Thunder I...or....Thunder IA

Hi Fellas..I need some advice from knowledgeable Westie folks please ...

My brother has a Black Westone....I think its a Thunder I...Its the only guitar he has owned since 1990 until recently he got a Dan Electro...He swears by the Westone....I have 13 guitars ranging from US 1970 Gibson SG to Rickenbacker 360 and US Strat 1976...but never had a Westone....As a collector I have seen the odd Westone in used electronic and music shops as we all have over the years but never seen a natural one until today when I stumbled on 2 in my local guitar shop...Both sold to the shop by the same fella....Both natural wood...Both do NOT have original control knobs but otherwise totally standard with beautiful wear and tarnish brass bridge and nut...They both play like butter although I didn't plug in...I fell in love with both of them......Both are for sale for £129 ($194) which on doing a check on eBay I found that they range from £160 lowest  to £300 highest....so the price seemed well below average price..

The thing is one is a Thunder I and one is a Thunder IA.....I know the only difference is the active circuit and the 2 extra switches on the Thunder IA....I also know that they were probably produced in the same number...

So nowadays which is rarer?.....and which is the better one?

If I had to make a choice it would have been the Thunder I

     

I've no idea which is rarer, possibly the T1 I think, (I'm sure someone here will know for sure), but they are both great guitars, and neither is really rare in my opinion.
As they are so well priced, why not just get both. You can always sell one again later if you don't get on with it.

Hi and welcome Lewis.

The T1 is older, (older script logo, longer headstock) so probably slightly "rarer" though not rare in the slightest.
There are 2 different active circuits on these thunders, active gain and active EQ, the former being the more desirable.
I've not played with the EQ version, but have the gain, and bloody hell it's LOUD! noisy as all hell, but some carefull application of insulation tape around the circuit board will kill some of that.
Ib would suggest if you go for the T1, get them to swap over the knobs so you get that lone brass one, really hard to get replacements, but Ebay has seen a few sets per year come available so with dilligence you may get a full set.

And remember.....CrackConverters will almost always knock £15 off if you're nice to them, maybe more.

good luck!

Thx Vimes....

I was a little worried about the jack plug area...I notice on some of the restorations on these forum that that area is a concern when buying westies...I work with wood...but I would prefer not to see repairs around that area of any guitar...just a pain in the ass and rare to see a repair you can't see afterwards...

JFYI..if anyone is interested...here's a build I did last year...my first build actually....and in 10 days..

Thank you for sharing your build time-line biography Lewis, it is very evident you are comfortable working with wood as a medium. Outstanding results, hope you enjoyed the experience

Sgt. Vimes wrote:...get them to swap over the knobs so you get that lone brass one, really hard to get replacements...

Hi Lewis,
Some reasonably good reproduction knobs are available from Armadillo Guitars.
Have a look at the SHOP page of our web site for info. (Scroll down.)

If they were in my local cash converters I don't think I would be able to help myself from getting both. As Adey said you can play both then flick one or simply keep both if you cant decide

Odd coincidence but the 1a pictured has the same knobs my 1a has, which I thought (possibly wrongly) were original?