Need idea on Price of a Alvarez Trevor Rabin 300bk neck thru

Hi, I've been considering selling my Alvarez Trevor Rabin (Westone Pantera) or upgrading the single pickups, but need an idea on how much is a fair price for this rare guitar, before shelling $ for pickups. Guitar is in very good shape and I'm the original owner. Any help is welcomed.

Not sure of the value...but PM me maybe we can work something out.
Bridge good? HB HB or H -S S ??

GtrGeorge

George, the guitar is in good shape, minor scuffs and light scratches on
back, do to normal use. I've always used it on a church setting, so it
has not been abused. I replaced the bridge with a FloydRose-Licensed mini, still
have the original FR-Licenced one. pickup configuration is HB-S-S with a
5 way switch and a splitter switch for the HB. Tone controls are good,
just need to dust them up, since I haven't used it in a while. HB
pickup is a Gibson, authentic USA one. I'm not 100% convinced on selling
it, but will like to know anyways what it is worth cause I'm
considering adding an Alnico Type pickup at the neck and center like those on Fender stratocasters.

Check out the "what is it worth" section on the lower half of the home page here:

http://www.westoneguitars.net/

I agree with all it says there, it is tough to just say what you should sell it for. Since these do not come up for sale a lot, it's tough to see what they go for. Over the last few years I've only seen one for sale in the US (which I bought), and one in Mexico which I would have bought, but I did not trust the auction site, or the seller.

Only sure way of knowing is putting it up on something like ebay and see whatyou get for the highest bid.

Looks a bit odd with that chrome 'bucker in there.

My preference would have been a seimour Duncan black on black, but ran a cross the Gibson and could not resist. If I keep it I'm putting a chromed One at the bridge to match and all black in center. I did split the Gibson so the switch spliter works like the original. Gibson HB sounds lots better than the factory hb. Who made the pickups on these guitars? cause the factory ones are just not good, too much noise while recording.

I'm pretty sure my PUPS are original, but have not looked underneath them yet to see if there are any markings. the WER had trevor rabin signature pickups, so I assume the same pickups are in the AER as well, but can't be certain (until I get a WER as well!)

I'll check mine tonight and report, I don't remember seeing any markings and they indeed seemed like ceramic type.

PM sent
GtrGeorge

I think the pickups were the weak part of these guitars, sadly. They don't suck..but they don't do the guitars justice, imho.
A friend of mine who worked for Fender/Gibson/Peavey for many years said that the japanese really had a hard time getting pickups right. Fender even gave up after a while and just sent American made pickups to be put in the MIJ guitars of the 1990s.
GtrGeorge

If I could get my hands on an entire Fender USA set that be the way to go..

GtrGeorge! wrote:I think the pickups were the weak part of these guitars, sadly. They don't suck..but they don't do the guitars justice, imho.
A friend of mine who worked for Fender/Gibson/Peavey for many years said that the japanese really had a hard time getting pickups right. Fender even gave up after a while and just sent American made pickups to be put in the MIJ guitars of the 1990s.
GtrGeorge

I gotta say I disagree with ya on this one - I like pickups sound great in mine - and having the DR5 switch is really like having 2 different sets in one guitar. Very versatile.

Doesn't the Dr 5 switch only split the humbucker? That's what deduced from following the wiring while installing the Gibson... sarcaster is right on versatility, that's why I have kept it for so long.

Per Mr. Presley:

"Notch filter in its passive design, and what is known as an aural exciter in the active. It was later evolved into more of a PA enhancement with a more aggressive slope and gain. Same concept, almost the same design parameter but with more input and output signal."



So unless your guitar was previously owned and modified to split coils, then the above is what the DR5 is.

The DSR5 stands for Dana Sound Research 5, and Tom's explanation wound different from what Dana told me. I'll ask him to find out what's up.

The DSR5 on my Westone Dana is really cool, it has two knobs. One of them adds a "Boost" to the amp, which according to Dana "the older amps needed but modern amps don't". This causes the "sparkle" which made Tom Presley take notice to Dana's work. The other knobs adds a varying amount of 1.2k for an active mid boost. In conjunction with his DSR pickups, this system really makes for an amazing beast.

