The Electra Forums

Hey guys, been a while since I've been on here! Spend a lot of time on the Westone forums.

Anyway, just bought an x935cs and it should arrive in a few days! I'm so excited, Endorsers are my ideal Electra.

It doesn't have factory knobs, so I need those (I'd posted in the appropriate forum section), and supposedly it has two holes from a Bigsby But oh well, it's for playing. I'll need help with how best to fill the holes later.

Question... anyone have info on the flame top on these things (or just other info in general)? I'm sure someone knows about the cap thickness, what wood the cap is, etc. I tried searching. Thanks guys!

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

Congrats, can't wait to see some pics, bigsby holes and all. Here's the skinny on the Flame tops, they do have a thick maple cap, but the flame is a super thin veneer... probably like a 64th of an inch! Here is a photo I took a long time ago, you can see the lighter Maple cap, and if you look closely you can see the thin flame veneer also:



There have been rumors that the flame is fake or photoflame, but I've spent a lot of time staring at dozens of Cherry Sunburst Endorsers, and I'm convinced they are all unique and genuinely bookmatched flame veneer tops. Enjoy, and be sure to post some pics Chad!

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

That's great, thanks for the info! I've been reading about photo flame, some of it I guess was a partially transparent wrap they'd put over the paint and under the lacquer or something?

About the Bigsby holes, I got me an idea... what if I fill the holes, take high resolution close ups photos of the flame top, select areas that would match the grain where the filled holes are (maybe photoshop the pics to get it right, got them printed on something, cut out my covers, glued them onto the filled holes, and finally sprayed clearcoat over it and finished it. I'll know better once I get it, but that's about the best idea I came up with so far.

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

I don't think photo flame had been developed as an economically feasible technology at that time.

Wow! GREAT SCORE, Chad...

Finally taking a break from searching for Dana, huh?

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

Hey Steve! Good to see you on here too.

Well the guitar arrived yesterday. Looks her age. In shape, but getting old. Aren't we all?



Had only 15 minutes to mess with her until leaving for band rehearsal. From that minimal time with her, here's my thoughts and questions....

Tuners were replaced, knobs were replaced, but pickups, electronics, and covers looks original which is great. It has two push pull pots. Sounds great. Bridge pickup seems a little weaker than the neck, not quite as loud or full like I think it should be. Anyone else experience this also? The bridge pup feeds back like crazy, worse than any of my other guitars. On my Marshall's first overdrive gain stage (green), it's just fine. On the orange or red stages however, it screams like a banshee. Were these potted from factory?

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

None of the Japanese pickups I've come across have been waxed or sealed, and they will squeal at high volume or overdrive settings. I have had a number of my pickups waxed for live or loud use, it sometimes makes the pickups less bright sounding, but seems worth it to me. The neck pickup looks 'whiter' in the photo, may just be the picture, but there is a chance its been replaced (and why it doesn't feedback as much).

MMK pickups are very consistent and usually have about the same output, however the neck pickup will appear louder because the strings vibrate more further away from the bridge. I end up lowering the neck pickup significantly to get a better blend between the two.

The push/pulls are supposed to be on the tone pots, which are the black replacement knobs on your guitar. I'm wondering if someone has glued the new ones on there... be careful when you're trying to remove them as the skinny shaft can get broken. Top tone knob should be a global coilcut, and the bottom tone should put the bridge pickup out of phase with the neck pickup (will only be noticeable when both pickups are selected).

I don't think the Bigsby holes look too bad at all from this distance. Up to you, but I'm not sure I'd spend a lot of energy or money trying to make them look perfect. Not sure why someone changed the tuners, mine all work very smoothly still, hopefully there aren't any extra holes on the back of the headstock. Maybe they were having tuning issues with the tailpiece, which was probably the Bigsbys fault, not the tuners.

The fretboard was stained dark at the factory to simulate Ebony, I guess. It usually fades back to a brown color from use. Usually it is still pretty dark up on the higher frets where it doesn't get as much play time, this is totally normal.

All in all it looks like a really nice find Chad, congrats. Tell us how you like the thin neck profile and scooped heal, and what you plan to do about the pickups (if anything). Enjoy, Mike.

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

Mike, you're a wealth of Endorser info. Sincerely thanks.

One of the black knobs pulled off last night, and the shaft under it looked in great condition. Why the heck they messed with the knobs, I have no idea! Maybe they needed them for another Electra of something.

The info about the push pull pots was great, I wondered why the phase didn't seem to work with the only the bridge pup. I'll open it up and take pics.

It's neck heavy, like my SG, which I hate in a guitar!

That flame top is SUPER thin, wow. It's not photo flame however, it "lives"really well when move it around so it is real wood. The old Bigsby holes are small, I may just fill them and color them. It'll be a player, not a show piece. Do you have close ups of your tuners? I'd like to see the stock ones up close.

I'll get better pics soon.

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

As requested:



No logo on the later ones, some of the early Blackbursts (with the Anniversary plate) have the Peacesign logo on them. Single set screw underneath the tuner. What are the first three numbers of your serial number? The two above were consecutively made in May of 1983.

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

Thanks again. When I'm home I'll check it out and let you know the serial number.

I'll post better photos once I clean her up, too.

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

Which is unbelievably cool.

It really is.

Alright, here's a bunch of photos. Hopefully it's not too many.

Note, this is BEFORE clean up. Which I've now begun.












Alright, here's my holes. They're small, but I'll still fill and color them. Look how THIN this flame is!!!




















How do these electronics look compared to everyone else's?

I'm in the process of cleaning her up now. Will post pics afterwards. What a great guitar. Glad I found one!

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

VERY nice ...congrats on the score Chad...I am also a big fan of the endorsers-let me show off a little...as you can see I have three of the CS with the wide ribbon flame and one like yours...these are great guitars !.......

Looks great even before cleanup! A couple chips around the edge, but overall the back looks excellent, usually see some road rash on the back. The electronics look straight to me, you can see the white and green leads from the bridge pickup going to the phase switch and the red leads from each pickup going to the coilcut switch.

Requesting a front headstock photo! Too bad about the tuners, looks like they were put on kind of willy-nilly, frankly they probably work fine but it breaks up the Gold hardware motif. 303 means it was made in March of 1983. Selector switch tip should be Cream color, not a biggie. The Bridge volume knob may be original with the notched top, the other three are not. The Brass bridge and plated tailpiece are original. Too bad about the Bigsby experiment, but at least the originals made it back on there. For decades these guitars were undervalued and many were experimented with because nobody thought they were worth much.

Nice survivor and great catch! I hope it grows on you, Mike.

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