Electra Outlaw X710

Possibly the coolest guitar I have seen for a long while…

I’m in 5 bands. Maybe 4… sometimes 6. I’m not sure. This is down to the fact that I like a lot of different types of music, so I join or start a band that plays a particular style I like and it’s all fun & games until December when all my bands usually have gigs on at the same time and that means my wife doesn’t see me for a while as I’m usually at a gig or band practice…. subsisting on a diet of cheese Twisties and Fanta from the band praccy vending machine. (I call it my orange diet…). If I could, I’d be in even more bands as there is a heap of music I would still love to play.

One of these bands would be a Red Fang-meets-Entombed type Death ‘N Roll sludge band. I’ve sort of started one but it’s very early days.  And if this band eventually gets off the ground, this is the guitar I would want to play in it…

The beast is the Electra Outlaw. Up until a month or two ago, I never even knew these guitars existed until I saw a pic on Google. Now I’ve become obsessed. I found an old eBay auction with these amazing photos so I thought I’d share them.

From what I can tell, these guitars were at the top end of the Electra tree. One look at the neck shows why. That’s some pretty sweet REAL abalone inlaid into that pitch black ebony fretboard.Why means that even if I buy one of these, thanks to the new strict as hell US Export laws, I’d never be able to get it shipped here anyway…

I love that body shape. It’s unique… not a Les Paul or a SG or a Strat… it’s something new. Like it’s been carved from a log with a chainsaw… all business, nothing fancy. Fat ass… check. Unlimited fret access… check. There, design finished.

The details are really cool as well. This particular Outlaw has the Electra ‘Peace’ logo engraved in the front. It totally suits the 70’s vibe, and the bridge wrapping around it sets it off beautifully. I’ve seen some photos of Outlaw’s without this symbol and they just don’t look as good.

The headstock has the same logo and is a great shape. It suits the body shape very nicely and it’s great that they didn’t go for the easy option and just through a Gibson type headstock on there like Yamaha did with there SG range. And another nice 70’s touch is that brass nut and volute.

The big selling point with these guitars were the modules that fitted in the back. I’m not sure how many there were, but there’s bass expander & a tank tone (?). They fit in the massive slot in the back and I’m sure are totally useless… you’d probably be able to get the same thing with various guitar pedals. But it was the 70’s and guitar companies were all smoking a LOT of drugs back then… (I’m look at you Alembic.)

Apart from that… look at the neck join. Did I mention the unlimited fret access? Holy crap…

So there you go. The Electra Outlaw X170. Give me three years and I’m sure my detuned, riff based band will be up and running. And then I’ll absolutely need one of these for sure. Along with a Orange stack.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XR7SilsL8k

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