Say hello...

Hello  Abel and Hello Danny, I am rather new here but nobody else appears to be around to welcome you two! 

I have to ask errr Assmetal?! Is this a German thing?

it's how we call it it's aa Bit Deathmetal, Thrash, Math-Core,, something between slayer, slipknot and Helene Corpsegrinder Fischer and Rocks your Ass away

Welcome to the mad house fellas!

Name - Kay

Age - 23

Location - New York

First guitar - Washburn-Lyon Scott Ian Signature Series.

First Westone - 1990 Spectrum I DLX (WE1400FLO)

Later Westones - Just bought my first one.

Musical style/favourite bands - Janes Addiction, The Offspring, A.F.I., H.I.M., CKY, Stone Temple Pilots, A Day In The Life, Thursday, Fleetwood Mac, The Animals, Incubus, MC5, --- In all honesty I could list my musical influences all day...


Current Westones - 1990 Spectrum I DLX (WE1400FLO)

Other instruments - 1880s Zimmerman autoharp, 1915 Stella bowlback mandolin, 1967 Conrad Violin Style 6-String electric guitar, (Late 1920's - Early 1930's) Imperial Hawaiian Studios parlor guitar, 1950's Stadium parlor guitar, Early 1960's Kay N-2 Jumbo Flattop Acoustic.

Favourite instrument - My 1967 Conrad, just because of its overall rareness and uniquity.

Hello Kay and welcome to the House of Nutbars!
Nice eclectic mix of instruments you have there. And happy to hear you've discovered Westone and like what you have.

Now, crank the Wayback Machine a few more years and look at the Japanese Matsumoku made Westies from the 80's (which is what we kind of focus on here) I think you'll find them even more amazing!

Hi Kay
always pleased to welcome a fellow Jane's Addiction fan
TB

Hehe, Thank you both for the welcomes. 

I've done a lot of research on Matsumoku instruments, Barry, I started researching Mats and lurking this forum (and others) when I got my Conrad a year back, just had no reason the actually join here before. 

As far as owning a Mat Westone goes, It's the direct reason I own this guitar, the story of how I obtained it goes just like this... 

I'd been wanting a Mat Westone for awhile, but in the price range of what I was willing to spend I had no success with finding what I wanted, albeit I had seen this SLM Westone sitting in the Guitar Center online store for a long time(more than likely because of the horrid noise it made when I first got it and plugged it in, which was caused by the jack being loose, fixed it almost instantly) and figured I'd take my chances and test the waters with it. Still wouldn't mind an older Mat model, but with a bit of TLC and maintenance the SLM is actually turning out to be a great instrument, just needed some love.

Hello, Hello!

In the real world my name is Joe. I have just purchased my first and only Westone, and it's a weird Thunder bass with pickups like I've not seen anywhere else--I'll be posting pics in a thread later today. It's a cool piece, and I'd like to know a lot more about it. 

I've been a bass player for...jeez...almost 10 years! I had to think about that for a second...started as a high school freshman, and am now 23. I dabble on guitar, I love playing guitar alone but love jamming on bass with others. 

I've slowly developed an affinity for old Japanese guitars since I started working at a used music shop (where I've been almost 3 years now), but it really took off when I bought an old Japanese car lol. My main bass is a Mexican Fender Jazz from 07, but I've since matched my '87 Acura with 2 '87 Ibanez basses (Roadstar II P-style and an RD707 in hot pink). 

Run them all through an Ashdown ABM-C210 300W combo, which is just heavenly. Plenty of power for the gigs I play, not obscenely heavy (85 lbs) and sounds just fantastic. 

I've also got a 1994 G&L US Legacy, which is phenomenal, a 2010 Fender Blacktop Jaguar with P90s, an Ibanez GIO that I bought for $25, refinished in bright purple, dropped in a gold Epi 'bucker and a gold GFS Dream 90 (awesome pickup), and now I've got a dope looking backup, and lastly a 1963 Regal flattop that is a Harmony Sovereign H1203 that was rebranded as a Regal. It's pretty cool, and ran me $75. 

I play a lot of styles, but mainly Funk and Rock. Been starting to play a little bit of metalcore with some friends, but ultimately want to play some noise/post/shoegaze/postpunk stuff. Been loving me some post punk lately (Gang of Four, PiL, Magazine, Wire, etc)

Anyway, that's me, looking forward to hanging out here.

Hells teeth... 23!! Just a pup!

Welcome to the nuthouse and once you're in, well, there's no way out so enjoy the ride!

