Westone Prestige vs Washburn 'Wing' series - how do they compare?

I was wondering if anyone here had sampled both and could A/B them? Seeing how much the Prestige 250 went for yesterday it would appear they are beyond the pocket of the more casual collector like me.

Models from the Washburn Wing series - never sure if they are fellow Matsumoku or Yamaki, I think the latter - pop up reasonably frequently and a Hawk, one of the better models, went for £286 last week. I have the 'entry level' model, the Raven, by way of a match for my Scavenger bass and I believe it is as good as something like a Les Paul Studio (and, dare I say it a notch up on my Thunder 1T).

So - my question to the panel is - these top end Wing series models like the Hawk and Eagle are better finished than my Raven so would they possibly be a match for the better Prestige models. Would an Eagle out perform a Prestige 250?

Or is that blasphemous talk?

Different strokes for different folks.
I found the Wings to be a little fat guitar, sound good, yes.
Unbalanced with a thin neck that can be used like a whammy bar, thought I had a rubber neck.
Sold both the Eagle and the Hawk. Still have the Prestige Much more comfortable to use. Especially when sitting.

Yes, fat @rsed things, aren't they! The Scavenger bass is huge, had to get an outsized case to fit it, a bit like a Gibson Grabber, and it weighs 11lbs. The Raven fits into a Les Paul case, though. Funny about the necks - the Raven is rock solid.

The Raven's a bolt on rock maple. Both of the necks on my 2 were like rubber bands. They were through neck laminates.
The depth of the neck is very shallow.

So all that fancy inlay and binding is to no purpose! Well well. I'll stick to my Raven, which cost me £155!, and drool over the Prestige as and when they appear. Thanks for the info. There can't be too many folks out there who have had an Eagle, hawk AND a Prestige!

While you are here, in what way is the Prestige better than a good model Les Paul? It is often said, and I have no doubts about it at all, but the detail would be interesting. Tone? build quality? playability? weight? All the above?

Most of us would love to be in a position to answer that question. Some of us, however, can answer that question, and yes, we are jealous of them.

Have played a colleague's very good LP (valued at £2.5k+) and a 250 within a few weeks of each other. The LP was very very nice but somehow for me the 250 was better.

Prefare the neck on a Prestige not as broad as a Les Paul Custom I have.
Nice sound to.

If anyone has an Antique sunburst and would like to swap for the Sunrise Sunburst on the right, it's a deal.

Ill swap some wonga for the one on the left.

all this talk of Prestige 250's is killing me, drooool!! What about the Prestige compared to a 70's/80's Yamaha SG2000? I have never played one, they are supposed to be a great guitar and are worth a bomb..... Westbone?

I am *gurgle* feeling a little *urp* GAS welling up.
*B U R P* 'scuse me!
Lordy I do love these machines. But I never see 'em this side of the pond for some reason. Oh maybe on eBay, but who pays those prices, especially the #$@%^& shipping to Canada?!

Barry wrote:I am *gurgle* feeling a little *urp* GAS welling up.
*B U R P* 'scuse me!
Lordy I do love these machines.

I'm quite sure they're wonderful instruments, eh - those 2 of Damians' up above are just superb looking things!! - but I don't want one particularly. I mean, they aren't on my 2 most wanted list, or anything...

Am I a troubled soul? Do I need counseling? Am I, in fact, unworthy?

Unworthy....you Urchin..

corsair wrote:I'm quite sure they're wonderful instruments, eh - those 2 of Damians' up above are just superb looking things!! - but I don't want one particularly. I mean, they aren't on my 2 most wanted list, or anything...

Am I a troubled soul? Do I need counseling? Am I, in fact, unworthy?

Certainly not unworthy. Still pining away for a certain model Vantage I am guessing...

*sigh* how true... and oddly, when there was one about, I had no dosh. Now, we've had a small windfall and there's none to be seen.... *sigh*

corsair wrote:*sigh* how true... and oddly, when there was one about, I had no dosh. Now, we've had a small windfall and there's none to be seen.... *sigh*

Ah, but you have a busted up Urchin! Enjoy.

THat's right, a beauty of an urchin.


Bowenjaybee the SG2000/3000 and SBG series are great players. Little things were innovative. Many of them featured a brass sustain block under the bridge - this is a good design helping to give their characteristic sustain.

NOTHING BEATS A PRESTY!................ ...NOTHING!

PaulS wrote:
So - my question to the panel is - these top end Wing series models like the Hawk and Eagle are better finished than my Raven so would they possibly be a match for the better Prestige models. Would an Eagle out perform a Prestige 250?

Or is that blasphemous talk?

There are differences between Westones and top-of-the line Washburn Wings.. I've done some repairs on both in the past. Soundwise I can not make a comparison between my P 150 and Hawk R (R stands for "rosewood"), because my Washburn is not 100% original. But let's have a look in some structural differences. Prestige has fixed neck, bayonet type, as we all know whereas Hawk is neck-thru, also Washburn is equipped with push-pull coil taps. Pickups are also different, Prestige has Westone's own Super Twin 750 humbuckers. Washburn pickups are standard Matsumoku open coil pickups (marked MMK = MatsuMoku Kogyo). Washburn has fixed bridge, strings thru body, Westone has separate bridge and tailpiece. Perhaps one could say that because of those coil taps Washburns have more tonal possibilities.
Washburns have quite fat-profiled necks btw. That might be a turn-off for some, bonus to some others.
We could broaden these comparisons to Yamaha SG's (or SBG's, as called in some market areas) and even to Ibanez Artists, but they are all somewhat different, IMHO..