Say hello...

Great to see another AUSSIE, Cheers PHILBY.
Richie..

New member here, hoping you'll not be too hard on me as I settle in...

Name - Al

Age - 42 (in 2011)

Location - Edinburgh, Scotland

First guitar - Westone Thunder 1A 4051735 (that's it in my avatar, baffling my cat)

First Westone - That same one

Later Westones - None, yet, but I'm starting a search, especially for a Thunder III

Musical style/favourite bands - Bits of everything, I'm not choosy: Dixie Dregs, Dream Theatre, Cud, Django Reinhardt, Tackhead, Rage against The Machine, Queen and so on

Current Westones - Just that one, with most of its switches broken

Other instruments - Ibanez RG series, Epiphone Les Paul copy (now sold), Squier strat (now with my son), Ovation acoustic

Favourite instrument - Ibanez for now but if the Thunder gets fixed...

Nice to be here

Hello arcoddath and welcome!
The Thunder IA is an awesome machine indeed! Glad you're enjoying yours.
As to adding to the herd, it is getting tougher to find reasonably priced Westies, but hang in there. They'll show up sooner or later.

...shoulda done this earlier, my apologies all...

Aliases: Iceman
Locale: Up North
1st guitar: Late 80's Squier Strat (The banana yellow paint did it)
1st Westone: 1986 x390PW (a VERY happy Valentine's Day in 1988)
Tastes/Artists: Blues, Jazz, Metal, SRV, Danny Gatton, Joe Pass, Satriani, Malmsteen, Kenny Burrell, and so on and so on and so on...
Other instruments: '63 Melody Maker, '71 LPC, '80 V2, '88 Squier Strat
Newest Westone: '82-'83 Concorde I (not exactly sure just yet)
FAVORITE Westone: My wife's x390.

A bit of a disclaimer if you will.....

Unlike the probable majority of members and guests here I am not much of a musician in any sense of the word. (I am trying once again to become so somewhat and I promise I really will practice this time, Hon). I have always had a deep and abiding respect and admiration however for those individuals who have been blessed with that ability, drive, talent, gift or whatever other tag you choose. The most precious person in my life is just such an individual and I am blessed every day I spend with her. I have always had connections to music throughout my life and will continue to have them while I still have breath.

Guitars always have and always will hold a special place in my heart. I consider them to be one of the highest examples of art in form, function, design, expression and etc., ad infinitum.

I hope that a bit of room somewhere on the bench can be made for us ardent fans as well.

Nicely stated Steve. And welcome to the nut house!

(Mmmm, nuts.)

Barry wrote:

(Mmmm, nuts.)

You mean as in ....mmmmm forbidden Jelly donut.......?

Hello, my name is David, i leave in France, in Bordeaux.

Name - David

Age - 30

Location - Bordeaux (France)

First guitar - Cort Action bass

First Westone - Thunder II bass

Later Westones -

Musical style/favourite bands - Rory Gallagher, Kevin Ayers, led zep, black sabbath, pink floyd, allman brothers ...

Current Westones -

Other instruments - Cort action bass

Favourite instrument - Thunder rules !

Hi there
I joined this forum as I collect and repair guitars.
I have just got a Westone 1981 thunder1 bass guitar.. Unfortunately its a lefty so I wont be able to play it !
Was hoping you guys might help out here.
It needs a good clean up but otherwise sound. THe nat fiinsh on the body is badly scratched and needs to be resprayed.
Would you advise I do this or leave it as is .
I wouldnt refinish a 1959 Gibson .... but there is still plenty of life left in this guitar !
Its a pity they dont make guitars like this anymore.
I keep getting CHinese junk in my house and they just cant compete with the Japanses guitars which I believe are mostly better than the USA ones.
I will post pics later.
Steve

G'day Steve; nice to see someone from the southern hemisphere!! Mate, I'd restore it; they look stunning when they are minty!! Be warned; these guiatrs are addictive in that the more you play one, the more you want another one!! Ask any of the nutcases in here...

