Hello there

Hello there I am a new boy.

I have a Westone Spectrum ST I bought for £30 in about 1990. When I bought it the vendor had the tremolo completely floating and the action set at about 2 inches off the fretboard. Two minutes with a screwdriver fixed that!

At some point in the distant past I put a DiMarzio Megadrive pickup in the bridge and subsequently lost the original. One of the knobs is also now mysteriously missing.

It's been a great guitar, but has always been second place to my Aria Pro II YS300, bought a couple of years before that.

If I was to try to restore the look, (the DiMarzio has a blade), does anyone have any recommendations for pickups?

Hi "new boy" and welcome to the forums.
That YS300 is a looker alright. One of Uncle Mats' beauties for certain.

The Spectrum line I believe was more of an "entry level" line, or perhaps became that in the later years. But that's not to take anything away from its design and playability. I have a few of them including my trusty 'ole ST and they are just head and shoulders above most comparable offerings both then and now.

The initial Spectrum builds came with the venerable MMK45 humbuckers (usually in the 11+K range) which most agree are powerful versatile performers. These have been compared with DiMarzio Super Distortions.

For whatever reason they got replaced in roughly the mid 80's by the UBC design which is very thin sounding (~6K) and not really performance calibre. Most of us have swapped them out so you are not alone in that.

There are as many replacement options as there are guitar Spectrum players and you'll find lots of recommendations in previous post discussions. I have had success with Wilkinson's as well as GFS, but pretty much any good quality high'sh output works well. Up to your ears and playing style to decide.

Those knobs are a whole 'nuther discussion. Suffice to say there ain't nun! One of our members was making replicas of these Switchmasters but I have not seen any recent activity so I'm not sure if he's still offering them. Ebay is probably you best bet, or perhaps someone here has a spare.

Welcome, 

As Barry says if you have the crap p/ups don't blame you for changing the bridge pup. Change the neck also.

Had a set of these(Entwistles) hanging around.
Sound good.
The ST now sports two n+b. They are 'hairy'......coil tap sounds good too.
Not a fan of logos on pups but it can always be removed.

Here  a shot with just the bridge.

Barry did you ever use that 'true' UBC pup I sent you in the neck position?

Nope, it's still in the Spectrum X125 (bridge position) Not ideal, but it still sounded pretty good as I recall.

It's been awhile since I've played it. Too much disruption over the past few months with the move, never-ending renovations, plus 3 sick pussy cats, an energetic puppy dog, and a wife who is never happy, etc., etc...

Well, it's been a long time since I posted here. So I thought I would update my introduction. 

Since I last posted, the YS300 has gone. Replaced by a Gibson SG Faded which is awesome. Been through a MiM Fender Tele, a P90 Fender Jaguar. Had a  80s Washburn Les Paul until I got a bad back and chopped it in for a Teisco SS3L. But none of these (except the SG were actually as good as my Spectrum, which my daughter has now put cat stickers on and renamed Kitty. 

So when a DX popped up on Facebook Marketplace for £50 i ripped the bloke's arm off. I now need to sell 4 guitars I don't want any more. I am not quite up to hiding guitars, but my wife told someone I had 14 when I only had 9 and I saw that as an opportunity.

godjira wrote:...So when a DX popped up on Facebook Marketplace for £50 i ripped the bloke's arm off...

As well you should.
The DX is an ST with better tuning stability, especially if you're a bit of an aggressive player.

...I am not quite up to hiding guitars, but my wife told someone I had 14 when I only had 9 and I saw that as an opportunity.

Kitty and Friends