My restoration project needs help

Your last question first... no, it's never *final*!! :-D

You won't find those lock plates on the open market; they were are proprietary item and the Matsumoku factory closed its' doors in 1987. 

However.... 
PM me your postal address and I'll get a set of the lockplates to you ASAP.. easy peasy.  Do bear in mind that you will need to fabricate 3 1mm thick 'washers' that go underneath the strings as they cross the locking plate; I use metal strapping from shipping pallets. What they do is stop the lockplates guillotining your strings when you nip them up!
Pretty sure most pickups will fit in the holes; I've used Tonerider and Kent Armstrongs in my projects with no dramas... your ruler is your friend! Do the pickups in the guitar work? If so, what are they? That h/b may well be an MMK45 which are stock, and quite highly regarded; they are a Japanese clone of the early DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup. Matsumoku s/c are generally pretty good, too... that said, swapping pickups in and out is no major, though I don't know if lipsticks will fit in there without modification.

The wee thing on the rear of the headstock is a clamp for the OEM Allen keys which were held in by a pair of thumbscrews....

The guitar is probably a Spectrum III, XA1330...

http://www.westoneguitars.net/guitars/spectrum-series/spectrum-iii/

... in which you don't have an MMK45 in the bridge!

Hello barelythere and welcome.

I have been looking through the info on our website and the best I can determine on a quick scour is that your guitar is likely one of the Corsair models, although which one I don't know, or as our Corsair says It could also be a Spectrum Series. 

Your serial number would indicate 1987 which was a confusing time for production. Matsumoku went out of business in February of that year and some production continued in Korea. In the process, some model lines got scrambled a bit and old Japanese stock was mixed with new Korean goods. So who knows?

Pickups are a toss up, but  there's no crime in swapping them out if you don't like them.

Whatever  you decide on should work out nicely, you're building on "good bones". Please document your resto for us. We just love to see an old Westie live again!

Just lose those stickers!

Barry wrote: or as our Corsair says It could also be a Spectrum Series. 

... pretty sure it's an XA1330; the postiton and style of the pickup selector and the normal orientation of the headstock are the clinchers, I reckon!!

Yep, Spectrum XA1330 it is then.

thank you peeps for for looking into it. you all replied fast now i feel bad. ive been bogged down this month but thank you corsair ill PM you soon. and thanks barry ...i'm losing the stickers for sure. i don't know if the pickups are good or not they worked years ago but the wiring on this one is shot and looks like a rat nest of wires a couple aren't attached its bad.... also the pickups are a little rusty on the poles so i need to find i way to clean rust off magnetized metal..yay 

the allen key thing is genius lol and i noticed it in the spectrum pictures i looked at on the site. 

do you all know if the output jack plate can be replaced with any old "gibson" jack plate? mine is MIA over the decade, but from the pictures of replacements they look too flat.

again thank you all and i will document the whole thing the posts just might have a lot of time between them, i didn't pick this name for fun 

You're welcome, and don't worry about gaps between posts - we understand that life gets in way sometimes!!

Have you got the pickups out? You'll need to measure the output to find out if they're viable; red lead from a multimeter to the white (? - can't remember now!!) and black to the black with the meter set to ohms and you should get a reading if the pickup's good. Not a bad thing to re-do the wiring if it's been mucked around with - this one's quite straight-forward, really. We'll help if you get into strife!!

The output socket plate is just a curved plate with a socket in it, so I guess a Gibbo one would fit!?

Looking forward to the journey, mate....

The metal thing on the back of the headstock its to hold the allen keys for adjustment of the bridge and nut.
You will need 24mm diameter  500k logarithmic potentiometers (Alpha brand). Use 0.02uF polysyrene capacitors. The wire size/thickness is not important - just use black for ground and red for live. A nice hot soldering iron is required, especially for soldering to the back of pots. I can recommend the MMK45 pickups, if you can find them. Or Ironstone, which are made in the UK

www.stringkingworks.co.uk

Yep its a Spectrum Spectrum XA1330BK for Black; I have 3 Different Spectrums / Mag V Pickups / Alpha Pots .. 

The 86-88 Spectrum Series were through Alvarez Guitars

The Allen Wrench Holder on Back of the neck holds Metric Allen Wrenches a 3mm for the Nut and Smaller one for the Saddles on the Tremolo for Intonation.

