Say hello...

Hey Steve, good to see your zombie self again!

Thanks for the kind words but I'm just the mechanic half of the team, John's still doing his usual brilliant work keeping everyone towing the line.

Looking forward seeing to Westie #9-3/4!

Hi
New to the site.
I have 2 westone cutlasses and would like to find the details for setting them up to their original spec.any ideas please.
What gauge strings did they leave the factory with? Thanks Les Les.mawdsley@hotmail.com

Sorry address is [email removed]

I don’t know how to post a new message on the site 

Thanks

edit: Les, it's not a good idea to publish your email in a public forum, and it isn't necessary for communication here.

I have removed it to avoid your getting SPAMmed. --Barry

Hey Lesm!  They had a 25" scale length, which may point to a .09 gauge OR a .10 guage?  Gibson's are 24 3/4" scale and they come with .10's, whereas Fender is a 25.5" scale and they often are played with .09's.  

I would say use whatever you want, if you do lots of bending a .09 may be easier, though many do prefer a .10 gauge set.

Hello! Fate recently smiled upon me big time and I was able to buy a 1984 Electra Westone X199 for ridiculously cheap! It was a bit of a basket case. I've been researching these great guitars nonstop ever since. I still can't believe I got mine for what I paid! So far I've put SD pups in, new output jack, removed and cleaned all the hardware, scuffed up; primered; painted; and heat treated the bridge and saddles and tuners. I've polished the frets and used guitar honey on the fingerboard, etc etc. The axe is shining up nicely so far and the craftsmanship is so good I'll have this guitar for a very long time to come! Next up is setting up the Bendmaster, which I hope to find some info on here (plus general YouTube vids on electric guitar setups). Glad to be here!

Welcome! You've got yourself a beauty there.

This was later was rebranded as the top of the Spectrum line "FX", the only set neck model in the series.

But I much prefer this Electra version without the black centre stripe. If you need a wiring diagram you'll find it on our website (see link at top centre of this page)

The tremolo bridge should setup very easily so don't worry about it. Please start a new topic in the Member's forum and post pictures as you go. If you run into any problems that will be the place we can help out

hello , 
phil , new to bass and westone

Hi Phil! Welcome!

No need to be timid here, we're mostly harmless, and we were all new to Westone once.

Well hello!

Suppose I'll do this thingy here since I've already posted a few times.

My name is Cory, I'll be 41 tomorrow and I'm from Vancouver Island but live in New Westminster with my wife and two kids. I had long hair until a few years ago. I have phantom hair. When I put a guitar strap over my head and I can't help but try to pull my pony tail out from under it haha.

I'm into heavy music but love all sorts like Pearl Jam. I like to sing also. I've played guitar since I was 17 but have not put the time in to be technical with it and can't read music (although I used to as a kid when I had piano lessons). That said, I could be a very good player if I put the time in. I want to play more these days but it's tough with kids around.

First guitar was an Epiphone Special ii. Best guitar I've owned (and still own) is probably the beat up Mann les paul from the 60's with sun burst.

I've recently found Westone and I think they are great! It is a shame they did not continue until today in Japan. I may soon own two!

Take care and thanks to those who've responded to my posts.

Cory

Welcome, Zac! You realise that this is a very deep rabbit hole indeed that you're disappearing into, yes?!

We love to see pix of your guitars - yes, even the non-Westone! - so keep that in mind!!

Oh, and Happy Birthday!!

Hey Zac, nice to welcome a fellow Canuck to the House of Westone Nuts!!

Hair is such a transient thing (so they tell me. I still have mine, albeit a lot finer than it used to be) But a ponytail?! That's just tragic eh?

Yeah, the Mann is a good guitar too, but we're gassing to see your Westone when you get a minute. Post some pix

Happy birthday & Merry Christmas!

