Westone Guitars

Sarge

mikeyrob73 said:

Sarge said:

Somebody called? 

if it's the Clipper the neck will be outrageously good whether Japanese or Korean, very slim mind . 
It's also not a humbucker but 2 single coils and switchable between either coil or both,  and quite frankly awful. 
I had a Japanese clipper for all of 3 days and sold it to my mate(otherwise known as my Westone depository , he's taken 20+ of my Westones ) I just hated the lack of body and arm contours . 

There he is the man who has forgotten more about Westones than most of us will ever know 

mikeyrob73 said:

Sarge said:

Somebody called? 

if it's the Clipper the neck will be outrageously good whether Japanese 

There he is the man who has forgotten more about Westones than most of us will ever know 

Way to put someone on a pedestal ! 

Hyster

I have a Westone Spectrum in the loft, it weighs a ton but it plays amazingly

Sarge

Yes the spectrum range are a really solid guitar,  not the prettiest but immensely playable . 

fandango

Veganic said:

guitars4you said:

Hard to say where it all went wrong 

That Hawkwind/ Dave Brock endorsement can't have helped?

Like Quo, Hawkwind were designed around a 3-chord vamp.

Anyway I think Dave Brock played a number of different guitar brands. Basically whatever he could afford/get his hands on, and if I'm right he bought/sold/borrowed his way through a very interesting career and was never fussed with the holy grail nonsense of a 59 LP or a 62 Strat.

Veganic

Brock used to be in the Westone ads in the 80s.

Sarge

He played a Paduak and a Spectrum LX.  A man with impeccable taste ! 

Lodious

Huw Lloyd Langton (RIP) played them too, he was a great player.

dogload

Yeah, Brock played his Paduak for years. The painted one of his was up on Ebay not too long ago IIRC. Still wasn't tempted. Harvey Bainbridge also played the basses I think.

As a footnote to the Clipper, I am sure I saw Colin Angus playing one in The Shamen shortly before they morphed into a dance outfit.

fandango

dogload said:

Yeah, Brock played his Paduak for years. The painted one of his was up on Ebay not too long ago IIRC. Still wasn't tempted. Harvey Bainbridge also played the basses I think.

As a footnote to the Clipper, I am sure I saw Colin Angus playing one in The Shamen shortly before they morphed into a dance outfit.

Harvey Bainbridge is still going strong, but not with a bass guitar. He's currently touring with the Hawklords playing synths.

dogload

fandango said:

dogload said:

Yeah, Brock played his Paduak for years. The painted one of his was up on Ebay not too long ago IIRC. Still wasn't tempted. Harvey Bainbridge also played the basses I think.

As a footnote to the Clipper, I am sure I saw Colin Angus playing one in The Shamen shortly before they morphed into a dance outfit.

Harvey Bainbridge is still going strong, but not with a bass guitar. He's currently touring with the Hawklords playing synths.

Yeah, a mate of mine's band supported them recently. Never seen them but from what I've seen online they manage to make a pretty good noise

fandango

dogload said:

fandango said:

dogload said:

Yeah, Brock played his Paduak for years. The painted one of his was up on Ebay not too long ago IIRC. Still wasn't tempted. Harvey Bainbridge also played the basses I think.

As a footnote to the Clipper, I am sure I saw Colin Angus playing one in The Shamen shortly before they morphed into a dance outfit.

Harvey Bainbridge is still going strong, but not with a bass guitar. He's currently touring with the Hawklords playing synths.

Yeah, a mate of mine's band supported them recently. Never seen them but from what I've seen online they manage to make a pretty good noise

I managed to see them a couple of weeks ago and they played a good mix of old Hawkwind and new Hawklords numbers. Strange they only played one track off the '25 Years' album.

But returning to topic, not a Westone in sight, though.

p90fool

Westone were one of those brands who came along and showed us it was possible to actually buy a playable guitar for only two weeks' wages. We were amazed at the time, now you can buy something similar for two hours' wages.

They're ok guitars, but don't let the nostalgia brigade big them up too much, I had a Paduak, a Thunder I and a Thunder IIA and they all needed fret levelling to stop chronic buzz on individual notes. The early Paduak looked very striking and had a crazy 25dB active boost - it was obviously and refreshingly designed by a loon and not a committee. 

I'd say they were serviceable but bland (except the Paduak!), just like a whole host of other guitars from 1980-ish, like low-end Arias and the Vox Custom 25.

grungebob

guitars4you said:

http://www.guitars4you.co.uk/guitars/5569-westone-cutlass-used-white/ - and a Westone Cutlass built by Status Bass and designed by Sid Poole - recently sold mine

those westone cutlass and corsair guitars are very nice, i've had a few over the years and really like the build quality and the necks. I had a prototype body and neck i bought from FMC after they stopped making them and built up a fine guitar from them.

Rocker

Yesterday I looked at the Westone.  Japanese built, it was vaguely Tele shaped.  No problem with that and the neck was simply great but the humbucker pickup is slanted a bit and it looks a bit wrong that way.  It has a couple of switches to split the coils.  I was not sure, still not sure but I love the neck.

Another guitar I looked at was a Squier set neck with two humbuckers.  I gather that it is a MASTER SERIES CHAMBERED TELE, a lot like this but reasonably/fairly worn and Black Cherry colour.



I liked this guitar too, I was told it has a Gibson 24.75" scale length but it did not feel any shorter when strapped on.  It is a light guitar, the humbuckers are Duncan Designed.  I did not plug it in so cannot comment on the sound.  That does not matter anyway if I buy it as it will be home for a pair of humbuckers from Declan in Northern Ireland.  I never saw a set neck Tele before and the carve allows easy access to the upper frets - a place I hardly ever venture!

TBH I always thought of humbucker equipped Teles to be all 'wrong'.  How wrong I was for thinking that.  One look was all it took to convince me.

For the time being, the Squier has slipped into first place on my search for a guitar for The Hound.  As they say, watch this space.

usedtobe

That tele looks mighty fine!