Electra Guitars

Infobox Company
company_name = Electra
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company_type = Private
foundation = 1971
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industry = Musical Instruments
products = Electric Guitars and Bass Guitars
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Electra was a brand of electric guitars and basses manufactured in Japan and distributed in the US by two companies owned by brothers: [http://www.stlouismusic.com/ 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.

=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. There were a total of 18 guitar models which carried MPC circuits. The most notable was the Super Rock, which was a Les Paul copy. There were 13 total MPC modules offered.

Table of MPC modules

Also offered was a "Mini Amp" module, which contained no effects but was a headphone amplifier for the guitar.

Endorsers of Electra guitars and basses

Peter Frampton - [http://www.frampton.com/ Peter Frampton's Official Site]
[http://www.rockforever.com/singers/west/biography.html 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

Sources

cite web
url = http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/history.php
title = Electra History
accessdate = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 2003
author = | last = | first =
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date = | year = | month =
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archiveurl = | archivedate = Article from the original Electra fan site

cite web
url = http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/wire.php
title = MPC (wiring diagrams)
accessdate = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 2003
author = | last = | first =
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archiveurl = | archivedate = Details of MPC guitar wiring

cite book
url = http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/c77.php
last =
first =
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title = The Electra Guitar Collection 1977
publisher =
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id = 1977 full line catalog including MPC guitars and modules

=External Links=
* [http://www.rivercityamps.com/electrapage/static.php?page=index_of_models/ The Electra Guitar Page- Index of Models] latest known listing of guitar and bass models
* [http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/ The Electra Guitar Page (original)] archival mirror of original Electra fan site
* [http://www.rivercityamps.com/electraforum/ The Electra Forum] fan community of collectors and players
* Matsumoku Industrial- One manufacturer of Electra guitars
* [http://www.matsumoku.org/ The Guitars of Matsumoku] information on Matsumoku-made guitars