The Electra Forums

I bought it from Jead last year and had it changed from trapeze to stop tailpiece. Unfortunately, as time went by, the time I must spend with my mom(Alzheimer's and dementia) and the fact I'm not really playing out meant the guitar sat most of the time. I got an offer on YouTube and took it. I told the buyer about the forum and hope he'll join. Thanks again Jead.

Good luck with your mom and I hope you get back to playing when able.

Hope you enjoyed it and good luck with your Mom - Tough situation...

Not everyone helps their parents; kudos to you for doing so.

My mom had dementia. I lived with her until cancer took her after my dad died. My first wife of 31 years helped with her and my sister, who is developmentally disabled. Then my wife died 8 years after my mom. Now, I'm married again to another wonderful woman, and we still have my sister. Now my new mother- in- law has dementia, early stages. She lives with us,too.

I report this not to brag as if I am doing anything great, but to say that when life throws its challenges at you, count your blessings, keep your good friends close, and for those of us here, keep playing. It helps. I hope you kept at least one guitar for that.

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I'll be on that hill!

Gentlemen, (Jead, & dly916p)

I have figured out the "weird blotches" on the back.

If you look closely you can see the neck has been separated from the body at one time. Then it was put back on by a well meaning but inexperienced wood worker with no eye or experience for color matching. The blotches are attempts to cover the screw holes.

Also the back has been clear coated by the same(?) inexperienced finisher, who left a serious coat of orange peel, which really kills the beauty of the guitar when view from the back. The bookmatch maple should be a thing of beauty, not some orange peeled, badly patched kluge job..

Also whomever it was that mentioned taking the guitar to a "luthier" for some work who couldn't identify the blotches, need to find a real Luthier. That one obviously couldn't find his ass with both hands.

All in all though, a BEAUTIFUL, well playing guitar with a great sound. I am as happy as one could be about finding their long lost love..

I'll be posting pix of what I find as I adventure through restoring the back and face of this guitar.

Even with all the cosmetic issues, whoever put this neck on, did that part 100% correct. Even up at the 20th it's still true with no buzz. Hit the high E nice & clean.

I'm off to Sam Ash. They're supposed to have a 1-5/8 brass nut for me.. Start with the easy stuff..

First, thanks to Workingman, Jead, RCS Blues and miniman56 for the kind words. I do have guitars left, so I can still play. mdickerson, thanks for solving the mystery of the blotches. I would never have guessed somebody dug screws into the back. And I'm glad you have the financial resources to finish the back of the guitar properly. It deserves to look as good as it sounds. Keep rockin' everybody!

I've had the neck off my current Elvin and my recollection of the blotches is that they were in an area where screws would do little or nothing so I assumed it was probably some sort of finish repair due to the all of the spray and peel on the back. Maybe someone tried nitro over a urethane - If so, the nitro should clean up pretty easily with lacquer thinner. I do recall for sure that I liked the pickups in that guitar a lot and I had no issues playing-wise. I thought it was a solid axe.