Electra Guitars

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Electra
Type Private
Founded 1971
Headquarters
Industry Musical Instruments
Products Electric Guitars and Bass Guitars

Electra was a brand of electric guitars and basses manufactured in Japan and distributed in the US by two companies owned by brothers: Saint Louis Music (SLM) and Pacific Coast Music in the 1970's and early 1980's.

Unlike most other brands of imported guitars which were sourced from a single manufacturer, Electra guitars were ordered from all the Japanese factories and distributors. As a result, early models especially vary in details and quality. Later, as all models came to be made by Matsumoku, Electra guitars offered high quality at competitive prices. However, the brand never entirely lost its association with inexpensive 'copy' guitars and the brand name was transitioned to Electra Westone in 1984 and Westone in 1985. The same qualities make them popular among collectors today.

Contents

[edit] MPC Guitars

In 1976 Electra MPC (Modular Powered Circuits) models featured a pair of cartridge slots in the guitar body, which allowed effect modules to be plugged in and controlled from the front of the guitar. Today the unusual thing is that the effects are onboard, but even offering electronic effects to consumer musicians was fairly new at the time and offers an interesting alternate way to do it.

[edit] Table of MPC modules

1 Phase Shifter
2 Fuzz
3 Treble & Bass
4 Tank Tone
5 Overdrive
6 Filter Follower
7 Auto Wah
8 Tube Sound
9 Octave Box
10 Flanger
11 Frog Noise
12 Compressor

[edit] Endorsers of Electra guitars and basses

Peter Frampton - Peter Frampton's Official Site
Leslie West
Electric Light Orchestra
Allin "Free Bird" Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Outlaws
Rick Derringer's brand was the X910 guitar also known as the "Derringer" model

[edit] Sources

Electra History. Article from the original Electra fan site

MPC (wiring diagrams). Details of MPC guitar wiring

The Electra Guitar Collection 1977.  1977 full line catalog including MPC guitars and modules

[edit] External Links