Name: Anthony
Aliases: Audile
Age: 23
Locale: Kangaroo's pouch/Crocodile's back/in front of the barbie cooking shrimp/any other cliche I might've missed -- Australia
1st guitar: A horrible acoustic. My first "real" guitar was an 80s Ibanez Roadstar II, still sitting without strings and pickups in the spare room.
1st Westone: Spectrum ST Bass
Tastes/Artists: Heavy Metal -in all its forms: from thrash, to power, to death metal-, Rock, Hard Rock, Blues, Jazz, Classical, Electronic [Trance, Techno, dnb] -- anything with a bit of substance and feel!
Other instruments: '88 G&L L2000 and '99 Jackson Kelly SP6 are my main axes, also have others that I don't play too often, like a Schecter V-1 Classic, Ibanez RG370DXL, Samick Artist Series Bass, MIM Fender Jazz with a rooted truss =(
Newest Westone: Spectrum ST Bass
FAVORITE Westone: My only Westone... for now lol. a Spectrum ST Bass.

G'day mate!! Welcome to the sanitarium. We love pictures here and invite you to post any you feel your would like to at the member's westone forum.

Invite some sheliahs in as well, we got plenty of bruces here already.

Haha thanks for the welcome Iceman, I'll be sure to get some nice pictures up soon, and as for birds into music? Still searching for one myself mate haha

Welcome to the nut house Audile, read up on the Guitar you have & do some research on that 4 string you have mate. It took me a long time to understand how good of quality the (MATS) Westone product really is. I now own 2, with a bit of help from the senior members i might add. (watch them.....watch them closely.... you can check out any time you like...... but you can never leave) Naa seriously, any info you need is right here mate!

OZZY OZZY OZZY!
Cheers,
Richie..

THEBARRON wrote:Welcome to the nut house Audile, read up on the Guitar you have & do some research on that 4 string you have mate. It took me a long time to understand how good of quality the (MATS) Westone product really is. I now own 2, with a bit of help from the senior members i might add. (watch them.....watch them closely.... you can check out any time you like...... but you can never leave) Naa seriously, any info you need is right here mate!

OZZY OZZY OZZY!
Cheers,
Richie..

Yeah I've heard they're amazing, can't wait to play her.

" read up on the Guitar you have" Which one are you talking about exactly?

Hi, My name is Rick and I'm a bass player living in Germany. I bought my first Westone (Pantera 5 string) in '88. That one eventually got stolen, so a couple of years ago, I found another one. Right now I'm starting to restore it. The original pre-amp was replaced with what looked to be homemade, so any info on original pre-amps would be greatly appreciated. I'm a Westone fan and just found this forum, and look forward with communicating with other Westone fans. Cheers, Rick

Rico_2212 wrote: I'm a Westone fan and just found this forum, and look forward with communicating with other Westone fans. Cheers, Rick

Hi Rick, Welcome, it seems the welcoming committee has been a bit preoccupied, there's been a lot going on between the forum & the W/info site as you've probably read. I'm surprised Ice hasn't spotted your post hanging about in the wings, your just the man he will want to chat to, 5 string Pantera Bass an all.

Sorry I can't help with info on your preamp just yet but will be able to look at one in a Headless shortly, though I bet Westbone will be able to give some sound advise, along with a whole load of clued up Bass players here

Post a question & pics on technical, My guess is you'll be inundated with advise once everyone knows your here

Hello there. I am the proud owner of a Westone XA1630 Genesis II. I am relatively new to the westone scene, however after getting this model i have in a way "seen the light" as these guitars are very well constructed and considering mine is an 87' it looks fantastic for its age.

my current gear:

2000s era Fender Acoustasonic 30

2000s era Peavey 112 Bandit EFX

1988 Crate Stealth GT-50 Combo with 4 6l6 tubes and 3 12ax7. (also has a celestion vintage 30 in it too.)

1987 Westone XA1630 Genesis II near perfect finish and components. Looks like its been a closet queen.

Alvarez RD10-250 Acoustic Electric

2000s era Fender Tele with Custom Shop Pickups.

