Electra Outlaw

I think my Outlaw was made in '78-'79 and made in Japan. It has a 5-way selector switch that allows a multitude of tones. Most of the features have already been mentioned in other posts, but I will mention it is a neck-through contruction. The neck is one piece and goes the length of the guitar. The body and neck are tapered where the meet and makes for an extreme ease of play on the higher frets. The MPC modules are great...much better than having to mess with foot pedals. Grover tuning keys help make a guitar that will stay in tune.

I have owned a Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster, but the Electra Outlaw is the best guitar I have ever played.....SOUND and everything.

The factory setup was fine and has great action, but I always refine any guitar. Couldn't make this one much better. The finish is a Mahogany natural wood grain. It has some battle scars now, but couldn't have been better when it was new. The pickup are hot and yet can put out a very mellow sound, when needed.

I have owned my Outlaw since 1979 and it is still my best guitar.

Been playing guitar since I was 15 and am 47 now. The Electra Outlaw MPC is a GREAT guitar.

Since the featurs have been covered I won't mention these, except
a very nice blue fur case came with it.

Never heard a guitar sound like this, can be compared to les paul,
an SG and 335 all in one guitar.

I own 4 guitars including a gibson 125, this is by far the best, the easiest to play. Recently I cut out the wiring to the top pick-up,
one of the module holders was bad, will have to have it fixed someday, but sounds great with one pick-up.

Sorry to keep saying this is a perfect guitar, ...but. I've ownded at least 20 guitars, and this is the best. This was made in 1977,
and looks like it was made in 2000.

I have about 7 modules, I use only 2 of them, the red and blue.
I think these come with the guitar when it was new, don't know.
The ones I don't use- and if anyone wants to buy them--
#6 filter follower,#4 Tank Tone, #10 Flanger, #1 Phase Shifter,
and Bass and Treble Expander. The blue one is Tube sound, and the
red one-- my favorite- is distortion. Write me if you would like to make an offer on the modules, I can send pictures.

well, insomia has hit once again and since it's too late to make a lot of noise with my guitar i've decided to tell you about it. besides, one outlaw review is not enough forthis page.
a lot of the specs you can get from the review below but here's a basic rundown: japanese made, 22 frets, solid mahogany, through neck, 1 volume, 1 tone, 5-way switch, 2 humbuckers--electra's own super magnaflux, grover tuners, double cutaway. the famous feature of these 1970s electra guitars are the mpc modules. several models, including the outlaw, have cavities in the back where you can plug in separate effect modules. the effects can be controlled on-board with knobs on the front which look just like the volume/tone knobs, which can be quite useful in some situations. this is electra's first original guitar design--made for the southern rock band the outlaws, designed in the u.s. but manufactured in japan at matsumoku, where other brands such as aria and epi were also made.
something special was going on there at the time because electras from the mid 70s to early 80s are just beautiful instruments. the finish on my outlaw is flawless, the abalone inlays are beautiful, the genearl craftmanship superb--the friggin thing has tortoiseshell binding on the neck! you can't beat electra mpc's with a 5-way switch for versatility--infinite tonal variations. the swtch allows for normal bridge/both/neck selection but also split-coil and push-pull.

this guitar is just so versatile in tone you can play just about anything. you can get realy creamy les paul sounds, sg aggression, big warm 335 tones, etc. with the split-coil position you get a nice fender-like sound, which to my ears still remains fat---which i prefer to the standard fender thin tone.
the mahogany, through necks, and chunkiness of the guitar give the sound a real depth and wonderful sustain. my only complaint sound-wise is that i get a hum when playing with high gain. i took it to the repairman (twice!) to have it checked out but he couldn't locate the problem. either it's related to the mpc circuitry or the pick-ups just have such a high output (according to the electra page 7500 winds--if that means anything to you) that they hum easily.
the modules are apparently hit and miss. i have the overdrive unit, which isn't powerful enough to really get anywhere, but the other two i have are nice-- the phaser, which is luscious, and the flanger, which is also rich sounding but inconvenient because it has controls on the module itself, which means opening up the cavity in the back to tweak.

as stated the natural finish on mine is flawless and still looks perfect after 25 years! the frets will need attention soon--but that's normal after a quarter of a century of playing. very slight relief, which has never bothered me.

this guitar is one of those gems that came out of the factory good and stayed good. it's one of the best-made guitars i've ever played--better than any modern gibson i've played. built to last.

n/a. electra is only sort of existant. the parent company is saint louis music, which still releases guitars under the "crate electra" banner. unfortunately they are just cheap strat copies. the mpc effect modules were made in the u.s. (as oppsed to the guitars, which were mij) and apparently this division of the company went on to be crate. so now you know. anyhow, no support for these guitars.

