Say hello...

Hey everyone,

I'm Steve, 42 years old and a not very good guitarist!!
Live in Basingstoke, England but born and bred in South Wales.

Naturally left-handed but play right-handed, couldn't afford to get a lefty when I was young.

Current guitars:
Westone hollow body (Matsumoku), don't know the model. Will post pics later and hopefully get an ID.
Fender strat.
Tangle wood acoustic.
Epiphone SG

Good to be here!!

Hi musicmutt and mind and welcome to you both!

Mutt, that's an impressive collection! (But please don't ask us what your instrument is worth. We've been pretty clear about that during your sign up and on our web site. Thanks.)

And fellas, don't worry I started playing when I was 12 and I'm still trying to figure it out after 56 years! Looking forward to seeing pix!

Decided at the ripe old age of 65 that it's time to put down my acoustics and take some electric lessons! Don't know if it'll be a mistake but worth a go! Started off with the obvious - a Fe**er, then progressed to a PRS, but most recent acquisition is a mint - and I mean mint 95' SX in solid red with the only problem being what seems to be a common one - missing stringlock tabs - seems a number of people have the same problem. I'm already enjoying the cameraderie so look forward to future discussions! Oh yes, and possibly finding some stringlock tabs.

BTW, admin when I logged on it said at the bottom of the page "bigwelly2000, hoax, neverwas, Sgt. Vimes" - what does that mean? I PM'd Sgt Vimes before Iconfirmed my status - could that be it?

bigwelly2000 wrote:...possibly finding some stringlock tabs.

Sgt. Vimes is your man. Click Here

BTW, admin when I logged on it said at the bottom of the page "bigwelly2000, hoax, neverwas, Sgt. Vimes" - what does that mean? I PM'd Sgt Vimes before Iconfirmed my status - could that be it?

Nah, sounds like it's a list of members who have logged on recently. Ignore it.

Oh, and welcome here man! Pictures as soon as you're able, eh?

Hi All at the West one forum, I am the proud owner of 2 thunders 1 and 1A both in natural.
The 1A I'm just about to restore.

Just saying hallo and looking forward to being part of the forum.

Welcome to the club Rocket1!
Westones are fine players it's no rocket science. Great to hear you are restoring a Thunder. Keep us posted on the progress please!

Hi Guys,
Just a few words of introduction as I have just acquired a Thunder 1A and Googled for info and finally found myself here. I bought this battered old thunder for £25 off a mate of mine, to help him out with some cash and didn't know really why I bought it. I started on Columbus and Antoria guitars and proceeded to Strats and Teles over the last few years. It was the look of the wood on this Thunder that interested me, but when I tried to play it, it was terrible.

I took it overseas as a practice guitar as I didn't want to risk having a decent guitar warp on me with the heat. There it lie, untouched for 5 years, until this week, when I brought it back to the UK. It does play terrible, but it needs a re-fret and the brass nut is worn in steps but I think I can fettle this up. Thats the reason it doesn't keep in tune. Any advices on which fret-wire to use to do it justice(and keep in near to original as possible) will be appreciated. I don't want to change the sound of it or the looks if I can, but I wonder what electronic improvements can be made. There are noisy pots and broken toggle switch. But I must stress that the neck and body are fantastically accuratly made. I just love the feel of this solid lump-of-wood, and can't wait to hear it's chorus. Best wishes all......

Welcome to you Triple-D. All I can say is LOVE YOUR AVATAR...

I would suggest you repost your queries about reworking that Thunder as a separate thread in the Technical section of the forums as you will generate more responses there.

Hi Ding Dong and welcome.
What Iceman said.

A big "G'day!!" to all the new folk in here!!

It's nice to see new peeps with the start of a passion for these fine instruments; feel free to share ideas, pix and - if need be - the occasional rant, as long as they're Westone related!!

Hello!

My pics are on this thread: https://westone.forumotion.com/t4310-me-and-my-westones

Loving the forum!