1988 Kramer Stryker 300ST w/ coil tap

1985 Harmony H-801 Single pickup/vol/tone (my blues beater)

I am not what you would consider a pro. I enjoy instruments even though i am not a virtuoso. The westone i have is more than enough for me to get those kind of sounds though. I am still a learner in every respect and if anyone on here knows of any good materials or references to learn more, i would be happy to hear any suggestions. Btw, my name is in reverence to Frank Zappa. I am a huge fan of his work and others that got their start in his band like adrian belew, steve vai, terry bozzio, etc.

Genesis II fans ... queue here. I have a platinum burst and Corsair has a white one. Your in good company with a Genesis my friend !!

Oh, by the way welcome.

I do indeed, though it is a long, long way away from me at present!! Welcome to Rico and M.O.D.; remiss of me not to see your posts in here and roll out the welcome wagon!!

You 2 new guys realise we live for pix in here, don't you?! Get snapping, lads....

Here you go then, M.O.D. --

http://forum.westoneguitars.net/t1946-montana-this-is-my-only-career-option

Welcome to you as well. Your thoughts on Captain Beefheart I will expect in a pm shortly...

Oo I haven't properly introduced myself......

Name: Chay

Age :35 (when the hell did that happen???)

Locale: Cardiff, Wales!

First Bass: Concord I

First Westone: Ditto!

Other Westones I currently own: Thunder IA in Natural finish
Superheadless in walnut
Thunder III in black ash

Other basses I've owned: Ibanez RS940 (still with me)
Ibanez Studio
Riverhead Unicorn (? I think(made fretless by Dave Pegg!!))
Burns Bison
Crafter plywood cheapie
Hohner B2
Yamaha BB300
Shine SB something or other.

Musical tastes: I play in bands which mostly play Ska and funk/soul/disco - stuff which has interesting bass lines! But I like many many styles of music, anything that has some intelligence, OR feeling behind it, or just makes you dance!

Random fact: MGMT once jammed in my kitchen.

Basses still wanted: I'd like a fretless Thunder - ideally a II or III, I'd like to try a Rail at some point, and I've also got love for the looks of the Vantage basses - esp. the weirder looking ones



This forum is great and I've received lots of help here (and hopefully helped others too)!

Glad I'm not the only ska fan here!

The Specials rule and hold all !!

chaypup wrote:I'd like to try a Rail at some point

If you are passing Gatwick at any point, give me some notice, and I will bring my Rail out to you!

Coming from Coventry, the home of Two Tone, I went to school with one of the Specials !! My claim to fame.

Steve777 wrote:Coming from Coventry, the home of Two Tone, I went to school with one of the Specials !! My claim to fame.

Cool.. which member was that? I'm a big fan of the Specials and the whole Two Tone / ska scene and have been since I was around 8 years old, some of the 1st records I ever bought were the 2 tone era stuff, I still love it now 30 years later. great musicians, bags of energy and a very very cool image. I wish I had been older at the time so I could have seen some of the bands live and in their prime.

Terry Hall, the singer !

I remember seeing an ad to see a group called "The Hamsters" at some dive in Coventry during this period. I, and many other punks,( I wasn't that bad) went along and expected to see the Sex Pistols (what a great name). This was the name the SP's were touring under to avoid being banned.

There we all were waiting with anticipation in our "gear" and who should appear on stage but Alvin Lee and 10 Years After. I thought he played well all things considered but the audience had other ideas. I don't think they played a full set surprisingly. Good times.

hi,
glad i found you guys...
My name is Itay and i'm leaving in Rehovot Israel
age 33
I have a [b]concord bass I for about 19 years.
it was my main bass for all these years black body with white pickguard.
last year i got an AMERICAN DLX jazz bass and it became my main bass.
now i made my Westone fretless, repaint it and istalled active EMG P&J Pickups set.

i love it, it's beautyful and have tons of personalty
i cant upload photos could someone pls advise how to do it?

itay

Welcome Itay!!

Most of us set up a Photobucket account online and then once pics are uploaded there you can use the COPY URL function in your albums to paste into your posts here. I think 800x600 resolution works pretty good so you don't get partial pics when you post them.

Cheers and again welcome.

