80's, closed it, and kept some of his favorites. In old age he decided to unload them quickly at a pawn shop. My buddy/client brought them to me to restore. I've finished the bass and two of the Electras, working on the third.

So, as I cleaned 'em up, fixed any major isssues (frets, nut, major dings, deep cleaning of the entire guitar, elecrronics icluded), and set 'em up, I couldn't help but realize that these are great guitars. One is an X320, one is a black version of the same guitar, the other is a black LP copy with a bolt-on neck. Too new to these to know the other model #'s.

I collect guitars, especially after 27 years of doing refrets/repairs. I own or have owned, or worked on and played everything from PRS (I have 6), Gibson (1), Fender (5), Squier (3), Taylor, Ventura, and Martin (1 each), Peavey (1), Greco, Tokai, Vantage, Westone, Electras, Silvertone, Kay, Hondo, you name it. I love the import guitars as much as I love my PRS's. I am currently looking for my own Electras to own and will be shopping the buy/sell section.

I am particularly interested in the X199 (I think that's the model). I like the trem, HSH pup layout, and tappable coils.

Anyway, I wanted to say hi, introduce myself, and be a contributing member to what seems to be a cool community,

Thanks,

Bob

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Bob Long
The Guitar Surgeon (trademarked)
Refrets, restoration, nut/bridgework, general maintenance and repairs
Corpus Christi, TX
361-658-2468

Welcome to the forums. This is a great place to get and share information on Electra as well as other manufacturers. We have a great forum community here and are mostly all players, collectors etc ourselves. Beware the egas here as it is contagious and can lead to a desire for more Electras when you see all the beauties here. Welcome Arthur aka mortarman120gang11c

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

Its good to see more and more people discovering the great quality craftsmanship that went into building these guitars (or is it?), especially luthiers. They speak for themselves, thats for sure.
It just so happens i have an X199 in red that i was going to post for sale on this forum. Hopefully i'll get to it today, its in great shape and i'd really rather a forum member get it than having to go to evilbay.
Welcome to the forum BBLong.

Thanks, guys.

I will be looking for that post.

Thanks, again.

Bob

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Bob Long
The Guitar Surgeon (trademarked)
Refrets, restoration, nut/bridgework, general maintenance and repairs
Corpus Christi, TX
361-658-2468

Welcome aboard!

You will probably be getting a lot of guitar repair questions from the Forum group here!

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

Great timing BBL. Welcome onboard and here is your first assignment (LOL)...

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6094

Currently in a holding pattern until a wiring scheme is decided on. Your thoughts are very appreciated.

Feel free to post there if anything comes to mind.

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

Hobsters X199 looks pretty nice:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6154

Welcome to the Forum.

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

Thanks,

Any advice I can offer I'd be glad to. I'm a member of several other forums: The Gear Page, Birds and Moons, Fender Forum, My Les Paul, Acoustic Guitar Forum, Martin Forums, and a lutheir's forum. I moslty post on TGP and BAM. I've been a member of those two since they started prolly 10 years ago or more.

I already feel welcome here. Nice community of people. I also posted some ?'s regarding that X199 in the for sale section. I'm interested.

Bob

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Bob Long
The Guitar Surgeon (trademarked)
Refrets, restoration, nut/bridgework, general maintenance and repairs
Corpus Christi, TX
361-658-2468

Hello,

I'm new here, too. This thread seems like a good place to check in. (Hope you don't mind.)

I recently bought my first Electra, which is a 1976 Burgandy Pro 2266. A friend of mine who is much more of a collector than I am owns several Electras and we were at a guitar show a couple of weeks back (Columbus, Ohio in case you were there.) I went hoping to find a hollow body electric of some sort and spotted this gem. (I'll figure out how to post a pic later, but it looks almost exactly like the '77 in "Screaming Pumpkin Shows Up Safe" thread).

Anyway, I asked my buddy if the price was good, and he said it was, if it was worth it to me. I gave her a test drive, and it plays great, my only complaint is a little dirt in the controls. So I bought it. I'm very happy that I did, and from what I've been researching, it seems like I got a decent deal on the price (I paid $500).

I also own a couple of Ovation acoustic guitars and a '91 Les Paul Studio. I have never owned a guitar with a trapeze style tailpiece before. My question to anyone out there is, how do you change the strings? Will they, once loosened com out underneath?

Thanks,
Ed

Yeah, there's a slot under the trapeze tailpiece that allows you to slide the string in from underneath, still a little awkward. My buddy just paid $1900 for a 70's 335 that has been modded, my Electra's play nicer and cost a third as much, so YEAH 5 Bills is a great price, congrats, and welcome aboard.

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

Excellent score at that price indeed. Strings are easy to change just a little different than most. Welcome to the forums.

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

What Proendorser said about changing the strings on the trapeze tailpiece.

Welcome aboard.

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RCSBlues

$500 is a good deal. Congrats on an excellent choice for your first Electra. Pictures are always nice.

Thanks,everybody. There is a lot of great reading and pics here!

There is no rear access panel on this baby. I'm kind of figuring on going to a local pro to get the pots cleaned. I know a couple of good ones. (Too bad I'm not in Corpus Christi, Bob.)

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I'll be on that hill!

'Fishing' out the pots on a semi-hollow is not for the faint of heart, and going to a tech may not be a bad idea. However, you may be able to clean the Volume pots up through the F hole (who uses the tone pots anyway?) using some "Caig DeOxit" which is a aerosol spray cleaner available at Radio Shack.

You want to be fairly modest as the cleaner may stain or otherwise drip on the wood, and you might want to use a dental mirror to look inside the guitar so you can see what orientation the potentiometers are in. Just a thought, and good luck.

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