Glad to hear it Urban. Looking forward to your participation.

Hey there. I picked up an XA1330MP a couple weeks ago because I decided that I'm not to old to try learning to play a guitar. Yes, it's my first . I always wanted to learn and didn't want to keep putting it off. The reason I got this guitar was that it was the least expensive one the guy had and I figured that at $80 I wouldn't be to bad off even if it takes me years to figure out which string is which, hehe. I'll post a pic when I can get some decent ones of it.

To try to play guitar you'll have to at least begin at four Rifkinn!
Welcome to the club! $80 sounds like a bargain. Enjoy it and have fun learning while you still can

Hello All...and hope All is well...

Started learning at 16 (oh so long ago), when guy who was teaching me told me my guitar (my first electric) was to heavy and should get rid of it. I did and have regret it ever since...SINFUL, it was a Thunder 2-A (version 1).

Have just re-started playing recently (mid-life crisis) and managed to find Thunder 1-A (version 2) to atone for my sins. I am now at peace with myself.

Extremely happy to find site (this one) filled with people who are knowledgeable & have good taste in guitars...

Hey sherlockdan, welcome! good to have you with us.
And I'm glad to hear you corrected your past mistakes!

The Thunder is an "awesome" piece of lumber eh? I am lucky enough to now have two of them. I was just playing my (second) recently resurrected I-A and I am still shaking my head over the power in that thing! Looks like a nice group shot in your avatar. Look forward to seeing some pix once your "probationary posting" term has ended.

(Sorry about the Habs last night. When I tuned out they were up 2-0 )

Welcome to the forums. Enjoy your Westone and catch up on old times at the same time.

Hello Barry, thanks for the welcome.

Your right, BEAUTIFUL piece of lumber...(my favorite red head)...

Must admit, nice Blue Beauty I see there (your avatar)...


(Sorry to say, but looks like golf course will be filled with Leafs & Habs soon...)

sherlockdan wrote:...(Sorry to say, but looks like golf course will be filled with Leafs & Habs soon...)

Yup.

Name - The Don

Age - 45

Location - Chepstow (SE Wales)

First guitar - La Primera nylon acoustic pulled out of a dumpster in Las Vegas

First Westone - 1985 Spectrum GT

Later Westones - Spectrum ST (arriving next week)

Musical style/favourite bands - I can mangle pretty much anything

Current Westones - see above

Other instruments -

Dumpster-sourced nylon stringed La Primera acoustic
1983 Yamaha SF1200
1967 Maton DC 545
2005 Hagstrom F200
2007 Fender Telecaster Lite Ash
2003 Schechter Diamond Series electro-acoustic
various ukuleles

Favourite instrument - I play the Spectrum GT most but I admit that the Yamaha is still the most special for me (I've owned it from new, bought with the money I earned from my Saturday job).

The Maton is by far the most valuable but I simply do not like it and hardly ever play it (I inherited it).

Hi again Don, and an official "Welcome" to you.

We all have that special first non-Mats guitar in our herd just like your Yammy. They do tend to be the first, just like your first love. Mine is a Gibson ES330. But I'll tel ya, no matter how much I like my non-Mats guitars, I always come back to the Westones, the Vantages, and the Aria Pro II's. They will spoil you utterly.

And don't worry about selling the Maton. There are enough Kiwi's and Ozzies hanging around here who would sell their ancient Norwegian grandmother for one.

Hi there,

I just purchased a Westone Spectrum SX last week and not knowing anything about it, decided to do some research before buying it. Next thing I know, I am now in this forum introducing myself.

I don't play the guitar myself but both my teenage children do - between them they have an Epiphone LP100, Epiphone SG Prophecy GX, Fender Highway One and a Warwick Rockbass Corvette. I just do the cleaning and maintenance for them. As my son will be going to university next year, I thought that buying him a second hand guitar will be safe for him to take with him to the hostel and would not hurt too much if it gets the odd dent here and there. I was trawling through the online auction site here in New Zealand for cheap guitars and the Westone caught my eye - It certainly looked better than an Ashton or a Squier.