Hello to all the westone lovers here. I just discovered this forum recently and I'm glad to join in the conversation.

my first guitar was a 1982 thunder IIA (in red) purchased new at a store in maryland, usa. it is still my #1 guitar. a few years later i played in a band and people were always amazed at how good 'that little japanese guitar' sounded. and it still does too! sustain for days, and feedback at will from my rig, awesome! the active electronics would give such an amazing boost, that it would make my fender twin howl.
one of the toons we used to do was a hendrix sort-of-spoof based on foxy lady, we called it 'f*ckin ugly' and i would do lots of feedback and noise. what fun!!!

well that was the old days, i'm retired now and stay home and raise my kid, and tinker with my guitars. that thunder IIA still gets a workout now and then. i have started to collect more westone guitars (and others) and i'm really having fun trying out the other amazing models that westone produced. i'm looking forward to getting to know everybody here. i'll get together some pics as soon as i figure it all out.

Welcome to you. Great to have you here. We are always starving for pictures so please put some up in the members section if you get a chance.

I'm re-learning bass to satisfy a mid-life crisis and I came to here after seeing the forum mentioned on BassChat.

I remember Westone Thunder guitars and basses from my teens when I played in bands. I'm now thinking of getting one to satisfy my GAS .

My current instruments are a Vintage V1004 fretless and Gibson Les Paul Junior guitar (that I no longer play). I also play violin in a local orchestra and I scraped a Grade 8 in this instrument in the dim and distant past.

Welcome here, Muttley - ain't that mid-life crisis thing a bitch; still learning an instrument and getting a shiny "new" guitar ain't gonna hurt as much as a new Ferrari!!

Welcome to you as well. Perhaps I can help ease your troubled mind.

I have more guitars than my ability will ever catch up with. Hells Bells man, I should run for office to represent the folks from that great metropolis known as Poserville. The only out I can rely on is that as long as I make sure my wife stays one axe ahead everything is cool. That's why she has 51% ownership of my Genesis I for the moment. A technicality, sure.... but it keeps the peace.

Having now gotten that off my chest, so 'ya got yerself a LPJ that 'ya don't play no more, huh??

Iceman wrote:so 'ya got yerself a LPJ that 'ya don't play no more, huh??

I have indeed. I worked all summer when I was 17 to save for a new guitar. I had seen this particular instrument in my local guitar shop previously and it re-appeared as a slightly used guitar at just about the time I was looking to buy. It was mint then, and is still near mint even though it's about 30 years old. Although I gave up trying to be a good guitarist years ago I will never part with it.

Hi, My name is Omar,Play the bass guitar

Name - Omar

Age - 37

Location-Asturias,Spain

First guitar - Alhambra

First Westone - Westone Concord II (guitar)

Later Westones -................................

Musical style/favourite bands - Blues,hard rock,Howlin' Wolf,etc

Current Westones - Westone Concord II (guitar)

Other instruments - Kramer 450b,Kramer Dmz 5000,Ibanez Musician 2940 Fretless,Kawai FbII,S.D. Curlee

Favourite instrument - Kramer 450b


I'm sorry I do not speak English.

great forum

¡Hola allí, y recepción!! That's my Spanish exhausted... Welcome here, Omar!!

Saludos Omar!! Es muy bueno tenerlo aquí en el foro.

Mi complementa en su establo de los ejes.

Que el destino nos permite cumplir con un día como señores a hablar de nuestras hazañas como seis vaqueros cadena.

Hello Westoners
It seems my other account has become inactive (challpa)
I had been a member for a few years - lots of lurking and not a lot of posting - probably haven't been in for about 2 months
I'm from Brisbane Australia, currently have 6 westones ( concord 1, 2 thunder 1s, thunder 3 bass, rainbow 1 and a prestige 250 and also a westbury standard)
I would prefer to have my old account reactivated if that's at all possible - if not I guess I will start again

thanks and hello again

Paul

Welcome again Paul!!

Shoot Corsair a pm. I'm sure if your account can be resurrected he is the man for the job.

Looks OK in here... it's all active!!