I do like that tone stack...in some ways like the Bill Lawrence L-Coil from about 1981 (but without the coil!!)
I am not being totally negative on Westone pickups....I was make a generality from a good source. about Japanese pickups. This is what he has said to me on many occasions. (He of the big 3 guitar companies).
I have collected some japanese pickups (as well as others)..we here may appreciatte many of the pickups the Japanese have made..but by far, Fender and its consumers don't seem to like the Japanese made pickups at all. Its been driving many dollars to Lindy Fralin,Lollar,Duncan,DiMarzio etc etc
I was stating a generality..dont gang up on me, ok?
GtrGeorge

Right on. I think we were just commenting on the DSR5 system, that's all. Certain characteristics of the Jap pups I love, although I hate other characteristics of them, so to each his own I say! Variety is the spice of life in a lot of ways.

would love to get my hands on the schematices for the DR5 setup

Dana's good, that's for sure. He said to build those DSR5 guitars today would cost $3000 or more each (cost of the pickups in conjunction with the DSR system and the rest of the guitar). Obviously that's not mass producing them, they would be custom orders.

Scorpo900 wrote:My preference would have been a seimour Duncan black on black, but ran a cross the Gibson and could not resist. If I keep it I'm putting a chromed One at the bridge to match and all black in center. I did split the Gibson so the switch spliter works like the original. Gibson HB sounds lots better than the factory hb. Who made the pickups on these guitars? cause the factory ones are just not good, too much noise while recording.

Found this older thread

http://forum.westoneguitars.net/t2587-alvarez-dana-ii-with-the-tri-force-pickup#34656

Alnico 5 PUPS in the alvarez Rabins

Now I'm getting confused on my guitar. I don't think I have the Dana system, but I could be wrong. I don't have the guitar with me now, its been cleaned and prepped, none of my pickups had any markings or logo on them. And for what I could remember when wiring the Gibson , I did spit the Gibson connector to match the wiring on the Alvarez. The little switch have always given me the impression that it only affected the humbucker. But again I could be wrong. When I get it back I'll open it up to see what I have down there... :/

These guitars get curiouser and curiouser! I have to ask, am I the only one with an AER300 that does not have neck-through design or slash inlays? Mine has dot inlays and a bayonet mount on the neck. I am fairly certain, however, that mine has the Trev pickups and DSR5 switch system.

J.a.c.aranda87 wrote:These guitars get curiouser and curiouser! I have to ask, am I the only one with an AER300 that does not have neck-through design or slash inlays? Mine has dot inlays and a bayonet mount on the neck. I am fairly certain, however, that mine has the Trev pickups and DSR5 switch system.

I think the body and neck on yours were probably built when it was still westone since it has all the options of the WER300, and then was finished up after Alvarez took the brand over.

My Trevor Rabin Signature has a bolt-on neck, dot inlays ands the DR5...which is really cool. Its passive, but pretty cool. I did like the Bill Lawrence L-Pad fliter which is similar (passive and rolls mids in and out).
Its all good.

GtrGeogre

sarcaster wrote:

J.a.c.aranda87 wrote:These guitars get curiouser and curiouser! I have to ask, am I the only one with an AER300 that does not have neck-through design or slash inlays? Mine has dot inlays and a bayonet mount on the neck. I am fairly certain, however, that mine has the Trev pickups and DSR5 switch system.

I think the body and neck on yours were probably built when it was still westone since it has all the options of the WER300, and then was finished up after Alvarez took the brand over.

Huh! Well, that's pretty cool! Thanks, sarcaster. I was just starting to wonder since the one in this thread had slashes and neck-through, as does yours, right? Sorry, GtrGeorge, I thought yours was like theirs too! I feel like I own a cool piece of history now! Well, more so than I did already.

1 MILLION DOLLARS!

Got it back from my techs after they set it up, fix and replaced one bad fret wire, straightened neck, cleaned electronics, lowered the strings, and checked intonation... and not selling it for now. It feels and sounds to perfect (Xept scale length) To just let go of it. I rather sell my esp ltd kh503, altho i preffer that shorter scale. Thanks