The Electra Forums

The confusion was that I'd ordered a 498R for the neck, but they had it listed wrong as it was actually a 500T for the bridge! So now I have a 500T in the bridge and the stock neck pup still where it was. Loving it!

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

I don't have my Electra yet, but I own 3 Gibsons that I bought after having many lower cost guitars that I always had to change out the bad pickups. Got tired of doing that and bought Gibsons that don't need a pickup change. It doesn't surprise me at all that you like the 500T. I have 1 in my 2002 Faded V. Just excellent pickups. I've done clean guitar track on country records with the V. It has the 498R and 500T pickups combination which I've found is great for anything!

My Electra will stay stock; pickups potted if necessary. My 2 guitar loves are Gibson and interesting Japanese guitars like Electras. I also have an old Aria Pro II with stock pickups that sound great! I don't know what kind of pickups are in the Aria Pro II, but they sound fantastic. That guitar is a TS-300 Thor Sound. My Gibsons are a 2005 SG Standard, 2002 Faded V, and 2012 Firebird 70s tribute. The SG Standard has 490R & 498T pickups which are also excellent but different. The 490R & 498T and Alnico magnets while the 498R and 500T are ceramic. For ceramic pickups, they are warm. They get the midriange crunch happening too. I'm just learning about Electra and Aria Pro II pickups so I don't know as much, only that the Aria Pro II sounds awesome! We will see how the Outlaw pickups sound when it finally arrives, but surely I will like them.

Put a set of 490R & 498T in my x310 mpc had to get a three way because I broke the five way in stalling it with the extra wire thickness but with the thorny pod and phaser its amazing. It will not be going anywhere unless I am broke.

How did the 5 way break? Maybe it can be fixed, let us know.

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

Pushing the switch back in with the braided cables attached. I did fix it. I have put in a three way for now I was not happy with position one or five but that was with the original pickups. I might put the five way back in, I will need to add some lighter leads to the braided ones form the Gibson pups.

Glad you fixed it. In a live play situation, the 3 way is more what we're all used to anyhow. Great looking Electra you have there!

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

Good deal. If you ever plan on putting it back to stock, hold onto everything. It will sell for more and easier if it is stock when you sell it. It is always a good idea to hold onto original parts if you think there is a chance you'd sell it. Be careful not to damage that pickup with the cover off like that, it is VERY EASY to do. I'd put it back on or it will get messed up. They didn't really make them so that they would hold together with the cover removed. That's the way a lot of japanese guitars did it back then.

If you don't think you will ever use that stuff again, pickups and 5-way rotary sw, with that tear drop knob and 5-way "poker chip" are worth something if you sell them in the parts section or even on ebay. What they currently bring at this point I don't know. Prices are all over the place. You also might have to wait until people are restoring one, but a good percentage of these guitars have been gutted and people look for these parts to fix them.

Either way, nice guitar, and hope you use and enjoy it. I love my old 330, and it has some parts changed on it. I don't care though, I don't plan on selling it and I like to play it.

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Thorny

Right with you. I put the cover right back on I am going to package them up with the switch for storage. The only other thing I changed was the bridge, which I replaced with a japan Gotoh that has 2 1/16 spacing and no wire retainer. I did replace the signal wires from the mpc to the volume pot with red cloth wire and the switch wires with a gibson four wire section and just used two wires for ground and two for signal.

my 330 has a Gotoh too. The original bridge had some of the screws broken off and the saddles were held in place by silicone sealant. So not a big loss switching it to the wide metric gotoh they have on stewmac - no retaining wire and it fit perfectly with its included posts. The bridge pickup was changed to a harmonic designs because the original was dead. And I changed the tuning keys to Grover Rotomatics. The rest is pretty close to stock. The frets are very worn and it probably could use a refret, but it is setup well and plays great, so right now no change. There were deep grooves worn into the rosewood as well in the usual places too, most of which are filled with a mixture of black super glue and rosewood fretboard scrapings. With some subtle grain cut in with a razor blade, it is hard to tell anything was done from a few feet away. No one would notice unless they knew what to look for. It is one of my FAVORITE guitars. In fact, I had it longer than any other I currently have I think, or close to it.

I really like my Leslie West too, even though it is all repaired and lots of parts changed. It is surprisingly light-weight, sounds great, plays great, and looks ok despite having the body damage repair at the neck socket area. It has the pickups, bridge, and some of the MPC electronics changed as well. Still, I can't deny it is a fantastic guitar. I am hoping I am as happy with the Elvin Bishop I am putting back together. Electra generally had excellent guitars, and I think I have even been lucky on top of that. I have other models in better condition too, but a lot less blood, sweat and tears invested in them. I think that the latter makes you appreciate them more.

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Thorny

A Leslie West just came up on ebay. Asking alot IMO. know anyone selling a treble/bass expander?