The Electra Forums

hey guys. i need some help. i walked into a pawnshop and saw and electra hollowbody on the floor. i was actually at work (sorry boss) just taking a quick peek, so i was in a hurry and didn't really give it a good going over. the price was good and it played like a DREAM, so i rescued it.

it was cheap because some chump had sanded down the headstock in order to reshape it. ?!?!?!? CHUMP.

what i didn't notice was that in doing so he needed to move the tuners over a bit, so now there are pretty large holes. that being said, the tuners have large ferrules and are very stable and solid and working just fine. it is just really unfortunate, but functioning perfectly.

i am trying to find out what model it is. i checked out the great electra site of mike's, and i narrowed it down to maple pro or elvin bishop. it doesn't have the type of wide grain of the maple shown on the pro.

what do you guys think?

it is probably a refin cuz the finish looks atypically matte for a matt.
(if you'll excuse my pun.)
i'd say maple pro. isn't the body binding on an e.bishop usually white?

In either case it hurts a little to look at that HS pic.

i also forgot to mention, there is a star on the back of one of the tuners. it matches the rest of the tuners perfectly, and looks to be stock.

i think i am going to have to sell this one as my dogs got into some rat poison
(thanks landlords ), and the vet bills are approaching $800.

i do still have the receipt from the pawn shop and i could take it back, but ithink it would go for more on ebay. how much value do you guys think is detracted from the headstock butchering and possible refinish?

emanual

We had the same thing with our Basset. Scared the heck out of us. Along with guitars, I'm a pup person, and have four I couldn't imagine living without. I realize it's off topic but please keep me posted on their progress via PM if anything else.

thanks for the concern. i we are one of those families who considers our dogs our kids, so it has been pretty scary. luckily we found the package almost immediately, so we were able to get them to the vet within a very short time.

they have been on pills for the last two weeks and have one more to go. the pills are VERY pricey, but we would pay for them even if they were 10 times as much...

they said that because we got it so early, they will probably recover just from the pills and we will not have to give them blood transfusions, so that is good. they are both acting just fine and there are no indications of anything going wrong.

i have had to tap into some of my personal instruments to sell to make up fo the bills, which i don't really mind doing. my dogs would do it for me.

I'm relieved to hear that! Ours are pretty much our kids too. I think I would be of the same mind as you.

I'm not sure what the guitar would go for, but hopefully someone who has played an Electra 335 and loves them will see past the modifications to want it.

it really is the best playing 335 i have had, and i have had several. i could KILL the chemp who decided he needed to hack the headstock. why in the WORLD....?

the figured maple on the one on your site is what led me to believe that it was not a MP but an elvin.

Glad to hear that your dogs are going to be okay! We lost a fantastic Australian Shepherd to rat poison under a neighbor's house when I was a kid. It took us a couple of days to figure out what was wrong, so no happy ending for us. I'm certainly happy to hear that it turned out differently this time!

Aren't there star-logoed tuners on older Ibanez guitars?

Matthew

Yep, Ibanez used star marked tuners for a while in the '70s, and the same tuners turn up on Manns and other guitars believed to be made by Fujigen Gakki.

I thought that was strange, too. Good news for Emanual and his pups, though!

Matthew

yep! woohoo for me! and my pups are in agreement!

ebay is a strange place for sure. but you know, it is like my father told me: when both sides walk away happy and content, then it was a good deal.

we have all over payed for something or another over the years, i know i have!

honestly though, it really does play great, as you guys know. it IS surprising however that no one ispaying attention to the other one... $100 difference for a world of difference.

oh well, pups got their final checkup today and everything seems normal. they just have to be watched closely for awhile, but that is pretty much all we ever do anyway. we call it dog tv.

thanks for the well wishes everyone.

Melvin Proshop! That's beautiful!

Matthew