for some reason h.c. asks for your gear set-up and everyone writes it down. i don;t know if people like bragging about what they have or if guitarists like reading what other people play (maybe just to make fun of 'em) but i'll write mine down just in case you really really wanna know. electra outlaw/yamaha sgv--70's morley wah/volume--dod 250 o.d.--dod chorus--boss ph-2 phaser--boss ps-2 pitch-shifter/delay--zoom 2100 (which i use for looping till i get me one of them fancy dl4s then the zoom'll be strictly for backup.)
when i first got this guitar i was in love. sometimes i'd just sit there and look at it or daydream about it. yet there was always one thing i didn't like when i got it, and it's the reason i'm looking for another main instrument.
so here's my one complaint...
this thing weighs a #@%* ton!!!!
when i first got it i thought i'd get used to it, but i got the yamaha mentioned above and started playing that more. now every time i pick up the electra i fall in love again with the tones but soon my shoulder hurts from the weight. plus the guitar naturally sits horizontally which isn't comfortable to me as i play with the guitar strapped on high and at a 45 degree angle--sorta british invasion style. and the body is thick (1.75" at the horn).
so don't say i didn't warn you about the weight.
so, yes i know the average of the above numbers is not 8, but i have to deduct a couple of points just cuz it's so dern heavy, making it too cumbersome for gigging or in any situation where you can't sit and play. i am keping it, however, for recording and whatnot, maybe for a couple of tunes on stage.
and just think--i wrote all of that about the outlaw and didn't even mention the peace sign...

What originally drew me to this guitar was the beautiful craftsmanship as it hung aon the wall. I bought it new back in '80. It has a dark mahogany solidbody, ebony fretboard, SG style, easy to reach, cutaway with mother of pearl abalone inlay fret markers. The neck is wider than a strat and it came with a brass nut, and nice grover machine heads. But when I played it I knew I had to have it. 5-way pickup selector and on-board MPC effects that were much easier to control than a pedal. They offered ten different types of effects. I bought 4. "Phase shifter" complete with two additional back door refinement settings, and a "Flanger" (my two favorites!) as well as a "Power compresser", which adds quite a nice boost. The last effect is a shlocky "tank tone" (which has a wah sounding octapusses garden sound) Yhat stays in the case. It came with duel, double humbucking pickups. The finish is still beautiful after 20 years. I've only had a minor adjustment to the fretboard early when I got it and no problems since. The two on-board effects are controlled by two extra twist knobs as well as power control switches. You can run with none, one alone, the other alone or both together! Couple that with the 5-way pickup selector and you've got quite a bit at your fingertips. Sorry, no whammy bar though. Came with a sturdy airline case that you can stand on. I think it was retailing for $700 and I got it for $350. Not sure. I remember it being a good price for the value, sound and beauty.

With the five-way pickup selector, I get a range unlike any other guitar I've ever heard. More so than a strat, even though I love strats. I play rhythm and blues and a lot of leads with it and get a nice full sound with screaming leads. Sustain is pretty good. It is probably closer in sound to a Les Paul and is heavy in weight like a LP. I use a Randall 2-10" 120 watt amp that gives beautiful sound. I've also plugged it into an old Fender twin reverb with great results. I found the original pickups were good, but replaced them (but still hung on to the old ones) with some pickups from what I think was a Hamer guitar years ago.

Action is quite fast. The neck has a wonderfully smooth laquered finish that allows you to slide up and down the neck with ease.The pickup selector fell off after a gig 15 years ago, so I've got a jerry-rigged plumbers post on it- works ok though- looks a bit industrial. Other than that it has held up quite well, even after a couple of drops. It is a solid heavy guitar with a nice fat sound. The flap in the bhack that hold the MPC modules has loosened and the jack has been a bit loose from time to time.

I played it in a band and have shipped it many different places with no problems. Other than a couple of loose knobs everything has held up beautifully. The finish is still gorgeous. No wear-through of the laquer what so ever on the front. A little chipping on the side where I dropped it. I used it on gigs without a backup. starp buttons are solid. Very dependable.

none

I've been playing for 25 years. I also own a Martin acoustic. I love them both. I'd buy another if I could find one. It's versitility, beauty and sound make it one of the better guitars out there, even 20 years later. I compared it to lots of other standard guitars and haven't heard many quite like it. Actually, I've never seen another Electra guitar anywhere. It's unique. I've also heard good news from guitar shop owners to hang on to it. I've also heard to stay away from the newer models. The MPCs are classics! I highly recommended one.