Hello y’all,
I am a new member on this forum, joining from France. Please excuse my heavily accented English. I am the happy owner of an almost mint 1983 blue Thunder II mod 2 and a 1982 red Prestige 150. These are my first Westones, just bought them. I own a great deal of golden era Ibanez’s too and I repair amps as a hobby (paul1179.wordpress.com is where I post rarely about it). I just redacted the French Wikipedia pages for Matsumoku and Westone, yes we are a little bit late to the action here in backward continental Europe. If i can be of any assistance re. some Westone business in France contact me through my blog or here on the forum (not sure how DM work though). Looking forward to interacting with anyone anytime re. whatever. Cheers

Hi all!
I have owned a couple of Westones for about 16 years now.  I got them from an old guitar teacher of mine who loved them and collected a lot of 80s guitars.  In terms of vintage, I also have a pre-lawsuit Ibanez SG custom that was my first guitar.

My Westone guitars:

Dimension IV - white with red lightning bolt
I love this thing, my old guitar instructor set it up with some SRV style 13s and it has the greatest tone I have ever heard and holds the most stable tuning of any guitar I have ever used.  Currently setting it up with some Not So Slinky strings for some drop C to see how metal it can get!  This one doesn't have the original knobs or backplate (not sure of anything else) and is missing tremolo arm and a case sadly.

Electra Dynasty - red
I played this guitar for a few shows after trading a Line 6 stompbox for it, however, the volume knobs are right in a place that some over enthusiastic strums caused me to drop volume during a show, so this one just hangs on my wall now mostly :-)  This one I believe has all original hardware, but still no tremolo arm or case either.

I saw a posting for a Westone Corsair on ebay that has been tempting me... we will see.  I think I read the Dean Stealth series will hold a Dimension IV, so I may try that out and hunt for a black tremolo arm that will work in it too (once I figure out what the thread dimensions need to be anyway).  Sad to have to carry it around in a soft keyboard case, although it is more of my home jammer, not stage guitar... yet anyways :-)

Pic of them hanging on my wall (will probably try and take more detailed pics if anyone is interested)
--looks like I can't post links for 7 days--

Hi Astro and welcome.

Sounds like you are well hooked on the Westone "pointies". We have a few members here who will be happy to hear that, and do start a new post in the Member's forum and upload some pix when your 7 day wait is over eh?

You must have SRV hands to handle 13's on the DimIV!! Drop tuning??

And the trem bar diameter is 6mm (listed as "import" size on many web sites).

Well! I guess it´s about time to say hi!

My name is Jaume and I´m 41 years young.

I´m from Spain, located at the Mediterranean coast of Valencia.

I´ve been registered here about 10 years ago. As many of you I was in the search of Trevor Rabin´s guitar. I´ve learned a lot of things here. There´s a bunch of good people giving always good tips and advices and now I will need a bit of help.

The very first guitar I´ve ever played was an old nylon strings classic guitar with the highest action you can imagine.
The first guitar I´ve bought with my own money was a Yamaha Pacifica 112 about 1999.

And a couple of weeks ago, just by chance, I´ve hunted a Westone Pantera X275 for just 200€. I´m still pinching myself.

I´ll upload photos and things on the pertintent thread of the forums. Need to solve some issues and got a bunch of questions for you guys.

Thanks in advance fot keeping this westone madness alive and sorry for my poor self taught english.

Cheers!

Jaume ¡Hola! and welcome back.


Thank you for your kind words. You are right, the guys on this Board are the best!
And we're all looking forward to seeing your Pantera!

Hey there, bro... always good to have another Westone nut in here, eh!

Your English, my friend, is very likely better than mine.... it is certainly better than any Spanish I have!

You´re so kind. Thanks!

Hi all,

I've had my Westone Thunder 1 for about thirty years. Apart from a Fender Gemini II acoustic, my other guitars (two electrics and a classical) are DIY projects. My Westone is my first real guitar though and it's been very good to me.

