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December 14, 2007

Westone Guitar Projects « Music/Guitar »

I mentioned that my next hobby would be fixing up guitars...that goal has morphed somewhat, but only slightly; it may be more accurate to say that goal has focused.

I think I may now love Westone guitars more than Carvin guitars.

The Carvin is a great axe, of course. If you want a beautiful new guitar that sounds wonderful, you cannot get one cheaper than a Carvin...and the Carvin lets you customize any guitar to your desires.

But it isn't every day that you can spend $1200 on a guitar. You can buy them for anywhere between $400-800 used on eBay, but that's still steep.

But reading about Westone (and its predecessor, Electra, as well as its successor, Alvarez), I really started to fall in love with what I read. Check out as much as you can in the link above, but the real convincing testimonies are here. Particularly check out the Spectrum, Pantera, and Corsair guitars. Most people talk emphasize:
1) reliability - the guitars are solid and apparently last forever (which increases your chance of getting a decent one on eBay)
2) playability - good action
3) sonic flexibility - the Westones all seem to always have coil taps, and often add in phase switching and unbalanced humbuckers, plus great output. Apparently they can sonically conquer some vintage Gibsons and Fenders, and modern Paul Reed Smiths.

Well, we'll see. I've picked up 3 in eBay auctions lately, all for right about $100 + $30 shipping.

The first is a true project. Someone disassembled the pickups and added a Roland guitar synth. It obviously needs to be wired up again, but I know I can do it after my experience with my JB Player. I couldn't see the paint condition very well, and I'm risking the neck/frets being in good condition...but at $130, I think it is worth the risk. I could probably part it out for more than that, as it has the full Floyd Rose Bendmaster trem system, the guitar synth, etc.

The second is a Frankenstein guitar. It has a really beautiful body shape, but the more I researched, the more I realized it may just be a Westone neck and trem stuck on a generic body. Oh, well, if it was done well, that's enough. I didn't realize it until after my bid was in, so this may be the guitar I eventually decide is a mistake. Then again, as long as it has the Westone electronics (and it does have the Westone push-pull coil tap, so there's hope), it gives me a guitar I can tinker with to learn about fitting the neck well into the body, lowering action, working on frets...if it needs any of those things. I'm hoping it doesn't.

The third is the one true, pure Westone. No disassembled pickups, no unidentified body, no guitar synth module...just a straight Anniversary Edition Spectrum II XA 1230. It's a semi-project because the paint job has some serious scars, and the input jack needs to be repaired. Still, the first is something I want to learn (refinishing a guitar), and the 2nd is either electronics, woodworking, or both, and I know I can do those. As long as the neck isn't messed up, it should be a great guitar.
I probably shouldn't have bought it, after the other two I already had. But the bid with less than an hour to go was just $71, plus $30 shipping. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if someone else got an XA-1230 for only $101, and it wasn't me! Clinching the deal on its irresistability (to me) was that its serial number was 7012345. I had to look closely to see if that was a photoshop, the numbers seem so unlikely. But I guess someone has to have that number, right?

It's also the only one of the 3 that I can be sure was actually a Matsumoku-made guitar (which is the builder that made the best of the Westones). They switched to making them in Korea in 1989, and while the quality is still good, the Matsumoku name is well known for quality guitars. The one with the guitar synth might have been made anytime between 1987 and 1990, and so could be either. As long as it is Matsumoku, I know it will sound great and last as long as the original pickups still work, or I put a good replacement pickup in it (like, say, Carvins). And the frankenstein guitar? Even if the neck plate says it is a Matsumoku, if it just the neck set on another guitar's body, can you really expect it to have the same feel as Matsumoku quality? Dunno.

But I've become a true Westone collector over just the last 2 weeks.

