The Electra Forums

I picked up an Electra 2244 at the end of a driveway (free) at least 12 years ago. I promptly put it in the basement and have not given it much thought, the other day I was cleaning out the basement came across the guitar and thought it might be fun if this guitar could play again. The guy at the music store said he was definitely interested in it he said he would give me $20.00. I figured for that much I would hang it on the wall and decorate my office with it. He told me I might have a hard time trying to find parts so I decided to look it up online and found this page. This is a very informative page, and I learned a lot about the guitar.

So if anyone has any restoration advice I will take it. Another guitar shop said I would need new saddles to start out with because the first string saddle is broken, (much more helpful than the first guy). This guitar has not had strings on for quite a few years. I bought a set of saddles based only on measurements from a template on the Graph Tek website. I intend to only replace one saddle at first.
Questions:
1) Do I need to be afraid about the neck handling the strain?
2) I dont see any wires for the neck pick-up, did this guitar have two functioning pick-ups?
3) If I replace the tail piece and bridge is there a replacement that works with out tearing everything apart?

Thanks in advance,
Frank
(not sure how to post pics but I do have some)

If your not sure about it, take your time. I'm sure the guys here will point you in the right direction. Have you checked or reset the truss rod? Also clean the fret board with a lemon oil conditioner. 2244 is a good looking Les Pual copy.

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SlmGuy

I did file down one of the graphite saddles last night, put it in and very carefully brought it up to tune and it held...all night. It was off a little on a couple of strings this morning...a little string stretch I would assume. Feels really nice. I do have a slight buzz on the first fret when the "E and A" strings are played open. I figure I will give it a few days and see what happens maybe it will improve. I am certain the bridge needs to be adjusted.

Thanks for the reply

If you have some sort of straight edge about 18" long, you want to have about .010 gap at the 7th fret. Then set you bridge ht to the action you want or high enough not to buzz.

Here is a good guide to go by to set your guitar up. There are other manuals on the site that can apply.
http://support.fender.com/manuals/instr ... ster_(1975)_manual.pdf
This should get you playing. Just be easy on the truss rod untill the neck loosens up.

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SlmGuy

When I am adjusting the truss rod for the first time on a guitar, I like to remove the nut, clean everything up and put a little teflon lube on the threads. It can save you from a lot of grief down the road.

Thanks very much, I will give it a try...maybe. The guy at the guitar shop said he would clean it up adjust the neck and check and adjust the intonation for $25.00. I might do that.

That's a good price. Maybe you can watch and learn while he does it.

I would do that. Like Workingman said, if you can watch and learn that would be great. Truss rods are surprisingly delicateand you definitely do not want to adjust action by using the truss rod. As slmguy points out, the truss rod is designed to set a slight amount of relief or bow in the neck from about the 7th to 12th frets. In dumber days I've busted truss rods and trust me, you don't want that to happen.

Your action will be adjusted by a combination of bridge height, saddle height, string angle, nut and neck angle. Your fix could be tweaking one or all of these. None of the adjustments are particularly difficult or complex by themselves, but often changing one thing requires changing another.

$25 for a setup is really pretty reasonable.

Good luck!

Thanks for the encouragement.

I adjusted intonation and inspected the inside a little. I would really like to as much of this as I can. Here are some pics...I hope
https://plus.google.com/photos/102331280872784460779/albums/5825517920948746417?authkey=COjqwYm_t5K9qwE

WOW! Thats a keeper man. Old script logo, open book head stock,still has the foil serial/model tag and I love the binding and finish. You can pick up most anything your missing around here, (the guys have their sources) or on the bay.

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SlmGuy

Thanks, I wish I would have checked into fixing this a long time ago.

I adjusted the bridge and was able to eliminate the 1st fret string buzz.

Does the truss rod allen wrench opening looked stripped? It almost looks crooked as it heads down into the neck . (check the pic...please)

Do I have the bridge and tail piece in the correct positions? I have seen some bridges with the saddle screws facing forward and some tail pieces with strings wrapped over the top.

Just wondering if there is a benefit to string over tail piece.

The truss rod nut doesn't look good. If you can easily get it off, I would replace it. Ball-end hex wrenches can help.

The bridge and tail piece look OK. If you can intonate the bridge and get the string height as you want it, than you are OK. Some people switch bridge saddles around to give them more travel for intonation. I can't think of any good reason to have the intonation screws face the pups. It just makes it harder to adjust the bridge.

The tail piece was designed to have the strings go through rather than over or under. Running the string over would decrease the down pressure at the bridge which can cause problems keeping the string in the slot. It is better to raise the tail piece if you have too much down pressure (which can cause string breakage at the bridge). Likewise, rather than wrap the strings under the tailpiece which will raise the pressure, it is better to lower the tailpiece. I like to have the tailpiece adjusted so the strings just clear the back of the bridge. But frankly I don't think it is that big a deal. There are lots of other things in a setup that will have more of an impact on how your guitar plays. Happy New Year.