Hi everyone!

I've been playing guitar for about 20 years and have had a heavily modified Westone Rainbow for about 7 years now. It was only a while ago that I decided to find out which Rainbow model I had with me, which is the main reason why I joined the forum.

I also own a 1981 hardtail active G&L F-100 and a 1967 Harmony Bobcat which I absolutely love.

I shall be posting some pictures of the Rainbow at some point but, so far, I am really enjoying the site.

Good job everyone!

Hello, good evening and Welcome!

Hello, and can't wait to see pics...

Welcome to the forums

Hi everyone! Thanks for the warm welcome...

I posted a description and pictures of the "apparently-not-a-Rainbow-yet-still-a-Westone-guitar" on this thread: http://forum.westoneguitars.net/t4411-so-here-s-my-rainbow#39806

Hi all,
just saying hello.
I am very much a guitar newbie. I own a basic entry level encore acoustic to which I've fitted an artec single coil pick up turning it into a very basic semi acoustic which I've been practicing with.
It merely confirmed my suspicions that I wanted an electric guitar though.
Then I made the mistake of spotting possibly the best looking guitar I've ever seen. A Westone Thunder 1A of roughly 84 vintage. Despite it probably being too much money I had to have it.
As I'm a lefty I'm limited in available choice for many of my hobbies and this is one seems to be no exception.
It's now on its way to me and I'm super excited.
No doubt I'll be picking peoples brains on here and once it turns up I'll grab some pictures for you all if you're interested.
Anyway, once again Hi!
Andrew

Hi Andrew, and a warm welcome to the forums!
the Thunder is also what first attracted me to the Westone stable, be careful mate, they're rather addictive!

Yes, they seem that way. I've never even considered a bass guitar until now. still a lefty one of those coming up is probably a very rare event. fortunately for my bank manager!

Hi, I'm Chris in British Columbia. I have a Westone Thunder 1 that I bought around 1983. It's an '81 with the natural finish, black logo and three screw string through bridge. I'm guessing it's an early string through as the string ferrules are nothing like straight!

It's had a few mods, first an active circuit was added with an on/off switch next to the coil tap. Then I went minimalist with one pickup and a volume control, with a fairly nasty scratchplate covering up the holes (thankfully this was held on with double sided tape).

The original hardware was re-installed about four years ago and I'm finally planning to re-wire it all. It was in my search for bits that I found this forum.

Except for the extra switch, Schaller strap locks and a bit of a shadow where the scratchplate was, it should look pretty much as it did when I got it. All I'm really missing is a truss rod cover and thankfully someone is re-manufacturing them.

I'll post some pictures when I'm done.

Hello,Im Trever from Irvington Ky.Im on my third Westone axe,a Spectrum GT that i bought from a pawn shop for 50.00.Its yellow and needed some adjustments,but it plays and sounds just as good as if not better than some of my other guitars.Only thing its missing is the fiveway switch knob.Will be posting some pictures of it on here in the near future.

Ok, I'm new here and would like to introduce myself to you all.

Name: Greg
Age: 44
Home: Brighton, England
1st Guitar: Avon Les Paul Copy
1st Westone: Thunder 1-A (1982)
Other Current Guitars: Fender Standard Strat (USA), Squier Protone Strat (MIK), Squier Standard Strat (MIK), Fender GC23s acoustic.

Well, to be truthful I've only owned the one Westone guitar. I bought it 2nd hand from a local music shop 'Impact Music' which is now 'Badlands' in Brighton. I bought it in 1985 and have kept it until this day, I would of been 16 years old! I part exchanged a Vox guitar that I had (can't remember what model it was) for the Westone and the only reason why was because the Westone was painted in a jungle theme which was obviously unusual and I thought it would be cool to play it on stage. I was currently in a band that was formed during our school days. I must of played 100's of gigs with it and was never let down. I could never sell this guitar as it has bundles of sentimental value that money cannot buy.

