The Electra Forums

Hi All,

I’m finally at peace with reality: Family life is wonderful, but it will be a long time before I have either the space or the time to play several guitars from my Electra collection. LOL... I'm fortunate to have the time and space to play any of them!

My plan is to gradually sell off those that haven't come out of the case in too long. I’d like to keep the most interesting pieces within our Electra community, so I’m planning to post them here first (will move over to eBay if no one here is interested).

FINISH: This is a beautiful gold top guitar that has aged well with typical finish blemishes (nicks, dings, scratches, finish cracks and wear, etc.). If you look carefully at the photos, you can see some examples of the worst. The screw-on tip to the pickup selector switch is missing (a project I never got around to doing). The gold chrome metal pieces (tailpiece, bridge, pickups, neck plate) show oxidation and wear. I think the neck binding may have been replaced at some point a long time ago, because it appears very slightly lighter-colored (newer?) than the body binding. This is a 40+ year old guitar and it has the types of blemishes that 40+ year old guitars tend to have.

FUNCTION: The neck is straight. The tuners work, but are stiff (particularly the B string). I’ve always assumed the pickups are original, but I never checked. Regardless, they rock. The nut and saddles appear to be plastic and I do not think they could be original. The pots will likely be scratchy… before posting I tuned it and it played great (although the tuners were stiff). But before those 10 minutes, it hasn’t been played for several years. So please expect it to have all the issues associated with a guitar that has been sitting around in a case for a few years (in clean, dry, smoke-free conditions).

Please PM me with questions or offers.

$450 (OBO) + shipping

Thanks,
Peter

I am in sort of 'de-acquisition' mode currently, but I noticed a couple things about your example and I think it's a real early example, frankly not sure if that makes it more or less valuable, but most interesting to Japanese guitar nerds.

Firstly, that truss rod cover is different (and fancier!) than almost any other Super Rocks out there, obviously it could be a replacement, but it looks original to me. I also saw that the fret inlays only go up to the 17th fret, just like the really early Electra Tele I used to own, serial number 0049, on later production they would go all the way to the 21st fret. Lastly, there is a curious border inlay around the fretboard that I've never seen (or noticed...) on another LP copy.

I also noticed that the control cavity cover is the really small pointy Diamond shaped one, which I've owned one other LP that had that exact same route on it. That guitar was not super elegantly crafted (globs-o-glue showing when you removed a pickup), but man did it resonate like nothing else. This is the classic case where people would make fun of the Japanese craftsmanship, but in practice these glued 'Curved' tops were really lively and resonate instruments. Now you're making me rethink scaling down my collection! Best of Luck, Mike.

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

Nice!! Not my thing- and I'm in de-acquisition mode as well!! - but that's a really cool old guitar!!

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

Because even the Australians need heroes."

Thanks guys! Comments like yours are probably my favorite thing about our Electra community. I most certainly do NOT have your expertise, which is why I love these discussions about the details that make these guitars special!

I always loved the inlay around the fret board, but didn't realize that it might be unusual... I just assumed that was a feature of Electra's earlier LP models (and one of the reasons why I was drawn to this early gold top example in the first place).

I have not removed the pickups so I would not be surprised if this guitar has the same 'gobs-o-glue' as Mike's. And the guitar resonates beautifully the way that Mike describes his old LP. LOL... I've probably played it unplugged more often than not (loud amps are not conducive to ensuring that a sleeping kindergartener stays asleep).

Now you guys are making me second-guess my decisions to downsize, but when I'm being honest with myself I've gotta admit that I'm not going to have more space or time anytime soon. And in my opinion, these guitars deserve better than to be hidden away in a case.

Yes, they absolutely do, and I cringe everytime I look at the lineup of cases in my shed... sat there.... doing nothing....

Yet the reality is that selling them on will most likely be to another collector as they are the ones most likely to be knowledgeable buyers, and who are actively looking for these instruments, eh, so you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't!!

*sigh*

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

Because even the Australians need heroes."

That's one of the first bolt neck LP's I've seen and was tempted by! Great example there, brother.

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