I am starting to consider maybe getting the frets assessed by a professional. It either needs dressing or a refret which is potentially expensive. Also, like many others it seems I'm on the lookout for a proprietary hard case. I just missed one on eBay yesterday and just hope that they surface fairly regularly. My searching brought me here and I've just seen the user "manual" for the first time in my life. Gold.

I'm currently in Devon, UK.

Thanks for setting this site up. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it.

Hi there, Twigster... nice to see a new face, especially one with a lifelong partner in his/her life, eh! 
Is yours a Thunder 1, or a Thunder 1A?

You know, doing the frets isn't really a huge job; a lot of patience and a steady hand are all that's required! 

Westone marked cases come up from time to time, but if I'm honest I just get generic rectangular cases which are brand new and cheaper than branded cases... generally!

I love the "currently in Devon" disclaimer... I'm currently in Australia! Since being a part of this forum I've lived in the North and South Islands of New Zealand, Jersey and four different places in Aussie!! I assume you move around a bit, too!!

Hello corsair. Small world I guess as I've lived and worked in Adelaide for two great years, Auckland for two "better than average" years and Thornton, NSW for a rather miserable six months (too many roaches, snakes and coal mines for my liking). 

My Westone is a Thunder 1. Using the westone.info site as a guide it's a version 2 as it has through body stringing but not the bird on the headstock. I've just read that you guys like pics so:
 

 

Twigster wrote:...My Westone is a Thunder 1. Using the westone.info site as a guide ...

Hi Twigster and welcome.

Now then. . .since you're *ahem* one of "us" now you should be aware of our information web site.  LINK 

Westone.info is a tombstone site which is out of date. You'll also find the link to ours in the centre of the menu bar at the top of this page.

You'll notice some overlap since our new site was built on the old one, but you'll find a lot more recent information and items of interest because the content comes from the members of this forum and is updated regularly.

Nice Thunder BTW. see your model HERE

Hi Barry. Thanks for the tip. Your link had a rogue full stop at the end. The one top centre got me there though. It's very cool to see such a global community of Westone guitarists.

Ooops! Apologies.
I typed that first link on my laptop (in bed!) in poor lighting, and added a extra "dot" at the end.
The main thing is that you found it!

New to OWNING Westones, but have been around a few since the mid 80s... Ive found a few locally lately (way under priced) and decided to jump on them! Bought (and sold) a NICE Lipstick Red Dynasty a couple months ago... have my eye on a Pantara now, just waiting for the owner to confirm!

Been playing since around 1980. Quit playing from 91-2000... back at it again and somewhat collecting as well...

Looking forward to gaining knowledge and seeing what cool stuff I dont know about yet!!

Welcome Scrub.
I already commented on your Pantera post, and we definitely want to see that one when you get it!

There are also a few Dynasty fans here who would enjoy seeing yours. Start a new post for that one and let's have peek at her!

Hi !

First thanks for running this forum !

My name is François. Currently I own two Westones : one Concord III (red) and one ultra-scooped Spectrum MX (blue).

I am looking for information on other models like the Paduak.

My first good guitar was from Matsumoku but it is not a Westone. Its is an Aria RS-X80 (see-through red) that I used long ago in the french hardcore band Heimat-los.

Any love here for Vantage guitars as well ?
Anyone has tried the Vantage x-88 ?

I play different kinds of music : from quite "SPACE" to really "FAST" but mostly hypnotic and a with a bluesy or indian touch.

Fave bands : Melt-Banana, Pink Floyd, Neurosis, Dead Kennedys, Led Zeppelin, Voivod, Marduk and many more...

Bienvenu François! Great to have you here.
"Is there any love here for Vantage?" OH HELL YEAH!

I have 9 Vantage and 1 Aria Pro II Urchin, fantastic Mats guitars, all.

I'm always on the look out for an X-88 but haven't found one locally yet. I do have the X-77 and it's a killer guitar!

Nice to "meet" you Barry.

