prestige 250 : a little history?

by caucajun Wed Jul 30, 2008 12:59 am

i just nabbed one of these at a pawnshop for $150 USD. i've opened it up and checked it out.....man! this sucker's solid! the maple cap is 1/2 IN thick! no wonder it's so heavy! the neck join is something new to me.........bolted and THEN glued in. the flame is fake,tho'.....no? i see a hint of fabric lines. otherwise, this is a smokin" LP copy! i've seen the specs of these which state that the fretboard is ebony.....but, i'd swear it was rosewood........anybody know about that?

any other points of interest y'all care to share with me?

this one is a 2nd issue, with the pearl bird logo. tobacco burst, gold hdwr, pearl block inlays and bound all over(not the back).

thanks.

by **corsair** Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:19 am

US$150 - man did you ever score!! Now you must post pix of the beast...

AFAIK, that flame is the real deal and as for history, this is the only stuff I know of on the Prestige...

http://www.westone.info/prestige250.html

...and the history of matsumoku is

http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewtopic.php?t=3360

..go down about 8 posts and follow the links! Very Happy

by caucajun Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:28 am

thanks. i got most of my info from the same page as that 1st link. i'll try to get some photos, but, mine is exactly like the brownburst one pictured in the 1st link.

glad to hear i scored.........i love it when i score! EEHHHH-EEEEEE!! cheers

thanks.

by Guest Wed Jul 30, 2008 4:15 pm

Hello Caucajun and Welcome! Smile

Wow, sounds like you've got yourself a real humdinger of a bargain there, that's only about £75 over here! Shocked

I know I wouldn't have hesitated if I'd seen something like that, I'd have grabbed it with both hands and hung on tight!

Well done! cheers

You must put some photos up in the 'Members' Westones' forum for us all to see! cyclops

Pauline :flower: :queen:

by colt933 Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:33 pm

The flame is a laminate on top of the solid maple cap. So it's real flame but not solid flame and not photo flame (I believe). I believe Zubair or maybe Oliver (Okaspar) can verify this.

Warmoth is now selling a 'dual lam' body with a similar construction. It is cheaper to use plain rock maple for the cap and then use a thin, figured veneer on top to make it pretty. The tone is the same in practical application and it lowers the finished price of the body about $100.

The neck joint on the Prestige is identical to the Westone Thunder II, the Spectrum FX, and the Pantera X-350 and X-390.

Incidentally, if you also follow the various Matsumoku-made Les Paul copies, and the Aria Pro II LC and LS series in particularl, you will see that the 'long neck tenon' on the Arias is the same as on the Westones described above. This long tenon was also used on numerous other Japanese-made Les Paul copies.

You scored a huge bargain. In good condition with the original case and hardware, that's easily a $1000 guitar in today's market. Plus the Prestige models are very rare in the U.S.