The VintAxe Guitar Forum
A Place for Vintage Guitar Enthusiasts to Pursue their Passion
Electra Custom 2242 FOUND IN DUMPSTER! Any idea of wat year?
Moderators: cheepaxes, VintAxe, Phizix
27 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
can i get some history on this guitar i found it in the dumpster. i put a jack in it and newish pickupcovers and polished it. plays perfect like new. i cant believe the wiring is still good. it had no strings when i found it and looked pretty sad dont know why some one would throw a working guitar away. any info or history on it would be well apreciated i would like to fix it up and keep it. i am NOT selling this guitar, surprisingly the best playing guitar ive owned. its a ?1972? Electra Custom 2242 Super Rock. not 100% on the year
Last edited by hitman5088 on Sun Sep 19, 2010 5:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- hitman5088
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:21 pm
- Riotonsunset
- Posts: 182
- Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:39 pm
- Location: Minnesota
they show up on line in Japan with regularity...seems they weren`t all exported. Higher end models can go for quite a bit.
- sneakypete
- Posts: 218
- Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 6:13 am
is my guitar pre-lawsuit? also would it be bad for me to replace the crodded parts like the bridge? I had a guitar guy look at it and found out the hardware is original except the tuners. also im geting mixed up information on identifying the year. now im not sure if 1972 or possibly 74-76. anyone know how to do tell which year. i know the pages say by the headstock which this one is open book. but different places say different years for that style.
Last edited by hitman5088 on Sun Sep 19, 2010 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
- hitman5088
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:21 pm
Straight from Wiki Matsumoku was a sewing machine company before they made guitars lol
"Matsumoku began in Matsumoto, Japan, as a family owned woodworking business that specialized in building tansu and butsudan. Shortly after WWII, the Singer Corporation established the Singer Sewing Machine Company, Japan, and set up production facilities in Nagoya. Matsumoku Industrial was contracted to build its sewing machine cabinets, and in 1951, became a partially owned subsidiary of Singer, Japan. Matsumoku also built amplifier cabinets, speaker boxes and wooden cabinets for audio and television makers."
my electra is deffinately Matsumoku distinguished by the 3 piece maple neck.
"Matsumoku began in Matsumoto, Japan, as a family owned woodworking business that specialized in building tansu and butsudan. Shortly after WWII, the Singer Corporation established the Singer Sewing Machine Company, Japan, and set up production facilities in Nagoya. Matsumoku Industrial was contracted to build its sewing machine cabinets, and in 1951, became a partially owned subsidiary of Singer, Japan. Matsumoku also built amplifier cabinets, speaker boxes and wooden cabinets for audio and television makers."
my electra is deffinately Matsumoku distinguished by the 3 piece maple neck.
- hitman5088
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:21 pm
you guys are awsome in your info on this guitar. but can anyone honestly identify the year? or is there some hidden serial number somewhere that i cant seem to find.
- hitman5088
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:21 pm
making a guitar playable is never a bad thing...throwing out the replaced parts... is.
You know, I`ve seen some Matsumoku made guitars that were serious PsOS...they were not immune to low end cheap guitars either. There were some Electras that went for several hundred US dollars on line in Japan, as always it depends on where a guitar fits in the pecking order. Hang onto it because one never can predict when people are going to change their minds...I mean, a few short years ago lots of players literally laughed at MIJ guitars...now of course many of them are paying several times more for those same guitars than they would have had they been paying attention back then. So who can say...if the Electra plays good and sounds good, it is good... regardless of what the experts...and I use the term loosely...on line may or may not think. Ultimately it comes down to the person playing the guitar.
You know, I`ve seen some Matsumoku made guitars that were serious PsOS...they were not immune to low end cheap guitars either. There were some Electras that went for several hundred US dollars on line in Japan, as always it depends on where a guitar fits in the pecking order. Hang onto it because one never can predict when people are going to change their minds...I mean, a few short years ago lots of players literally laughed at MIJ guitars...now of course many of them are paying several times more for those same guitars than they would have had they been paying attention back then. So who can say...if the Electra plays good and sounds good, it is good... regardless of what the experts...and I use the term loosely...on line may or may not think. Ultimately it comes down to the person playing the guitar.