Which Urchin do you have ? I really love the U-100 (which has close specs to the RS-X80 except the shape and the addtitonal electronics on the U-100). I once tried a U-60T for sale but went aways with a PE instead...

I have a question about the Westone Paduak : Is it quite rare ? Or is there a few around ? (I prefer the one with two pickups). I never saw one in France.

Mine is the U60-T which was a mess when I bought it and required an effort to restore and refinish. Despite the weird shape it is a very comfortable guitar to play and I like it a lot.

I don't own a Paduak and I never see them in Canada, but they do seem to pop up regularly in England and Europe. Probably not as plentiful as other Westone models so they may be collectible but not necessarily valuable or rare.

Naing2 wrote:Any love here for Vantage guitars as well ?
Anyone has tried the Vantage x-88 ?

Ah.... hell, yes! I have swags of 'em!

Ah.... no. But I have an X-99 which I rate quite highly! Mine is matte black, though; is yours the tobacco burst?

I need help. Just picked up a Prestige 250 and it hums if I turn either if the PEQ tone knobs up to the single coil tap position. T
The selector switch can be noisy too.
Is this normal?
Where can I get tone controls and a selector switch if needed.

Greetings from Finland. My name is Asko, and I have owned red Concord III since 1984! And it's leftie.

Spdrmn282 wrote:I need help. Just picked up a Prestige 250 and it hums if I turn either if the PEQ tone knobs up to the single coil tap position. T
The selector switch can be noisy too.
Is this normal?
Where can I get tone controls and a selector switch if needed.

Hello Spidey and welcome.

It sounds like you have some oxidation on the electrical contact points. It's a common problems on all guitars, not just Westone. Some liberal squirts of Electrical Contact Cleaner usually clears it up. (Do NOT use WD40!) Spray into the back of the pots and the switch, then vigorously work the controls to spread it thoroughly. Repeat if needed, you cannot hurt anything. And don't forget the output jack.

The PEQ control is unique to Westone. It is not a "coil tap" or coil split. It is actually a very clever tone control. Turning it DOWN from the center detent and it acts like a normal a normal tone control. It creates an apparent bass boost by filtering out the treble frequencies.
Turn it UP from center and it makes a sound like variable coil tap.

This circuit is no longer available unless one of our members has one for sale. I would recommend using the cleaner. That should clear it up.

axo68 wrote:Greetings from Finland. My name is Asko, and I have owned red Concord III since 1984! And it's leftie.

Welcome Asko!

I feel sorry for you "lefties". It has to be frustrating!
You're lucky to have found a Westie Leftie!
 
The Concord is a comfortable little guitar and fun to play. Is yours the H-S-S model or all single coils? Don't see many of those.

Hi, it is HSS model, bought it brand new as my first guitar and never gonna sell it. It's nice to play, but sometimes thought to change the p'ups. Has someone changed those and what results?

Lots of folks (including me) have swapped out the Concord pups. Quite straight forward and the result you get depends on the quality of the pups and what sound you are after.

You can go nuts with choices, just be sure you have a proper balance between the humbucker and the single coils or you'll go mildly mad trying to balance outputs when you switch.

Here's some info from one of our members on a Concord pickup change : LINK

How about starting a new thread in the Members Forum and show us your Concord? That's the place to continue this conversation, we're off topic here.

Hello everyone,

My Westone story...

I owned a white red stripped Westone Dynasty in college.  When I lived in Chattanooga TN it was stolen along with a Lotus.  I was not able to find one like it at the time and purchased another guitar, this kind of took the wind out of my playing, but I did still play some on the new guitar.

Several years ago I found a Westone Dynasty on eBay.  It was in rough condition missing parts etc, but I purchased it (A).  Not too long after that I found another (B) on ebay that was missing less parts.  I took the few parts from guitar (A) to put on guitar (B).  I was still missing the locking nut parts but a friend was able to fabricate those for me and that one is complete until I find the real locking nut parts.

