Electra Westone with broken trem

here is an Electra Westone i just fixed up. it had a 6 screw tremolo that was simply falling apart.

when i got it, i saw there was a crack along the line of 6 screws. there was already a piece missing at the corner. on closer examination i discovered it was actually broken. as long as i didn't move the bridge it "worked", but any hope of really using the guitar meant the tremolo had to be replaced.
here is a look at the old one

once i removed it and looked closer, i found it is about ready to completely disintegrate. there are cracks all over it, in nearly every area of the cast metal.

i have 3 of this model guitar, and 2 of the 3 have been exactly like this; broken along the line of 6 screws because of poor quality metal. and the saddles are made of the same poor quality metal.

the replacement tremolo has a much smaller sustain block, but the metal is a much harder alloy on the block and the plate.
i used the original mounting screws (even though they are quite oxidized) so they matched the holes in the wood correctly.
the string saddles are old-style bent metal saddles. 
and now i have a whammy bar too!

Very scary trem! Nice recovery Mike.
Really love that colour! Wow.

Good 'ol Jap crap.... 

As you call them over there an "import" bridge goes straight on.

I remember Steve (Iceman) had a pot metal bridge fall to pieces once too.   Great save Mike!

Yep; my X195 had the same problem and I whacked a Wilkinson 5+1 in the hole. I've since put an OEM bridge back on it. Still, half the problem with these bridges is that people screw the bloody things down HARD!!

It's funny, eh; Uncle Matt did such good work normally and yet there's things like the metal quality in this, the barrel saddle bridges, the el weirdo, cheap-ass bridge on my Avenger and the weak Prestige stopbar! You have to wonder at times!!

Nice work and it looks great. I like the color as well.

corsair wrote:It's funny, eh; Uncle Matt did such good work normally and yet there's things like the metal quality in this, the barrel saddle bridges, the el weirdo, cheap-ass bridge on my Avenger and the weak Prestige stopbar! You have to wonder at times!!

The lesson I take from this is it is actually pretty easy to make a decent guitar.

The vintage 50s-era Strats and Les Pauls people would perform an unnatural act to own were cheaply mass produced, too.
And modern boutique pickups charge big bucks to recreate the sound of the cheapest pickups Fender and Gibson could manufacture. Go figure.

What made the Japanese good, I think, is they originally built to closer tolerances than the rest of the world (although I don't think they have that advantage anymore).
Once you figure out what a good design is, you can build a really good guitar pretty easily and pretty cheaply. What made Matsumoku stand out (in hindsight) is their craftsman had decades of experience working with wood and metal together, and some really interesting design ideas from Westone.