Just one other thing springs to my mind whilst writing, is that in 1985/86? Dire Straits played at The Brighton Centre during their 'Brothers in Arms Tour' and I managed to get the guitar signed by Mark Knopfler in a gold marker pen across the back of the body. Unfortunately I haven't a single ounce of proof to back this up (other than some friends who actually saw it) as the writing eventually rubbed off due to constant gigging!

The actual 'jungle theme' painting on the guitar isn't something I'm keen on now and most Westone lovers will think its naff (and I'd agree with them!) but it has remained in my ownership for almost 30 years and I'm more than happy to leave it as is.

To be honest there's some electrical issues I need to resolve and a switch that has snapped off. I'm going to try and get that sorted in the coming days. Anyway I'm going to try and add some photos so please take a look.

Cheers!

Hey Greg, nice to have you with us. Lots of folks here happy to help you when yer ready.

Hello also to Chris and alcoholocaust. Look forward to your pix when you're able.

Thanks Barry.

Hi, I should of mentioned that I once owned a Westone Prestige 250 in my introductory! Can't believe I forgot! Can't believe i sold it come to think of it! I swear I've got some photos somewhere in the loft. I will dig them out. You see, it was a long time ago!!

Welcome Alco and Greg - look forward to some pics - especially that jungle theme

Hi Challpa, please don't get too excited by jungle thunder. The purists will be out raged! Thanks for the welcome.

Good day to all.  i own several guitars, but to be honest, I had never heard of 'westone guitars' until this week.  A good friend and fellow musician asked me to take a look & demo this piece that he's had for several years, but no idea who the maker is.  I took the piece and demo' d it, and really liked the play. I went ahead and bought it.  What a great ride. I took the guitar to a few places including guitar center, and several employees in sales and technicians looked and could not identify.
Today I was playing with another great friend and master player and he said that the 'W' logo looked familiar.. he started perusing the web and wow he located it.   Here is my guitar.. same color, everything.  metallic blue..  Since I cant post a link for 7 days..  here is the url .  westoneguitars.net/guitars/challenger-we3400/ 

Can anyone tell me a bit about this super piece.  Where it was manufactured, dating, history, value, anything that may be of intest.   I dont have photos yet but can post tomorrow if anyone is interested

Everyone please have a blessed weekend.

~ Brett Randy ~  << Brett-'O' >>
(( The greater Salt Lake City area ))

Since the above post I have learned quite abit about Westone guitars. I would like to buy another one.
What is the most recommended Westone Electric guitar vintage or present day?  Any input is appreciated.  I didn't receive any input from my first post, maybe this one.

Hi Brett,
Prestige 250. If you ever see one in good order sell your wife and kids / remortgage your house, whatever - just buy it.   a real Les Paul killer and stunning to look at.  The Rainbow is really great as well and they do appear now and again on ebay.  Thunder 1 - great and can be got at a reasonable price.  Concord - nice sub strat with one of the most comfortable necks ive ever played.
TBH anything from the early to mid eighties is going to be a great guitar and more than equal to the instruments being produced by the two big American producers at the time.  Happy hunting and welcome to your new addiction.

Thanks Westcoaster, I really appreciate your insight and kind reply.  I will certainly keep a look out for the models mentioned.
P.S. Geez.. that's all I need is another addiction!  I do love collecting guitars.  I've bought, sold, and traded a lot of them over the years.
My current stock:  (1) Fender American-- tobacco burst.. a real looker... (2) candy apple red Fender American.  (3) lake placid blue Mexi-strat (2000)
with bone and other add ons;  (4) sweet yellow Bunker;  (5) unbelievable high end Bunker -- quilted midnight blue; (6) schecter tree of life; (7) the
latest Westone (metallic blue);  And about a half dozen other miscl pieces..  oh, and a Studio Gibson -- WHITE.   Anyway, thanks again friend!
Brett

Check the website out brett, lots of good info there

http://www.westoneguitars.net/

Thanks for the link, Westcoaster-- very informative.  Talk soon
~Brett-'O'   P.S..

