Speccy Series 2

cheap as chips

South yorkshire, near Royston......its a local guitar for local people!....pickup only

As used by 70s glam rock band Creme Brulee?

I always thought Les McQueen played a strat!

$#it€

That trem alone is worth the trip...

It went to a good home .....I will get some pictures up soon but in the meantime I shall just go and check what it says in MY dictionary about the meaning of 'near mint'....

I was a bit wary of its location so I sent a local person to pick it up for me.

Well, I do think by the rules of grammar, "nearly in mint condition" is significant different from "in nearly mint condition".

For example:
"If my idiot brother in law hadn't gotten drunk and run over it with his WWII-era tank 50 times, it would be in mint condition. Since I very nearly killed him to keep him from marrying my sister 3 years before that, it very nearly could have been in mint condition today."

See?

Doesn't matter what condition it's in at that price, bargain at twice that imo.
Can't wait to see the pictures

I've tried to see Brainfertilizer, but reading your example just makes my head hurt
Initial pics below, not had chance to do anything with it yet but its actually in good nick and plays really, really well.
Anyone know what pickups were installed in these and any info on what the 2 switches are for would be gratefully appreciated.




I need something to replace that odd looking screw...what is it called and anyone know where I can get them from?

no knobs ( i believe the originals were black) and small washing missing under switch

something missing here but 'm not sure what???...something to lock the strings down??

All in all...not at all bad for 45 quid - delivered

Since it looks like the same configuration as a Dimension, I'd say that you have a stacked single coil in he neck position (which is a humbucker with the two coils on top of each other instead of side by side) and so the two switches are both coil taps for their respective pickup.

I can help you with the trianglish stringlock clamps and bolts, but alas not the middle piece.
pm me for details.
the bridge pickup doesnt look stock, with its flat non-adjustable pole pieces.

yours is here:
http://www.westoneguitars.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/p24.jpg?9d7bd4

the catalogue says single coil in the neck, so I'm guessing coil tap and phase reverse or series/parallel switches?

Ugh...what am I thinking.....the 3 way will be a position switch, and the 2 way a coil cut.

or even....neck pup on/off and bridge pup on/off/coil cut.......

Im sure the brains of the outfit will be along shortly to show me up as the ignoramus that I am

No. I just realized: no pickup select switch.

The catalog says 1 3-way, 1 2-way.

So for the front switch, it is a 2-way on/off done the single coil.
For the back switch,it is a 3-way that lets you select humbucker, single coil, and off.

I think.

Shoot.

Your way makes more sense.

haha we both win

Switches are off/on/on and off/on; same as my Clipper and Spectrum 1012. PITA arrangement, IMHO....

Pickups are nothing special but adequate, but at £45 you've got a very nice guitar! The necks on the two I've mentioned are just beautiful, slim and wide just asking to be dug into!

Stringlocks; the Sarge has pretty much all you need - you use the rectangular one that he has to replace the middle square one. I would suggest making sure the E/A thread has not stripped before starting to tighten everything up, and bear in mind, too, that you will need clamp plate-shaped shims that go underneath the strings on the locking base, else your string clamp plates do a very efficient representation of a guillotine!!
I've replaced the standard length bolt in the E/A slot with one that is about 2mm longer, so that it catches all of the thread in the base.

Fine tuner thumbscrews are orphans and I haven't found any that EXACTLY match, though I'm sure there are some out there that do serve just nicely, thank you! I had some personalised caps for Allen headed bolts made for me by a modelmaker friend when one of my BD bridges came with no fine tuners at all....

Thanks Sarge....stringlock bits n bobs received and installed

You were quite right corsair, 2 of the E/A threads were stripped and the 12mm bolts Sarge sent were just sightly too long, so I just put 2 rectangular sections together and the 12mm bolt was then able to grab ok and hold thestrings tight....does this sound a plan or is there a better way of doing it?
I guess a 9mm long bolt would be ideal?

Thanks for your help gents

Yer welcome mate.
when you say 2 of the E/A threads were stripped, do you mean the E/A and the E/B?

pics would help here bud.

I will get a photo sorted tomorrow, but I meant the threads under each of the triangular bits (E/A and E/B)....the centre rectangular one screws down nice and tight, the other 2 won't tighten...just keep spinning.
Apologies if all my terminology is to cock....never had to deal with a BMD and stringlocks before...

Thanks for the ongoing help mate.

I also notice the clamp plates have 1 side that has a slightly rounded edge, I guess to help to prevent the guillotine effect?

I'm guessing thats just from the mould.

That smoother edge is just a result of the stamping process that was used to manufacture them. The sharper edged surface (burr side) was the surface facing the punch that struck it, pushing it through the die that cut it out of the sheet steel it came from.

Your instincts are correct however in that it does in fact aid in preventing an unnecessary pinch point on the strings as they are being held by those clamps.

yeah that sounds much more plausible than my half arsed guesswork....mould......

The real key in preventing a sheared string with that locking mechanism is to always use the backing clamps that prevent the housing from gaining wear slots as it is tight. They will be the same shape as the clamps but need to sit in the shallow recesses of the housing cavity between the housing itself and the string.

1 mm thick spring steel is the perfect material for that application. No need to special order it either as any department or hardware store that receives large shipping containers will have used crate banding straps out in their trash bins which will work perfectly.

Just abit of dumpster diving, a pair of pliers, an 8" offhand grinder and Bob's yer uncl'...

You were very close there Sarge.

I used to build progressive dies to stamp out parts of all shapes and sizes. Those clamp locks most likely were run on a medium duty press, maybe 30 - 40 tonnage of shearing force.

Once back in the day I built a 6 stage die used to cut 5/8th" aluminum billets. Ran it in a 240 ton Bruderer and when that ram cycled you'd of thought God himself was standing right there snapping his fingers.

Right; you really need to repair the threads to ensure that they grab and hold! Some of us use slightly longer bolts than standard in the E/A and D/G plates to use all of the thread available in those holes.
There is a tutorial in repairing those threads in here with many pics...

https://westone.forumotion.com/t3791-a-stringlock-repair-in-pictures?highlight=Repairing+stringlock

It's gone.. How much was it? I'm not that far from Royston..

Couple of knobs, whammy, string clamps (thanks Sarge) and a fair amount of elbow grease later.....




all in all, a great little axe for £45....I was intending to sell it on but not anymore...its a keeper

thanks for all the advice gents, I will get round to sorting those threads out sometime but my half-arsed temporary measure seems to work so it'll do for now.

nice work!
from the first pic it looks like you need to tighten the trem springs up to straighten out the bridge, the trem base plate needs to be parallel with the body.

thanks Sarge.....having never set up a bridge like this I found it a wee bit fiddly to say the least....tighten this, loosen that, etc etc..

i suppose there's a easy way of doing it, bit more practice at it methinks!

yeah they're tricky little buggers thats for sure, its a tension balance between strings n springs.
detune, tighten springs a bit, retune.....repeat till done.

that really is a looker, even if it is red!