1 Mag V -1 for the Neck and Middle Single Coil Pickups
1 Mag V -2 for the Bridge

Since you got the Electronics Id just get some Switch Contact Cleaner and spray the Pots... Keep it Original the Presence Control for the Mag Pickups worked great like a Passive Tone / Treble Boost worked excellent.

Clean it up also you can get the stickers off gently try to peal them and use a very light amount of Lighter Fluid on a Soft Cotton Cloth do small spots at a time it will not harm the finish but can be a long process and for a few times a touch messy but will clean up then when done use some Maguires Car Wax / Polish will look nice...

These Babies are par with a Jackson of the same Era same Gotoh Tuners, Wood, and Paint.

The Lock Nuts were not Standard usually the Vintage Kahler Nuts 43mm worked well as a Replacement.

The Jackplate is std 4 Screw Metal Curved

Replacing the Behind Nut Locknuts for a Spectrum best
alternative and style...Click the Link Great Replacement Below
this is on Ebay... They install easy and work perfectly...
Great Replacement for the Locknuts for the Spectrums

Truthfully as I mentioned the Pickups and Electronics are Suffice and sound great. Clean the Pots with Electronics Switch Cleaner Spray. A few light Sprays and working the pots back and forward gently work great.

The Neck Plates are only same size as a Aria nothing wrong with what you got in Photos.

Also the Guitar is not a Corsair its an Spectrum III

You know, chaps, we'd already established what it is and what the thing on the headstock does...

That Kahler replacement you linked is for a locking nut; these guitars have a behind the nut stringlock, so that's a fairly major change if you're not familiar with luthiery, eh! The Bendmaster stringlock works well enough if not monstered....but Kahler do still make a behind the nut string-lock if you need such a device.

This is the Wiring in my Spectrum III Chrome Yellow Limited Edition but same Wiring that's used in your's. 

I"d use these Parts if you can because of the Unique Tone they provide your Pickups. The Red Wires are the Pickup Hots and the first Lug Closest to the Vol is Bridge, Middle, Neck and Output to the Volume Pot.

These were wired with a Treble Bleed on The Volume, a Presence and Tone Boost all Passive and work incredible. The only thing I hated was the 5 Way Switch on these Guitars because They would wear out but only replace it if you have to.

The Two Tone Controls have 3 Caps and 2 Transformer Coils that alter the Resistance balancing the Bass, Mid, and Treble range of your Pickups.

The Pickups are about 15k on the Bridge, Which a Seymour Duncan JB would be Perfect as I got in my Number 2 Spectrum III Chrome Yellow with the Stock Switches and Wiring of the Westone.

If I did not have my parts packed since my Stroke I'd have an Original Bridge Pickup Mag Series Pickup.  I think the Heavy Metal Strats used them as well from Fender.

corsair wrote:You know, chaps, we'd already established what it is and what the thing on the headstock does...

That Kahler replacement you linked is for a locking nut; these guitars have a behind the nut stringlock, so that's a fairly major change if you're not familiar with luthiery, eh! The Bendmaster stringlock works well enough if not monstered....but Kahler do still make a behind the nut string-lock if you need such a device.

You don't need any Luthier Skills to replace that Whole Nut Assembly even though I have over 35 years exp working on Guitars... The one I linked is a behind Nut Style not a Replace the Whole Nut one its a low profile, used them on Peavey Guitars, Westones, Fenders, and Alaverez Electrics. They sit in same place as the Westone behind Regular Nut ones...

You remove the screws holding on the Original Lock Nut Remove it and the align the Kahler one as its same width 43mm and just do new Screw Holes id recommend taping the Drill Bit as a Guide use a touch of wax on the screws and flush tighten butter.I would fill the holes with a drop of wood glue and wood toothpicks great fillers.

BTW on some of the Spectrums they had Kahler Trems so the Replacement was the same used on those models. But get the one as the link goes to and your set...

I still reckon that is a locking nut you've linked to, here's what the current behind the nut stringlocks look like...




... I had one of these locks on a guitar I bought years ago and it worked well; I know some of the Panteras had  Kahler gear and some of the later Korean builds did, too - I've not seen a Matsumoku Spectrum with one.... yet! :-)

well you all are a big help. ill hopefully get to remove the stickers and re-look at the wires in about 2 weeks. little one has a birthday this week so i don't foresee a chance before then. ill update with pictures when i get to that point. but this is what my wires looked like in my go over the other day...

