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Blues King Electro


dg20

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I am trying to work out if the Blues King Electro has solid back and sides and did it just come in maple with spruce top. Anybody enlighten me?

 

The initial production of the Blues King Electro was produced with laminated maple back, produced in Nashville and shipped to Bozeman for production.

 

Later on, I believe possibly coinciding with the period when they rebadged the model the J-185EC (?), the backs that they used became solid maple. I think that change might have been about 1998-9. That's just a guess, though.

 

(Hopefully this isn't a fifth grade Music question on which a lot of money is riding....)

 

Fred

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I VERY nearly bought a Tobacco Burst J185EC a couple of years ago...it looked incredible, and had great tone, but there was something seriously wrong with the intonation...I would tune it up, and an E, A or D chord would sound lovely, then a G, C, Am or Bm would sound like a piano falling out of a window. Very strange. I passed it up in the end.

 

I'm sure it was just one bad apple, though.

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This one seems to have varied quite a bit over the years. Most have maple sides and back, but I've seen rosewood models as well. They have changed the bridge on the most recent incarnation. Mine is the old-style mustache bridge like eots'. The specs on the current model list double A sitka spruce top and curly maple side and back, but mine is solid AAA flame maple and sitka. I haven't seen a laminate back, but will bow to shrimer's expertise on the old Nashville edition; however, I have come across specs that included a four-ply spruce top for the model.

 

Given all of the variables, I guess the J185EC might be hit or miss, but mine's definitely a keeper: great projection without being too bright, seductively playable neck, and spot-on intonation - drop dead gorgeous to boot.

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  • 10 years later...

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