Love the weirdo bass you've got; the Uncle did this to us on a fairly regular basis and we may never, ever know what the hell it was meant to be! As Westbone said, possibly a focus or prototype model; I own a Genesis II that was apparently worked on by the resident genius which is non-standard... and found in a pawn shop in Christchurch, New Zealand!!

G'day!

I'm Richo, or just Goat.

My Thunder Jet has been with me since 1984. I *am* the idiot who removed the black paint from the body, after putting an asteroid-crater sort of ding in the paint... the answer to the body wood question is, apparently "poplar". The TJ sounds great nude, with a teak-oil finish.

The Thunder IIA (I think that's what it is, anyhow) came to me in the nineties, by way of a pal in a local music store: "You like Westones, don'cha? Have a look at this trade-in!".  Friends like that are always good to know.

Now that I'm getting older, I play when I can. There's less work to do, but a bad shoulder can put me off for a week.

Something about guitars, cold dead hands, and a Monty Python "I'm not dead yet!" would go well just here.


Location - Astraya

Age - Young in geological terms, ancient in dog years.

My Westone guitar(s) - ThunderJet, Thunder IIA. I'll bung some pics in Members' Westones soon as I can.

My first guitar - My sister's nylon folkie, borrowed whenever I could.

Then came a nasty solidbody electric called a Jason: neck like an archer's bow and built-in bad intonation. It received a Hendrix Viking Funeral.

My other stuff -
- Basses (3: fretless PBass copy, PBass copy, and acoustic bass)
- 12's (2: electric and acoustic)
- Resos (2)
- Acoustic 6-strings (a few)
- Mandos and ethnic thingies (a few)
- Synths (half a dumpster full, many still working)

Music -
Will listen to anything without autotune vocals or too many bum notes. Ambient to Rammstein by way of Ravi Shankar and Chet Atkins.
I play according to my mood, because I really have no idea what I'm doing. Sshhhh - don't tell anyone and they'll think I'm good at improv.

Welcome here Goat!
Don't worry, we've all done dumb things to our guitars in our yute. The main thing is that the guitar still plays as uncle Mat intended eh?

I have 2 Thunders and think they're just the perfect weapons of mass destruction. Too bad I didn't have 'em when I was gigging 'lo those many years ago.

I like your Guyatone shown in your post. I'll bet she's just as sweet and mellow as they come.

Barry wrote:Welcome here Goat!
Don't worry, we've all done dumb things to our guitars in our yute. The main thing is that the guitar still plays as uncle Mat intended eh?

I have 2 Thunders and think they're just the perfect weapons of mass destruction. Too bad I didn't have 'em when I was gigging 'lo those many years ago.

I like your Guyatone shown in your post. I'll bet she's just as sweet and mellow as they come.

Thanks, Barry!

Yeah, I don't know if the guitar's gotten mellow, or I have, but Fun is Being Had, which is the main thing.

The mystery sleuths in the Readers' Westies thread have inspired me, so I hope to do some more detailed shots of Blonde, Brunette and The Old Darlin' later this week.

Hi

I'm Neil. I live in Bedfordshire in the UK;

Great site so I thought I really must join.

First guitar - 1984 Westone Concord II - Black with Rosewood fretboard

First Westone - Above.

Other Westones - 1983 Westone Thunder I-A. Originally Light Oak.

Being left handed choice and budget played a part but Westones catered for both very well.
 
Musical style/favourite bands - I suppose 60s R&B through 70s Rock & Prog & up to the present day Indy bands.

Current Westones - I've had the two mentioned above for nearly 30 years. Gigged a lot for the first 15 years or so. Not so much now but still regularly played at home along with the odd jam.

They fit in nicely with my other guitars.

Other instruments - Yamaha Acoustic, Tanglewood 12 String Acoustic,Tokai Telecaster, Ibanez Semi Hollow, Gibson Les Paul, Epiphone Les Paul, Gretsch Duo Jet, Wesley SG copy, Fender/Squier hybrid Strat that I assembled from parts and finally a Squier Precision bass.

Favourite instrument - My Concorde was my first guitar so that's got to mean something.

I say the Thunder was originally Light Oak but the owner before me did away with that and painted/caked it matt Midnight Blue. I could'nt bare it. As the wood was stained I stripped it & resprayed it into something I felt more in keeping with it's looks. I also replaced a lot of the controls which were either missing or did'nt work properly. From then on it was a proper work horse which played great & never let me down.

I'll put some pictures up if you're interested.

Neil

Strangelybzar wrote:...I'll put some pictures up if you're interested.

Neil

Naw, we hate to see Westone guitars here!

Welcome Neil! Let's see her!

Hi guys, and girls of course.