Your Guitar has the same Wiring as my Yellow Spectrum III does since yours is also a Spectrum III.. The image will blow up larger then what you see that I posted. Which is the Jackson Stylist similar body style...

You can find a std 4 screw Jack Plate on Ebay for a few bucks in chrome, You can get you a std Switchcraft 1/4" jack for a few bucks as well...  Bare is Ground The color wire is hot aka center long contact on the Jack.

Wire your rear Tone Switch and you should be back to sound... I will try to post closer of that later for ya so you can match that wiring of that rear tone switch and go over the other wires which appear fine...

Knobs are Std Chrome Speed Knobs you need the Metric Slide on ones.


The Matsumoku Spectrum is the same as the Electra Phoneix X100 series... The slicker Gibson SG kind of looking Guitar I got 2 of them...
Shown Below in 85 the name switched from Electra to Westone...



Later 80's Matsumoko Spectrum



For the Record here is another Behind a Regular Nut Lock Nut you can use thats on Ebay...

Chrome Behind Regular Nut Lock Nut Clock Link



Jackplate with Jack Chrome

Get a couple Tooth Picks break them flush in the holes first then gently screw the plate in diagonally so it gently butts up flush to the body...

Get you a matched Set of Springs for that Tremolo
Standard Universal Tremolo Springs... 

Also with a 2 Stud Tremolo System you need to make sure you string it properly Low E High E  Low A High B Low D High G this keeps the tremolo Level have the fine tuner screws on the tremolo in the middle height. Once its in tune then Lock the Nut Gently till tight dont need too over do it...

Those with the Plates the other person mentioned and you got a nice Classic Limited Edition Spectrum III Westone Guitar...

Quick update I grabbed myulti meter set it to 200k ohm check and the neck pickup read 5.0 and the mid and h/b came back with no readings... I'm going to recheck during a tear down but pretty sure the mid one is dead... I'm going to re read all your guys posts regarding pickups before I search for some ....again thanks for your help all...

BarelyThere wrote:Quick update I grabbed myulti meter set it to 200k ohm check and the neck pickup read 5.0  and the mid and h/b came back with no readings... I'm going to recheck during a tear down but pretty sure the mid one is dead... I'm going to re read all your guys posts regarding pickups before I search for some ....again thanks for your help all...

200K is why too high try 20 or 50k depending on your meter....

Also dont measure with the circuit only check the Pickup Wires Direct the Caps, Pots will give you off reading.

Electra is correct, 20K would be the proper setting.  

See this post  for a quick 'n dirty way to measure your pickups without having to remove them or poke about in the control cavity.

For the Record here is another Behind a Regular Nut Lock Nut you can use thats on Ebay...

Chrome Behind Regular Nut Lock Nut Clock Link

Just a note, I am working on casting an original behind the nut string lock...

Hey all back for a minute i've been trying to acquire parts and such.... its so cold out now and been slow going.. but im looking for a little technical help. i keep searching for the exact threading size for the locking screws on bendmaster nut i have. i found the tutorial on fixing it with helicoils and the only size i saw was on the box for the coils in the picture...

so my guess is they are M4x0.7 Xmm  and if they are long i can cut em down somehow...

these are 10mm long ones i've found at a hardware store

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-M4-7-x-10-mm-Plain-Internal-Hex-Socket-Cap-Head-Steel-Metric-Screw-2-Piece-803218/204274283

can anyone verify if this is the correct original size?       as i have not modified mine with helicoils
does anyone know or have tried the locking screws from a floyd rose without modification?

https://floydrose.com/products/special-series-nut-clamping-screws?variant=12991810568301

and for anyone thinking i could just buy a new locknut...
im not trying to change the lock nut. im trying to get screws that fit what i have.

Corsair was awesome enough to send me the plates and shims i was missing so i just need thumbscrews

4 mm

I have some I purchased from McMaster Carr.
They are the ones I am using for the bendmaster deluxe replica I am making. They may not be the exact that would have been on it but they should work. I can send you a set if you think they will work, just shoot me a PM.

I have anodized and black

THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH CORSAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are Awesome!

so i learned 4 mm is only one thread type and my threading was super dirty causing screws i got to not fit. (this one sat for many years in harsh conditions before i let it sit for years in a closet)

would anyone know the nut size/style i should search for online to find a replacement???

I've never had the original to measure or compare. i know its graphite. 


i'm working on removing the stickers and cleaning it up more this weekend.