The Electra Forums

A good friend of mine has decided to whittle down his 140+ guitar collection and has been nice enough to give me first choice. These are a few of the latest pickups:

x145 60th Anniversary- a true player. has some scratches nicks etc but plays and sounds like a dream. All original.

x199- AWESOME guitar that has been played but taken care of. It is a first edition 1984 model. Has the earlier thru neck design with the squared off heel rather than the later super smooth heal. The difference in the re worked MMK 45s is very pronounced. More fullness. This guitar has become my go to guitar in the short time I owned it and will be for some time to come. Just has that Custom Shop feel. My favorite blue burst color scheme. These are the Ferrari's of the Electra world for sure!

x130- An absolute BEAUTY in near perfect shape! I believe this is the walnut stain? But it is also like a sunburst but not quite, lol. The finish is flat like stain or natural feel. Any help IDing would be appreciated!

I put these here to share not to gloat. Its not fair to keep our Electras and Westones all to ourselves!

Very NICE!

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Thorny

Thanks!

That must be the walnut stain, because the x130 did not come in a vintage sunburst as far as we know. Is it all original?

What is the serial number on the anniversary plate on the x145? Any other s/n on the headstock besides the anniversary plate?

Looks sweet!

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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

Thanks!

I think its the walnut myself as I didn't think there was a sunburst. Yes the 130 is completely original. It was a closet queen for sure as there is virtually no fret ware or any wear at all for that matter. Its one of the nicest vintage guitars that I own condition wise overall.

As far as the 145 it has just the plate and its 0314. I posted pics of it a week or so ago when I first got it. Ive been getting a guitar a week or so, so I decided to put the last months worth of Electra's I got from him all in one post. I also got a few Westones,a few Aria Pros and a Westbury. Thanks!

Show us ALL of what you got! We're into the Japanese guitars, we won't mind.

So what else did you get?

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

Fantastic looking guitars, especially the walnut x130. I absolutely love the finish on that one........and I'm a bass player........

I think that is the only x130 model that has the truss rod adjustment down by the pick guard like the x140's do.

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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

Did a little searching and found one other model that had the truss rod adjustment down at the pick guard. This one is basically the same as the stained one of yours, but in natural.

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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

Nice set!

Hey guys. Been a busy few weeks sohavent been on. THANKS for all the kind words. Nice guitar yyz. I think your right. theres not too many with the adjustment at pickguard. After having some time to play them that are all awesome guitars. I think the 130 is my favorite looking but the 199 does scream. Thanks again guys

Yes it is all original and yes its the walnut stain version. Very hard finish to find and to be honest it is by far the cleanest one. Its a 9 out of 10 all day with virtually zero play wear. Thanks agin.

Oh, man.... late on this, but oooh, yeah!! Phoenixes light me up, so they do and a blueburst X199 would be SO nice!

That X145 puts me in mind of the early Westone Concords which had a similar colour, but gee; that's nice!!

I hate you!

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"... and on the eighth day, God created New Zealanders.

Because even the Australians need heroes."

I'm ready to cash you out on all three, TODAY.


Re: the location of the truss rod adjustment. It's my belief that there's probably a guiding principle as to which Phoenixes have the adjuster in a particular place, but I can't figure it out. The closest rule of thumb I can come up with is that 1981 builds seem to be most likely to have the adjuster on the body end of the neck.

Maybe they bought one "run" with the truss rod adjustment at the heel? Or maybe they had a few necks supplied by another vendor? Stuff like that could have happened. I know TP said that yamaha also did some work for them - But he did not specifically say what parts. Only speculation on my part. It would be interesting to see what yamaha was doing at that time to compare.

Either way, I think that is like the guitar I had brought to the STL electrafest a few years back (Dave Bryant and I donated it), and it was a great guitar. Jack - I believe you won that one. I really was impressed by it. Killer guitar. A great player and a work horse.

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Thorny