I'm a Westone newbie as I've just bought my first one today. My usual weapon of choice is the ubiquitous fender tele but I'm more often seen with my Washbourn Festival acoustic as I play in a church worship band as their guitarist/singer/pianist/bassist/drummer and sound tech. Yep, I'm busy.

I have a musical family and have had my daughter in the Amazon download charts at age 13. She's now 18 and a good guitarist and pianist. My son is 15 and learning electric and plays drums. He's into 'screamo' whatever that is. I guess it's this generations version of napalm death.

I've bought a Raider 1 in a charity shop this morning, not knowing anything about them (sorry) and only bought it to adorn my studio wall. I didn't realise the quality of it. The electrics are shot, but they look original. Neck ok with no lifting on the fret board and only minor chipping to the end of the head stock.

Any ideas to the value of it? I've seen prices from £50 through to $700. I paid £30.

I'll be on here quite a bit I think.

Cheers all.

Steve.

Stock answer - it's worth what someone will pay for it. If you want to know what it's worth put it on eBay.

Ta. I'm not looking at selling but if anything is over 500quid it's got to go on my insurance.

Thee are pointy guys here that will give you a steer in the right direction, but I'd be v surprised if it's anywhere near that figure. Enjoy it for what it is - a well nailed together Japanese guitar.

That'll do me. Thanks

Yeah.... now, bearing in mind that I'm a huge Matsumoku pointy fan and have 1 from each of the major Matt brands, they aren't really worth huge coin. 
My Vantage Invader cost me about A&350, Aria Pro II Urchin was £30, but broken in half, Electra XV-1 Lady was about US$50 and my Raider II was A$170, but totally munted and needed more spent on it that it would fetch should I desire to sell it!
I've seen that Raider on eBay(Gumtree?Kijiji?) for hundreds of US$ as well: it's been there an awful long time!!

I've gotta go with the Scots on this one; enjoy playing the beast; they are a well engineered piece of Japanese production line kit that are a little out of the ordinary!!

Oh, one more thing, it goes absolutely without saying - we need pics. Or it didn't happen ☺. For any refurb work a shout on here will get you more advice than you can shake a stick at. Enjoy & welcome to 'Westies Anonymous'.

://pin.it/f9dsJfu

Being a newbie, I can't post pics for a week. Although adding http to the above row of random, nothing like a Pinterest link, characters will somehow take you to a pic of it

Name - Willie

Age - 50 (yikes!)

Location - AZ

First guitar - Memphis Tele copy

First Westone - 1985 Dynasty Bass

Other Matsumokus - 1981 Washburn Vulture

Musical style/favorite bands - ROCK...but I also did time in an 80's/disco band...so I've got the chops for that, too! AC/DC, Rush, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Bad Company, Social Distortion...really anything. But country. Ugh. Not that...

Current Westones - 1985 Dynasty Bass

Other instruments - Fenders (P, J, Tele bass...and one Strat), Carvins, Ibanez of several flavors, almost anything in an odd/bizarre shape (Explorers, V's, and a Thunderbird). WAY TOO MANY is the correct answer to this one.

Favorite instrument - Changes weekly...but for now, it's the '84 BC Rich Mockingbird. Trying to work the bugs out of the Thunderbird...and this Dynasty will find its way to the bench later today!


I just picked up the Dynasty today...was a CL find. Case included. Seems to be in pretty good shape. The action is high, but the neck is straight. I think the bridge has been cranked to the sky...so we will address that later this evening. I've always been trolling for a Rail...but I just happened upon this bass...and since it was complete and looked okay, I jumped on it. 

Hello,


I reacquired a Vantage VS696 I had originally purchased new after close to 30 years absence and in the process have become super interested in the Matsumoku-built guitars in general.

This lead me recently to purchase a near-mint Westone Concord S which is super intriguing as it is in such great shape for the era and from what I can tell in perusing the Westone site, seems to fall into the orphan category.
The best I can find is that is very much like the Spectrum S one of the forum member's own complete with coil tap.

Some photos of my find:


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Thanks for the informative Westone site and having someplace to feed the addiction so to speak!

Welcome both Lance and Stevie; nice to see new faces and to hear new stories, eh!!

I do like the look of tbe Dynasty range, and there's an Electra variant that has straight wings without the bent tip - pretty typical Matsumoku nuttiness, changing the specs on the fly!
If you like weird shaped guitars then you've come to the right place, eh - Westone Monark, Dynasty, Raider, Dimension 4, Quantum and Rail basses.... Aria Pro II U, XX, and ZZ series and the Vantage Invaders.Oh... and the Electra XV-1 Lady... less than 200 built; enough to be going on with, yes??