So I searched and searched and searched for parts for guitar (A) to no avail, then I ran across a post on this forum about replacing the tremolo system with a Goth. I then decided to just customize guitar (A) and do the same with the tremolo system and a Floyd Rose style locking nut. However I am putting the locking nut in the original Westone location.  

I am now in progress of doing that and I will start a thread documenting my progress

I also believe I have found my original guitar and I am not quite sure how to handle that.  I do not want it back, but if the new owner would be willing I would like to get a few things from it.  It had a cam lock strap that was red and white, a "crunch" circuit board I made for it, and if possible I would like the neck back because of the serial number. The main alteration I made was adding a "kill" switch to the guitar below the other knobs. The one I found has an identical switch in the identical spot that I put it.  I am looking for some pictures of my original one to at lest be sure that it could be the one.

Part of me says just let it go, but I would like to be sure it is the one so that I can stop looking for it and possibly retrieve some of those parts.

Any suggestions as to how to handle this would be greatly appreciated.

Time to get some pics and start documenting my restore!

Hola soy de mexico.mi primer guitarra fue una phoenix electra hsh push pull super hermosa con su hermoso sonido me encantaba.hasta que mi hermano me la robo y la vendio,fue super triste para mi perder mi primer guitarra compre otras guitarras pero ninguna me daba la satisfacción que me daba mi electra.7 años después llegó el tiempo de mi cumpleaños y decidí comprar me una guitarra nueva así que me dispuse a buscar una,pero no encontré algo de mi agrado,y dije are un post en Facebook haber si encuentro algo similar a mi guitarra ya que en mexico son muy escasas las guitarras electra y westone,y me aparece un post de mi guitarra era la mía yo le cambie su color a blanco.después de 7 años la recupere me sentía super emocionado.contacte ala persona del post que ya hacia años de su venta y me ayudó a contactar al comprador y accedió a vendermela.empecé su restauración pero me falta conectar sus electrónica desconozco su función me gustaría arreglarla por mi mismo sólo que no se hahahahahah haber si aquí en el foro puedo recibir ayuda suerte amigo con tu guitarra

¡Hola y bienvenido!

Nuestro miembro del foro Corsair ya le ha dado el enlace al esquema de cableado que necesita.

Buena suerte con tu restauración, y publica algunas fotos cuando puedas.

Hey all

My name's Rich, I hail from Bristol (well, just outside) in the not-so-United Kingdom, and I've recently taken possession of My First Westone... a very lovely Thunder 1A bass. Unfortunately the active circuit is knackered, so I've carefully stripped it out (thus making it easy to retro-fit a new one should I ever come across one) and replaced it with an EMG 2-band EQ. The series/parallel switch is still there, but the active/passive switch is now a simple killswitch. And what a sound it makes... suffice it to say that since getting this beastie, my P bass has been just gathering dust.
Cosmetically the lacquer has taken quite a kicking in places, but I've carefully touched the bad bits up with a red Sharpie(!) and it's worked quite well.
I'm planning on fitting some decent brass/gold knobs (the originals don't like the EMG controls' splines) and some lightweight gold tuners in an effort to reduce weight and neck-dive.

Hi all, my name's Dan and this is the first guitar I ever owned which I just pulled out of the closet and strung for the first time in 20 years.  Bought it in the 80's in Richmond, Indiana and thanks to this site was able to identify it as a Genesis I, correct?  Really brings back some memories.  Sure don't see head stocks like that any more, you could strum a power chord and then shove that thing through the sternum of a balrog.

Anyhow, thanks for this forum so I could research what this was.  It's been missing the back plate for years so I'm going to browse around and see if there's any info here about finding a replacement.

Greetings All,

I have visited this site a few times but I don't think I have ever joined or posted.

