Just goes to show .... there one born every minute !!

Hi Guys,

Like everybody else on this forum, I havent limited myself to just Westones, but look across all of Mats guitars. I like the Westburys but they are now appreciating, nothing wrong with the Vantages, I like the quirkiness of Quests, the Aria PE's, and Japanese Washburns.

I have always had a yen (no pun intended) for a Washburn a20v or member of that family. I'm also looking for a cheap project for the coming winter months !

When this A15v came up on the bay, I thought job done ! Its local (near enough) and by its looks will go for between £10and £20. Just look at the photos, what you get and the price it went for !
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Washburn-A15-Project-Early-1980s-Hard-Rock-Guitar_W0QQitemZ300341697339QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item45edc29b3b&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


I can buy a complete Westone or such like for that (or a bit more) without the hassle. Crazy !

What a prat - he's parted the thing out; people who know what these are want the whole kit and caboodle...

Quite, ...... but you have to question what the seller is going to do with it? At £100 purchase price plus cost of bits ( if he can find them? ), I think I'd rather wait for a good one to come along.

Would of been worth a punt at £20.

20 quid would have been great, but ~100 is beserk. With the right skills... it could have been a real beauty. The set neck/body style are pretty cool.

Yeah; the bodyshapes are cool on those Matt Washburns, eh - I like the Quests, too....

Like this?

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/vantage/catalogs/atak-manhattan/pg5.html

or this?

http://guitarcollecting.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Washburn-A20.jpg

or this?

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/washburn/wing/wing.html

The neck - throughs are similar to my old ONYX...

£97?? The seller must still be laughing.

Earlier this year one of the good ol' boys over on the Washburn forum flagged up an 80s Washburn Raven for sale on the 'bay. Buy-it-now only and to be sold with a little practice amp. He's based in Cornwall, guitar + amp were in London, he wasn't able to get up to London to buy it.

But I was £120 for an early wing series (from before Washburn started putting serial numbers on these, we reckon it's 1980, possibly 1979). Sure, it's seen some action, bit of fret wear and a few dings but just mojo. The amp is a make no-one has ever heard of; KMD, made in Ipswich just down the road from me but worth £20 of anyone's money. So me old Washy stands me at £100 or so I reckon.

Right, so if someone can point me at a Prestige going for a song....

anaerobe wrote:Like this?

Yep; I just love those 2-tone A-5s....

A5's are a pointed lot. You'd need to take care with that... no frenzied zooming around, or you could sustain some tissue damage.. :idea:

Did someone say Quest Atak 5? Meet my latest problem!



Yet another resto project I couldn't resist , this finish is known as 'Grey Sunrise'.

There is a full post with pic's HERE, in the Guitar Gallery Forum.

DAN.

Yum yum yum.....

I saw this and fully intended to bid but .... was distracted by something else I was interested in ... and I didn't win that either!

I'd be interested to see whether it is "laminated mahogany" as the catalogue says or Ash as I saw on a later ebay listing. As for the pickups, I did recieve an email from Maxon Japan saying that Matsumuko used a range of pickup manaufacturers from Nishin Onpa to Gotoh. They even used Dimarzios on the Westbury range.

The Atak 5 is quite close in design to the Aria Urchin. As weird as the shape looks, I'll still look out for one. and what a steal price wise !

Now can everybody stop bidding on ebay and let me find a Winter project !

Steve777 wrote:

I'd be interested to see whether it is "laminated mahogany" as the catalogue says or Ash.....

I've taken some of the paint off around the cracks to see what damage lurks beneath, and from the wood grain I've seen it looks more like some sort of ash or alder to my eye's. I suppose it could be a type of Japanese mahogany but it's very light in colour and in weight.

So far I've found one body joint through the centre of my guitar. I reckon there could be three or four planks in it, but until I strip off all the finish I'm not going to know for sure.

Now can everybody stop bidding on ebay and let me find a Winter project !

I'M SORRY, SO SORRY, sorry, sorry, sorry, don't hit me...!!!!!!

DAN.

If you have this underneath the paint surface, fantastic !

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Quest-ATAK-5-vintage-Matsumoku-Glam-Rocker_W0QQitemZ220471336597QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item33551d9e95&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

sadly, mine looks more like drift wood at the moment. One big split coming from the neck joint on the back and loads of little cracks that might need gluing or just filling if the body is strong enough.

I think it's been left in a damp garage or shed for years, or it's been used as a canoe paddle at some point in it's life! Lucky for me the neck seems OK and more important the truss rod still works, I'm surprised it survived at all.

If I can get the body sorted out and stable, I then need new pickups and will have to sort out a different trem, the original isn't in great shape and is not a well designed piece to start with. I won't make any decisions on the trem until it's back in one piece (if that ever happens!).

DAN.

,,,,conjures Gary Glitter's "Rock and roll part 2".