Concord S. With a Spectrum body... gotta love the Uncle! There's one or two oddballs like that around and yours looks spectacularly good - nice find!

The Vantage are a nice one, too; after many, many years of hunting and missing, I've finally got a Matsumoku electric 12 string, and it's a 696-12 in trans black; beautiful guitar!!

Anyway, welcome to the madhouse - though it's a little quiet in here of late!! - and fell free to share more with us!!

LanceT wrote:...The best I can find is that is very much like the Spectrum S one of the forum member's own complete with coil tap...

Hi Lance and welcome. That white Spectrum would be mine.
The Concord name was the short lived model name change from the original Phoenix and before the line finally changed to Spectrum. Confused yet?

Yours looks to be in beautiful condition. When you get a minute I'd be interested to know if the pickups are stamped MMK45 on the bottom. Mine is an '85 and had the ho-hum UBC pups which I have since replaced. Looks like many of the Spectrum models changed from '85 on.

Barry wrote:

LanceT wrote:...The best I can find is that is very much like the Spectrum S one of the forum member's own complete with coil tap...

When you get a minute I'd be interested to know if the pickups are stamped MMK45 on the bottom. Mine is an '85 and had the ho-hum UBC pups which I have since replaced. Looks like many of the Spectrum models changed from '85 on.

I had a look and there were absolutely no markings of any kind. How do you determine what pickups are supplied? What did you find the issue with the ones you replaced?

I took some photos of what I found and I can post if you'd like.

The MMK45 is easy to identify. "MMK" is punched into the metal on the bottom plate with the number "45" inside a rectangle stamped in black ink near the MMK. If yours are plain or have a black plastic plate they are "UBC's".

45's were the main pickups used across many of the Matsumoku lines and are usually compared to the DiMarzio Super Distortions of the day. Not suited for every type of music perhaps, but very versatile for the pop/rock genre.

They were replaced for unknown reasons (cost?) with a much lower output pickup which many of us find too thin sounding for live performance work. In split mode they all but disappear!

A CHECK of your resistance readings will quickly identify what you have.

Read more about UBC's HERE.

Interesting stuff, I had not heard of UBC pickups before this, I suspect that's what would be in the Concord though I'll have to check it out.

What pickups did you use in place of the UBC?

If the Concord has single coil pups they will not be 45's. The 45 is a 'bucker.
I put GFS Crunchy Pat's in my S.

Hi

I already posted a Hello on another forum before I saw this.

Anyway I'm Marianne, and I am from Co. Donegal in the north west of Ireland.  I own two Westone basses... my first bass I bought from new back in 1984 and it's a Concord - my other one I bought about eight years ago and it's a red Spectrum.

I name all my instruments, and my Spectrum is called Dearg Doom.  If anyone knows the Irish band Horslips, Dearg Doom is the title of their most famous track (check it out if you don't know it, it's a stonker) and it means The Red Destroyer so that on its own is a good enough reason to choose it for a red bass.  However there's another reason.

I got the bass second hand and when I got it, I realised that one of the pickups wasn't working.  So I sent it along to a friend who had a friend who he said MIGHT be able to fix it.   A few anxious days went by and my friend called. He said "You know your bass had only one pickup working?"

I said yes, hoping I wouldn't hear that it now had none...

"Well, now it has two" he said.  His friend had rewound the pickup.  I was delighted of course.  Anyway, it ties in nicely with the song Dearg Doom - because it contains the line  "Two heads are better than none"...

Here we are - look forward to getting to know folks here:

Welcome to the forum DeargDoom.

Nice to see these Westies in action. Just recently acquired my first Spectrum 6 string and fell in love. They are amazing instruments indeed.

Good story about the pup's and background for the name - makes perfect sense

Cheers.

Welcome Marianne, great to have you with us.
Looking forward to some more pix of your babies when you can!

Ah, the GTBass; an unappreciated, but highly capable, bass!! Nice to see it being used as the builders intended, too - good on you!!

Nice to see you in here, and hope you'll stick around some!

Thanks all for the welcoming words.

My Spectrum GT is definitely not unappreciated  by me!  We have had some great times together.

hi all and sorry for my english language,yes i living to the other side atlantic ocean in south west of France.
I own a "82 westone bass thunder one since 1988.
i come to you because i'm searching yellow stickers westone for my bass.
i would like to make restoration by specialist !!

Hi there, jcl!!  What sort of restoration are you planning? A full resto, or just a partial tidy up??