Name: Brad Strickland

Age - 50

Location - South Carolina

First guitar - So long ago, so many guitars. Lets go with White Charvel Model 4

First Westone - 83-84 Electra Westone Pheonix - Graphite

Later Westones - Genesis I (XA1530) Black - Aquired it around 88-89 I think. It was used. Still own it. Genesis I (XA1530) Transparent Brown, Spectrum III (XA1330) Platinum Blue Burst, Spectrum II (XA1220) Transparent Brown - Bought her for parts. Still have the body but she has been turned into a project guitar.
 
Current Westones - 
 - Genesis I (XA1530) Black - It was missing parts of the locking nut when I got it. Used a Charvel behind the nut style locking nut for years. Recently created a shelf and added a Floyd locking nut.


 - Genesis I (XA1530) Transparent Brown - This one is my baby. All original. no missing parts love this thing


 - Spectrum III (XA1330) Platinum Blue Burst - This one is so heavy. Resonates extremely well. It has a few cuts and bruises and needs a middle position pickup.


 - Spectrum II (XA1220) Body Only


Other instruments - Washburn Acoustic, Epiphone Les Paul Custom Traditional Pro II, El Cheapo Ibanez Bass, various percussion instruments.

Favourite instrument - My Transparent Brown Genesis I (XA1530)

Hello Rich, Dan, and Brad, welcome every onel! Great to have you all in da house.

Danger__Moose wrote:

Aha, so that's what happened to the left-over Superheadless bass bodies
It does make for a handsome guitar, but oh how I wish I had one of those basses.

Hi All,

Im Paul from Newcastle in the UK.

Quick intro…. Im 43 now and got my Red Westone Spectrum DX for my 14th Birthday as my first Guitar.

I remember back in the day going to Grotts guitars in old Eldon Square with my Mam as an over excited soon to be 14 year old and choosing it as my birthday present... happy days and a great memory.

Anyway, I stopped playing the guitar and it was in the cupboard for a number of years until I started picking them back up again, spent an age strumming about on a fender acoustic.

I will post some photos when I get back home (currently working away every week) and see what you guys think.... I had a guitar shop give it a once over spruce up a while back but now im back into playing the guitar im going to get it right back to its former glory and originality... (not that its in bad nick now, pretty good actually). I think the only thing missing is the tremelo arm.

Looking forward to some communication with you lot moving forward.

Cheers.

Paul here
Calgary Alberta but but from the east side of the country and british roots. I am a newbie at the age of 56 but totally am in love with the guitar..always have been just never did anything about it until I had a heart attack...bad the heart attack good the guitar. I will look for any help I can get with anything but I did see this for sale on line and really want to know if it is fake or real....cant see any numbers and that would be a helper I am sure...

Hey there, Paul - welcome here, mate!!

Ooooh... that's very nice! That finish we've seen here before... once! It's on a late model called the Terminator shaped like an Explorer, sort of, and the guitar itself is probably a Spectrum II SP1012.
I reckon that's another one we've not seen before, probably Korean made and with the sickest neck on a production guitar I've ever played on!!

Hi there!  Some of you "know" me from the Guitar Gallery, but I've joined here to expand my info sources.  At 73, I'm not "new" to the scene having actively played from 1956 thru 2008.  From 2008 to the present, I've been somewhat hampered with a lack of tactile sense due to an accident.

As probably noted from my screen name, I played primarily Fender guitars, with a smattering of Gibsons thru 1983 - then I discovered the Matsumoko line - and was forever smitten.

I presently have 4 Mattys, but no Westones (yet).  I have, however, my eyes on a possible candidate in the form of a neck-thru Thunder - possibly a prototype, as I can find no other references.  The seller wants a seemingly exorbitant price that I'm trying to reduce to better fit my budget.

Does the photo ring any bells?

Hi ExFender great to have you here too!

Does the photo ring any bells?

Yup! Have look on our WEBSITE
We've seen a few of these surface lately, but no real information on how it fits into the Westone lineup. It may well be a prototype run.