I'm William.
I recently had my Westone X199 returned to me after I let it go in 1992.
I had bought it new in 1985. I can't believe I let it go but I had gotten hurt and my left hand was no longer stong enough to play.
But a couple of years ago I found I could slowly finger a few chords.
Now I'm relearning everything I've lost.
A friend found MY ole Westone, bought it and gave it back to me.
And I KNOW it's mine, it has my SSN still in the back inside the tremolo cut-out!

It's gat a few problems like the Bendmaster FT was missing parts and it was left unstrung for years as the neck as a reverse bend where the truss tension was left on it.
*sigh*
I hope I can pull it out.

Welcome Sir William. Very good news about your guit. How many of us can reunite with a first sweetheart and be blessed with a friend so good as to see to it happening?

Look forward to hearing updates on your recovery. Good luck and Godspeed.

I take it most of you fellas are from "across the pond" as it would be?
I find that these guitars have a large following in GB.
I've never seen another here in the US.
Not an X199. I see some others on E-Nay though.

just tried it again
original account still not working - tried to PM corsair but haven't reached post limit to send PMs yet
might just have to start over : (

Iceman wrote:Welcome again Paul!!
Shoot Corsair a pm. I'm sure if your account can be resurrected he is the man for the job.

challpa1 wrote:just tried it again
original account still not working - tried to PM corsair but haven't reached post limit to send PMs yet
might just have to start over : (

As you've discovered the board has a built in setting which prevents "new" users from internal communication until they've reached an established threshold of posts. Not being an admin/mod on this board I can't say what that number is, but I'm sure they'll figure it out.

Forgive the obvious question, but are you sure you are logging in with the correct name/pw? Uppercase, lowercase, etc? Perhaps Corsair can reset your pw if necessary?

Hi,
Sorry but I posted this under General before I saw the place for newbies. My name is George and I just found the group while looking at Westone X-390s on the web. I own and bunch of X390s and some Trevor Rabin Westone models and also a couple of Alavarez Trevor Rabin models. I'd be happy to post pictures in the next couple of days if anyone is interested. I also have a Westone which is a clone of the Gibson ES-175D which is the only one I've seen to date. I have some FX's some Dynastys and who knows what else is in the vault. I also have the Dana Scoop. I love the Westone X-390s the best. On my way to the vault today so I'll see what else is in there. Thanks and Hi to everyone!

No worries, George!! Welcome to the nut farm, and we do hope to see your guitars!! Do you gig them, or did you used to??

I managed to re-activate my account via the password reset (for some reason Firefox wouldn't open that link the other day)
If a mod would like to delete the challpa1 account I created that's fine with me
Will post some updated westone family pics soon in the other thread

Hello, I found this forum when I was searching the net for info on my Dimension IV guitar. I bought it new back in '85 here in St. Louis. It is the white with red lightning bolt model. A few years after I bought it I put a different neck on it from Charvel with ebony fingerboard and Kahler locking nut. I still have the original neck in storage. The action on this guitar has always been good and it's even better with the other neck.

I also own a 1976 Conn F-21SB (sunburst) acoustic that was made by the same Matsumoku factory. My mom bought me it new back in '78 and that's what I learned to play guitar on. It is well made and has a great sound as well.

I don't play them that much anymore, but I do pull them out a few times a year.

I have noticed the white finish on the Dimension IV has "yellowed" a bit. It isn't as bright as it used to be. Is this common, or is it due to being stored in it's case for so long without being polished?

Hi there, Starrman; yeah; the white gets a lot creamier with age and it's not unattractive in my opinion!! I've got a Spectrum ST and a Genesis II in Uncle Matt white which are no longer bright white, but a much more mellow shade. The finishes on these guitars are about a millimeter thick, so if you were thinking of re-finishing, be warned; it's a very hard finish as well!!

Yep; I think you'll find the general consesnus around here on the necks is that they are about as good as you're ever gonna get on a mass produced guitar, and they are very good indeed....

Do please post some pics of your gear, man - we like to look here; especially interested in seeing your Conn...

@challpa... c'mon man - where are these pix you refer to?! Glad the whole password thing worked out; it all looked OK in here, as far as I could tell!! Welcome back!