Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com:
It's funny how your perception changes over time. I remember thinking, back in the day when they were being produced, that Westone guitars were all rather ugly - although I would have been first to admit that they were "ugly ducklings" by which I mean that the quality of the build and the playability meant they were really quite elegant swans beneath the ugly duckling appearance. (Errmmm... perhaps, I've carried that metaphor a little too far).
Anyway, back in 1983, this Westone Thunder III was the top of the Thunder range and features all maple construction, a very modern and comfortable heel-less set neck, and coil taps/phase reversal switches for the humbucker pickup, which is - unusually by present day standards - the middle pickup in a three-pickup S-H-S layout. It's the kind of pickup layout that makes you question why so many modern guitar manufacturers stick rigidly to the same few tried and trusted ways of doing things and don't try anything different from the norm anymore.
This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with bidding currently just over £30 at the time of writing. Japanese-made Westone guitars have more than kept their value over the last thirty years and examples often change hands these days for sums in excess of their original retail price in the 1980s.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
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Guitar
Matsumoku-made Westone Thunder III guitar from 1983
guitarz.blogspot.com:
Anyway, back in 1983, this Westone Thunder III was the top of the Thunder range and features all maple construction, a very modern and comfortable heel-less set neck, and coil taps/phase reversal switches for the humbucker pickup, which is - unusually by present day standards - the middle pickup in a three-pickup S-H-S layout. It's the kind of pickup layout that makes you question why so many modern guitar manufacturers stick rigidly to the same few tried and trusted ways of doing things and don't try anything different from the norm anymore.
This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with bidding currently just over £30 at the time of writing. Japanese-made Westone guitars have more than kept their value over the last thirty years and examples often change hands these days for sums in excess of their original retail price in the 1980s.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
- Another One From Matsumoku: The Westbury Deluxe
guitarz.blogspot.com: Gideon writes: I've been following the blog for a while and its hands down one of my favourite places on the web. Thought you might be interested in one of mine, which I don't believe has graced the pages of Guitarz yet....
- 1981 Westone Doublecut Electric Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: Kaizerart, the French seller of this Westone doublecut guitar from 1981 refers to it as being "70 Years" model, a reference that is lost on me. It's one of the earlier Japanese-made Westones from the 1980s, from before...
- Japanese-made Westone Guitar From 1964? I'd Aways Thought They Were From The 1980s
guitarz.blogspot.com: We've looked at several Westone guitars previously here at Guitarz. As we've mentioned before, Westone was the house-brand of Japan's Matsumoku factory with guitars being produced from 1981-1988. The Westone name was...
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guitarz.blogspot.com: On seeing the Westone name you'd be forgiven for thinking that here was another Japanese Matsumoku-made guitar. However, as part of Westone's 1990s-era Prestige series, the Westone Cutlass was actually made in the UK by Status,...
- Westone Spectrum Mx From 1985 In Red Cellophane Finish
guitarz.blogspot.com: Here's another "Spectrum"-named guitar from Japan, this one bringing proof that Haryama weren't the only Japanese guitar makers in the 1980s producing cellophane finishes. This Westone Spectrum MX is a Matsumoku-made guitar...