The Electra Forums

I finally got the latest Endorser back from the shop, the fretboard had separated from the neck during shipment to me. This was really sad as the finish condition was nearly flawless, better than my other two Cherry Sunbursts. My tech was able to smooth out the roughness after glueing the nut and fretboard back, but you can see where the finish had chipped off during the accident. Still haven't been able to bring myself to remove the NOS Bridge from the package that Arthur sold me, was able to cobble this chrome with brass saddle tune-o-matic together, also it still has on a chrome stop tailpiece. The new one is on the right here:



In this headstock shot, you can see that the Factory was fairly whimsical when it came to which direction they put the Flame Maple cap on. I have one of each now! One goes up left to right, one is straight across, and the new one goes down left to right:



No belt buckle rash on my newest Endorser. The one in the center is the one I use live now, although most of the wear was on it when I bought it:



I think DaveG has five of these, so I don't feel too excessive with this last purchase. In last years Vintage Guitar Magazine article, Michael Wright states that probably only 400 or so of these Cherry Sunburst Endorsers were made between December of 1982 and September of 1983 (not sure how he determined that!). Any way you look at it, they are rare birds, they play great, and are very easy on the eyes!!! Cheers, Mike.

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

Lovely!

nice!

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Beautiful - those are just about the only Electra model that would make me give up my X330.

Great collection of stripes there Mike! Hope they all play as good as they look.

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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

Great looking guitars Mike - I know you will play them well and give them the TLC they deserve.

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RCSBlues

I was just thinking how cool it would have been to have a MPC Version....

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

That would have been THE BEST! I suppose there would be a way to Frankenstein an X330 into a 2V & 2T push/pull 3way and retain the MPC - I'm not gonna try it though. I'm content to drool over Mike's awesome triad.

Awesome flames you got there. These are impressive guitars and the sunburst are my favorites even though the trans blacks are great to.

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

Drool... just drool.

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

in the picture of the back, it looks like your newest one has a control cavity slightly different than the first two... almost like it'd flipped vertical...

is it just the camera angle?

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

I think that is just an optical illusion Mick.

As you can see I installed the pair of cream MMK's in there, not a matched pair, but more original than the goldies that were in there. The Neck pickup is a MMK45 with a row of slotted screw adjustable poles, the Bridge is a MMK53 with dual gold allen head pole pieces. I have seen both 53's and 45's in Endorsers before, always a pair though, not mixed. From what I've read the difference between the two was the type of magnets used. As far as tonal differences, my ears don't hear a lot of change between the two, but my ears are not what they once were.

The neck pickup sounds pretty darn good, especially in single coil, which is how I usually run the Neck anyway. The Bridge 53 sounds ok, but is super microphonic... I really should have waxed it while it was out. Oh well, live an learn. Ice, do you know what kind of guitar that pickup came out of? Just curious.
The Vulcan is basically a MPC Endorser, with different finish options. Although the neck has a much fatter profile. My theory is the Vulcans replaced the LP MPC's, and were in production from about 1978 until around 1982, the last version being the Dickie Betts 'Dot Neck' X930 Vulcan (with a three way instead of the Tone Spectrum Circuit).

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

Double drool

any estimates how many 935cs were made?

No production figures are known for any Electra models, including the Endorsers. It is estimated to be around 400 or so, but that is just conjecture. The earliest example of a Cherry I've seen is from December of 1982, latest from September of 1983. Even if they were pumping out a 100 a month that would be around 1000, which is less than most modern manufacturers 'Limited Editions'. The Blackbursts were in production before the Cherry Sunburst model, so I believe there are more of them.

I've heard hearsay stories that SLM lost money on every CS they sold (can neither confirm or deny this), other theories suggest that SLM was desperately trying to loose their Pawn Shop reputation during this timeframe. It is quite possible that this model was an attempt to address their copy reputation and compete with established manufacturers. Another belief is to lure buyers in with this beautiful package, and if they bought a lower priced model, then hey, that was ok too.

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