Westbury Standard

Sarge

ICBM said:

I would cut a v-shaped notch into the end of the headstock, larger than the missing peak, glue in a new piece of wood, then shape it back to original. That will be stronger as well as removing the round-over damage.

I like this! 
Thanks! 

Ddigger

Sarge said:

A bit further on today, 99% of the finish is off, revealing the butcher block mahogany under the veneers.

 

Are only the black ones "butchers block"?

Sarge

Ddigger said:

Sarge said:

A bit further on today, 99% of the finish is off, revealing the butcher block mahogany under the veneers.

 

Are only the black ones "butchers block"?

As far as I know, yes. 
some of the Deluxe models are also butcher block, but that's hidden under the burst

KevS

Sarge said:

KevS said:

I have just gave my Westbury  Standard to my Younger Cousin as I totally dwarf the thing...
Mine sustained forever..Great Wee Guitars..I have a nice pile of guitars,
so keeping it would have been greed..
Those Old Dimarzios sound brilliant though..
Seriously great guitar...

Supposed to be Mahogany,,but  to me doesn't look like it..
Mine is battered,,but Dark SG Red...Love the German Carve in the design..

A Real Tone Monster,,but I just looked silly playing it..

this is my keeper Standard, was trans wine red but chipped and in need of attention, so the heat gun and a bottle of Tru Oil were introduced   

Mine is /was ,,was it "Burgundy Wine" the Westbury finish was called ?..
and very shall we say quite naturally reliced..
A lot of dings and varnish missing,but it looks good for it..
I'm not into purposely relicing things,but the guitar looks like it has really lived and has a story to tell..
It kind of looks happy as it is...

When I got it the switch didn't work and you couldn't bend a string the frets were so tarnished..
Like seriously nasty with growth on them..

It now sounds great,but looks like a badminton racket on me..
I kind of Dwarf an SG too..
I can get away with a Les Paul and I like they way they hang on me..
The Westbury for lack of a better description sounds like 1978,,
maybe it is the Super Distortion in the Bridge..
The Sustain though..Awesome..

I came across a few other people having them during my travels and thought they sounded great
and always found the owners loved the guitar..

Sarge

"Sounds like 1978" 

Sarge

So a wee update.
Superglue grainfill, epoxy to fill in the gouges around the body and Milliput epoxy putty to reshape the headstock peak.
Guidecoat primer is on to show me where I've missed a couple of places. 
I've gone for auto paint in a RAL9005 Jet black with a 2k clear, I really hope I've not missed the window for outside spraying... ideally 18-20 degrees... so not this weekend then
 

I've managed to source an original bridge and tailpiece (50mm spacing) and hopefully an original set of pickup rings. 

ICBM

That actually looks great in grey primer . It's like Midge Ure's early-80s Ibanez which he had done like that.

Winny_Pooh

Silver sparkle and filtertrons!

impmann

ICBM said:

That actually looks great in grey primer . It's like Midge Ure's early-80s Ibanez which he had done like that.

I'd heard it was finished in Cumulous Grey... which was the colour used for BT vans around that time..

Sarge

ICBM said:

That actually looks great in grey primer . It's like Midge Ure's early-80s Ibanez which he had done like that.

The thought did cross my mind to just hit it with the clear, save a can of black

Funkfingers

impmann said:

ICBM said:

That actually looks great in grey primer . It's like Midge Ure's early-80s Ibanez which he had done like that.

I'd heard it was finished in Cumulous Grey... which was the colour used for BT vans around that time.

According to an interview in International Musician & Recording World magazine, the entire Ultravox tour stage set was painted that colour. Drum riser, keyboard riser, monitor wedges et cetera. Ure carried no conventional amplification, just a Sholtz Rockman rack pre-amp, fed through the P.A.

JCA2550

Funkfingers said:

impmann said:

ICBM said:

That actually looks great in grey primer . It's like Midge Ure's early-80s Ibanez which he had done like that.

I'd heard it was finished in Cumulous Grey... which was the colour used for BT vans around that time.

According to an interview in International Musician & Recording World magazine, the entire Ultravox tour stage set was painted that colour. Drum riser, keyboard riser, monitor wedges et cetera. Ure carried no conventional amplification, just a Sholtz Rockman rack pre-amp, fed through the P.A.

His guitars were resprayed by Brian (can't remember his surname) who worked with me at Ivor Mairants in the 80s. Lovely job on this Westbury looking forward to the finished deal.

Finally remembered his name, Brian Harding. 

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

Ure carried no conventional amplification, just a Sholtz Rockman rack pre-amp, fed through the P.A.

To this day he has the worst live tone of any professional guitarist I’ve seen. I don’t know what he’s using, but I’ve seen him a couple of times and it’s just dreadful. Nasal and buzzy like a wasp through a kazoo. Doesn’t detract *too* much from the music, but it’s still quite distracting. Interestingly, even through whatever it is, he used a Gibson Les Paul once and it sounded slightly less awful than his Vintage (both at the same gig).

It’s not the lack of amp, Nik Kershaw uses Fractal direct to the PA and sounded great at the same shows, in fact probably the best sound of any guitarist there including the ones with amps.

Sorry, thread hijack!

Kebabkid

Looks good and they're solid guitars. I had a black one in 1980 and it was my first guitar and I loved it.

Neil Macdonald of Nightingale (Goodfellow) basses did a fabulous set up on it and it played and sounded great and I regret selling it on. However, I bought  a Roland G-202 guitar and unit, which was also excellent and given what they are, both could actually be with HarrySeven!!!

Sarge

Took advantage of some of the last sprayable weather today.
Bought some better primer, Indasa High Build... brilliant stuff and way more in the 500ml can than the 500ml I was getting previously from the auto supplier, but twice the price so it evens out  
Got 3 coats of the jet black basecoat on, and on the last coat I got a bit overzealous on the headstock and have a run on front and back 
So I'll leave overnight and deal with that tomorrow, then weather permitting I'll get the clear on. 
 
hanging in the shed, and yes, those are my greasy fingerprints 

Should I be expected to flatten this basecoat before the 2k clear? I'd assume so as it has a slight texture to it, but I'm not certain. 

AK99

@Sarge - are you going to leave the front grey like that - with clear-coat ?

Sarge

AK99 said:

@Sarge - are you going to leave the front grey like that - with clear-coat ?

That's black, just a trick of the light. 
gloss black everywhere but the fretboard. 

AK99

Dear blessus - I see it now. That's on a par with that black and blue / white and gold dress thing

I do love a proper black Westbury mind you. Look forward to seeing the finished article!

Sarge

AK99 said:

Dear blessus - I see it now. That's on a par with that black and blue / white and gold dress thing

I do love a proper black Westbury mind you. Look forward to seeing the finished article!

haha fooled you! it is actually a gold dress! 
don't you feel silly now! 

AK99

Quit faffin man - gerritdun, so we can see the finished article