Posted by Nathan at 08:03 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Ran across your blog doing a Westone Google...welcome to the fray! They are awesome guitars! I first became aware of them by reading an article about them in the Nov 2005 issue of Vintage Guitar. In the monthly Different Strummer column, they featured Japanese Muscle Guitars (like in muscle cars?) by Matsumoku. Along with the Arias, Vantages, etc, were the Westones. About a week later I am in my local Music GoRound and see a Pearl Burst White Westone hanging on the Wall for $69! I went home because the name stuck in my head. I found the Vintage Guitar article, read it, and went back up there and played that Westone. I was shocked! The thing rocked. The neck reminded me exactly like my '73 Fender Mustang and newer Fender Jag reissue! I bought it on the spot. It is in nice shape. It has been played and has a few scuffs but nothing major. New set of strings, lowered the action a bit, and replaced a couple of knobs so they matched. You can see it in various pics on our band myspace. Our lead guitarist Brian constantly steals it from me to play, so there are lots of pics of him playing the white beast! It has the hottest pickups of any guitar! Mine is an LX model, just under the TOTL FX which had a set neck. Brian bought a black ST this spring and now plays that. I also picked up a Silverston (Green-Gray Sparkle) Spectrum GT from another MGR for $79. I love how the coil taps can make it sound like a Strat, and then return it to the darker growling Gibsonish tones. And they are built like a tank!! Even though I have some other nice guitars, the Westones are what I talk to people about. Did you know they were actually mostly handmade at Matsumoku? Along with my Spectrum I gig with, I found a mint, never purchased 1986 Pantera Pro (X-300) for $225 at a guys store liquidation. It still has the St. Louis Music Setup sticker on it with the tech's initials, original hangtags still on the neck and case. It is my "never leave the house guitar." I may use it to record some with on our next promo CD, but that will be about it. It is gorgeous with a carved maple top like a PRS, 2 single coils and a humbucker. Pearl White. Mint Mint, and, did I say Mint? It is weird to own a 22 year old guitar that I am the first owner of!!

Anyway I have rambled far too long, but it is because the Westones are such awesome guitars. If I had enough extra dough, I would buy up everyone that popped up on ebay!!! Good luck and let me know if you need any help with yoru projects!!

Posted by: John at January 15, 2008 04:26 AM

Yep! Guess what I did? bought up every used westone on ebay about a year and a half ago. My first was a westone challenger w/floyd rose original trem. Got it when i was 14,(19yrs. ago). played w/it in a cover band in high school covering metallica, slayer, floyd, alice in chains, and pantera etc. Well i "traded-up" and regretted it ever since. Not that my collection of Ibanez's suck, but the westone was every bit as good as most of them. Yea I got gibsons, fenders, Ibi's, and Epi's but I also have 2 westones that i kept. I sold the other's on ebay or traded them in on other equipment and got at least what i paid for them and actually made $100 bucks on two of them! Sold a villan pro, a dan armstrong signature, a spectrum gt w/reverse headstock, and a anniversary model spectrum. But I had to keep the pearl pink,(I know), Pantera x-300, pink was the rarest of the three colors it came in and this one is just as mint as any out there, got the original case too which is also mint, unbelievable! and I am thinking about selling the corsair just to thin the herd, got 15 guitars-just too many, can't play them all. If you find one in good shape on ebay, don't hesitate to pick it up. Some of the body designs are obviously japanese, but if you can get past that, you'll have a great guitar that you'll love to play for as long as you play. I.E. if you look on page 50 of the "Ibanez- the untold story" book, you will see a picture of the gentelmen who are credited for bringing ibanez back in the 80's, standing in front of the Ibanez factory in Matsumoto jap. Japanese production of westones ended right about the time Ibanez got big, Coincidence?-Dave

Posted by: David Palko at June 11, 2008 11:20 AM

David, I'm envious.

I really lust after a Corsair and a Pantera, but haven't had the cash to pursue them on eBay yet.

The supply of Westone's on eBay also seems to be at somewhat of a lull.

...on the other hand, I'm really enjoying my Fernandes Revolver X these days, and lusting after a Fernandes Dragonfly Elite (for the sustainer, hard-tail bridge, 24-fret neck, and PRS/Carvin top-o-the-line appearance).

Posted by: Nathan at June 11, 2008 01:20 PM