- sneakypete
- Posts: 218
- Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 6:13 am
[quote="hitman5088"]you guys are awsome in your info on this guitar. but can anyone honestly identify the year? or is there some hidden serial number somewhere that i cant seem to find.[/quote]
have you looked under the pick-ups?...inside the routes and under the p`ups themselves, there may be markings on the bottom of the p`ups...like Yamaha marks their old SG p`ups with the year of the Emperor`s reign which makes it easy to translate the year to the Gregorian calendar.
have you looked under the pick-ups?...inside the routes and under the p`ups themselves, there may be markings on the bottom of the p`ups...like Yamaha marks their old SG p`ups with the year of the Emperor`s reign which makes it easy to translate the year to the Gregorian calendar.
- sneakypete
- Posts: 218
- Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 6:13 am
no no no i dont throw away the old parts after i replace them but i cant really look under the pickups to see because i just replaced the strings and dont have another set to put on it. but if i remember right when i changed the pickup covers i didnt see anymarkings inside the guitar. just old a** dual coil pickups under the covers.
- hitman5088
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:21 pm
Hey hitman5088.
From what I can see in your pictures, your guitar appears to be a 2252. During this time period, Saint Louis Music (SLM) used different model numbers to designate colors of essentially the same model. Your guitar appears red in the pictures (2252) rather than Black (2242).
You're probably going to need to be satisfied with a date range for your guitar since to my knowledge there is no way to date these instruments exactly.
The Electra Page states that the 2252 was introduced in 1972 and discontinued in 1975.
These dates pretty much jive with the literature I own although I've never seen 1972 Electra literature. The 2252 is not listed in the 1975 Electra catalog. So, I would say it is unlikely your guitar is a 1972 on the basis that comparatively fewer Electras were probably sold that year. It is more likely your guitar was imported in 1973-74. The 2252's being sold in 1975 were probably mostly left overs.
From what I can see in your pictures, your guitar appears to be a 2252. During this time period, Saint Louis Music (SLM) used different model numbers to designate colors of essentially the same model. Your guitar appears red in the pictures (2252) rather than Black (2242).
You're probably going to need to be satisfied with a date range for your guitar since to my knowledge there is no way to date these instruments exactly.
The Electra Page states that the 2252 was introduced in 1972 and discontinued in 1975.
These dates pretty much jive with the literature I own although I've never seen 1972 Electra literature. The 2252 is not listed in the 1975 Electra catalog. So, I would say it is unlikely your guitar is a 1972 on the basis that comparatively fewer Electras were probably sold that year. It is more likely your guitar was imported in 1973-74. The 2252's being sold in 1975 were probably mostly left overs.
-
VintAxe - Site Admin
- Posts: 2196
- Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:52 am
- Location: USA
"Hey hitman5088.
From what I can see in your pictures, your guitar appears to be a 2252."
Im not trying to say you are wrong but the neck plate does have 2242 on it. and all the pictures ive seen on the 2242 look like this guitar except ive seen black ones but the 2242 is the only model that looks like this guitar in my opionion. also just out of curiosity have you come accross a 2242 with a gibson "open book" headstock like this one? and if it is a 2252 why would someone change the neck plate. everything apears to be very old and original here ill post pic of neck plate if i can get it to come out good.
From what I can see in your pictures, your guitar appears to be a 2252."
Im not trying to say you are wrong but the neck plate does have 2242 on it. and all the pictures ive seen on the 2242 look like this guitar except ive seen black ones but the 2242 is the only model that looks like this guitar in my opionion. also just out of curiosity have you come accross a 2242 with a gibson "open book" headstock like this one? and if it is a 2252 why would someone change the neck plate. everything apears to be very old and original here ill post pic of neck plate if i can get it to come out good.
- hitman5088
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:21 pm
27 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2