The "yellow stickers" you refer to; do you mean the headstock decals?

i would like to change my bass guitar frets and found yellow sticker.
i had already repaint head there is a longtime now.it was damaged so I painted and I sanded the westone logo.
i will show you a photography of my bass guitare when i can.

corsair wrote:The "yellow stickers" you refer to; do you mean the headstock decals?

if headstock mean the part of the guitar or mechanics is, yes it is!.

Hi all Westonefanatics 
I am Nolan from Sweden which owns my second Westone. The first one I had somewhere in the 80'ies, don't remember the type, but it had the Stratshape.  The second one I purchased for about 1 month ago. It is a black Spectrum II SP1012ST-BK with s/n 88 01 0503. A very nice guitar in mint condition!
The sound and playability is so good that it is my favorite guitar now. I suppose that then, this was the entry level, but IMO this is not the case nowadays. I have only one issue about the guitar, it is the tremolo, stays not in tune. But with a little fixing here and there I hope this will be gone to?
Play on, Nolan.
(Hope this is readable, my English is...... )

Hello there
               I was pleasantly surprised to see this website/forum. I never checked on the internet because I assumed this guitar brand had been forgotten ! I bought my Westone Thunder Jet guitar second hand in 1987 and thankfully still have it. Great guitar with lots of sounds and I play gigs with it regularly. I will try posting a photo soon. Meanwhile here's a description.....It's Black.

Hi there, Nolan and Honky and welcome! 

I think Thunder Jets were only available in matte black, eh!

Nolan, make sure there are no pinch points where the strings are catching; I lube the saddles and nut sparingly and make sure that on my strat-style trems the bridgeplate is pivoting freely and not binding up on the screws!
Ensure the nut slots are not too deep as that can cause binding and tuning instability as well.
Is your Spec II heavy? I have one of these - with a Bendmaster Deluxe bridge and stringlock - I bought in the UK and it's one of the heaviest guitars I own!

Hi Corsair. 
Thanx for advice. I have checked all you mentioned and adjusted litlle here and there, and now it seems to hold tune. 
Yeah, the guitar is pretty heavy. But I am playing mostly at home sitting on a chair so I dont feel the weight so much. 
I bought mine here in Sweden used, thru a private add for SEK 700, its about AUD 110. I think that was a fair price?

That's a good price, I reckon! I whacked an MMK45 I had laying about into the bridge and the thing really growls now!!

Hi, All! my name is Javier and I'm from Spain. This is a pic of mine back in 1986, and that was the first bass I had in my hands. I think it was a Spectrum GT (X650) That was yesterday! Hope you like it. Cheers!

hello all just found this forum and id like to say hello to all westone nuts , i bought my westone prestige 250 new in 1982 from fret music in southampton at a then dizzy cost of £220 ,back then i could not believe the quality and even now it still amazes me how they could have done them so cheap ,mine is in the sunrise sunburst which is still in mint condition although i must admit it dont get played very often in fact it has only just been taken out the case first time in 5 years shame on me i used to play a lot of chord work and loved the meaty mellow tones when you play rhythm guitar, alas i succumbed to wanting to play lead and bought the usual strat type guitars eventually buying a tokai from the same period , the serial number of my westone is 2083022, ill post up some pics later, i have the original bill of sale and the sales brochure for the whole range of the time, ,its hard to believe that the guitar is now 34 years old and i have kept it shut away for most of that again shame on me , i guess i was always afraid of damaging it as its such a beautiful finish , i put gold plated strings on it to go with the gold finished hardware back in the day looks like ill have to get some more and start playing it again

Hello prestigenut - it looks like I'm the first to welcome you to the forum. I'm amazed that you bought a Prestige 34 years ago and still have it in almost perfect condition. I'm sure that lots of members here will be keen to see photos when you are able to post them (as will I). Prepare for a lot of jealousy!

Hello also to Javier. That's a nice bass to have as your first one. My first was a Westone Thunder, but I'm not admitting how many years ago that was! Please let us know if you have a Westone now, or anything else of Matsumoku origin.

Yes indeed; g'day to Javier and to p-nut.. couldn't resist that, sorry!!

Spectrum GT Bass; great instrument - I have one!!

Yep, like to see the Prestige... prepare for some epic drooling should you show it here, eh!!

many thanks for the welcome ill do some pics over the weekend and yes prepared to be amazed i hope i can post them straight on the forum rather than mess about with photobucket etc i have not had a chance to check out the forum yet to see what you can and cannot do keep em peeled folks  just to add the guitar is very very mint with not a mark on it as i hardly used it again shame on me  when i bought it new i was looking for a yamaha sg2000 and saw the westone and it bowled me over if i remember right the yammy was twice the price but not twice the quality , but seeing what the yams fetch now maybe i should have bought both