Finally got round to registering on here...

Name: Steve
Age: 35
Home: Manchester, UK
First bass: Marlin Sidewinder
First guitar: Encore PRS copy
First Westone: 1986 Thunder 1a
Other Westone: 1984 Thunder 1
Other guitars (in addition to all of the above): Ibanez Apex 2 7-string, Aria Pro II Magna Series 5-string bass, Stagg electro-acoustic.

I'd never heard of Westone until I spotted the body and neck of a Thunder 1a on eBay last year when I was looking for a project to do. Did some research online and decided it sounded like a good bit of kit so I went in for it and got it. The body wasn't in great nick but it had some of the electrics (including the active circuit) and the bridge/tuners were there, so it just needed pickups, a new nut and wiring up. Got some Seymour Duncans for it (I figured finding original pups would be like a needle in a haystack), wired it up and it sounds great. One day I'll strip it down and refinish the body but for now it's perfect for me! Great guitar, really comfortable to play and sounds awesome.

How I ended up with the second Thunder is a bit of an odd story, but I'm sure you can relate  

Ever since getting the first one I had been looking for a case for it. Finally saw one on eBay a couple of months back, only thing was, it came with the body and neck of another Thunder in it - so that just means I have another project to do

This one's a bit of an oddball though, it's a 1984 Thunder 1, but someone's routed (very roughly) a third humbucker cavity in between the usual two, and added a second mini-switch hole next to the usual one. No hardware at all, not even neck plate and bolts, no electrics, no cavity covers, nothing - and the body's been sanded down so this one will definitely need refinishing! Should make for an interesting project  

I'll try to get some pics up (or links to my blog perhaps?) in the "Members' Westones" section in due course, and I'll be especially interested to hear what you experts and die-hard Westone fans think of the 3-pickup Thunder project!

Welcome aboard Steve and Rachel! 2 nice guitars, 2 great stories....can't wait for pictures!
Do stick around, you'll find a great bunch of people here with masses of knowledge, technical knowhow and bloody good craic!

Name - Bob

Age - 35

Location - NE Lincs
First guitar - Honher Strat copy
First Westone - 1982 prestige 250

Later Westones - 2 Sid Poole Cutlass's and 1 Corsair, had a few other uncle mat guitars over the years too

Musical style/favourite bands - Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Nine inch nails,  The Breeders, , Sonic Youth,Seether, Arcade Fire, Korn, Johhny cash, Filter, Silversun pickups, etc, etc, etc...

Current Westones - Awaiting my next cutlass custom

Other instruments - Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar,Schecter Shaun morgan, Yamaha pacifica, PRS Ce 22, PRS EG4, Musicman Silo special 

Favourite instrument - love my jaguar but would love to get my prestige 250 back!

Greetings Bob, from sunny mid-Lincs

Hi to all.
Name  - Ray
Location -SE Queensland
Age  50
First guitar-Yamaha
First Westone  @ 20 yrs ago[only Westone]

I stumbled across this site because I've had this Westone I bought from a hockshop @ 20 yrs ago , and shame on me , I've rarely played it. I've been curious of late as to its model , hence finding this site. From what I can tell , its identical to the "unknown" model number 1.This guitar is a keeper, and I'm amazed at the quality , sound and playability of this great guitar. Unfortunately its not 100% original , the knobs look different , I replaced the tuners with Schallers , and I found out the hard way that diecast bridges and acid are not a good combination, but having fitted a similar sized steel bridge , this doesn't appear to have had any adverse affects on the guitar.With all that said , i'm now having some fun times with this instrument.