NGD and Hello from Scotland

Hi guys, I'm new here. So hello from bonny Scotland .


I just sniped a Westone mockingbird copy off ebay... cheap n cheerful at £56.

I always wanted a funky shaped guitar.

Anybody else owned or played one of these.


here is a picture of another one from google images ... I promise some proper pics once it arrives.



Oddly, The one i just bought also has a cream pickup in the neck and a covered pickup in the bridge.

I did a little reading up on Westone before I bought it, and I am aware that It probably was built in korea or china in the late 90's and may not be considered a true Westone by Purists, I figure it won't matter if I modify it slightly, I plan on adding a tone control and I might change out the pickups but I'll give the ones it comes with a chance first.

Hello and Welcome neil, I tried out one of these in a dreaded CashConverters shop once before I discovered the Westone brand, it felt like a £50 guitar and I wasnt even sure it was made from wood....my guess would have been some kinda fibreglass....or mdf.
there is something about that shape though....

Sgt. Vimes wrote:Hello and Welcome neil, I tried out one of these in a dreaded CashConverters shop once before I discovered the Westone brand, it felt like a £50 guitar and I wasnt even sure it was made from wood....my guess would have been some kinda fibreglass....or mdf.
there is something about that shape though....

LOL, if it turns out to be total crap, I'll sell it on and save up for a proper westie or BC Rich.

a lot of those late 80's early 90's budget guitar were made out of plywood....heavy and 2 thirds of the mass is Glue.

I'm certainly under no illusions about the sort of quality I'm expecting from it, I just remember having a westie years ago that I liked and thought it would be fun.

Ahh... a fellow hairy-arsed brother in cups! Welcome to ye'laddie, a quick pint for you to knock the dust back...

If I can just rouse my dear mukker Hoax from his self-inflicted stupor we'll dust off the quaich for a proper dram of welcome!





Yeah you are guessing correctly... I am the head nutcase 'round these parts. Welcome again, though.

Now thanks for the fine welcome Iceman (Slàinte) <clink>

Settle down in the drunken Celtic corner, please....

G'day, bigneil and welcome here. Yeah, sorry but the Mockingbird copy isn't really all that worthy of carrying the Westone name; even an old Spectrum ST probably would knock lumps off it but all the same, I would be interested to know what you think about it from a players and playing POV, eh!

I have been thinking about this a bit, and I have decided that If the body is utter rubbish then I might use it as a template to make a nice new wooden body, but only if the neck is usable...If i did take on something like that, it would be a first for me. Oh the possibilities

Throw some bright pink tiger stripes on it, add some hot humbuckers, and make it a crazy stage guitar!

Strange little beast. No tone pot on a 2-pup geetar?

"I am Dyslexic of Borg. Resemblance is fertile. You will be laminated."

superb!

i have a Deltatone guitar that has no tone controls. 3-way switch, 2 volume controls.

i exchanged a few emails with the owner of the deltatone company. among the things he mentioned was, the thinking behind no tone control was that the vast amount of tone processors available to modern guitarists made onboard tone control unnecessary.

yea, you can always tweek the tone knobs on the amp. I plan on adding a tone control though...Router and drill at the ready.

Just wish it would hurry up and arrive, everything seems to take twice as long to reach the highlands than any where else.

Ok, it arrived today. yaaay!

pros;
The neck has a nice profile, on the chunky end of medium and very uniform thickness all the way from the nut to the heel. it also has a satin finish making it feel nice and slinky.

The neck and body are nice and resonant.

The control cavity already has the space to add a tone control.


Cons;
The hardware is really poop, Tuners aren't holding it in tune, the bridge is nasty with horrid wobbly saddles.

The electrics are poop too, with scratchy cheap switch and pot, the neck pickup is usable ....just. and the bridge pickup has a horrible week scratchy pick-axe type sound.

The neck pocket must have been cut at a bad angle causing a catastrophically high action despite the bridge being screwed right down.


So, I fitted a nice big shim to the neck and did a basic setup and used it for my guitar lessons tonight and found it to be fun to play giving easy access to all 24 of its frets.

Verdict;

I am very pleased with my bargain basement purchase, It will make a good platform for modding or upgrading. So, I have stripped out the pickups, electrics and hardware......I figure even cheap after market components will be an improvement, so I'm not going to spend a fortune on it.