Westbury Standard

Sarge · July 2022

Bereft of projects to keep me from hearing my own guitar playing... I saw this on ebay and fancied the challenge.

It's a '79-80 Matsumoku built Westbury Standard.
The seller, a house clearance outfit... informed me that this had been hung on a wall and used as a mirror for the last 10 years

Apparently the seller had removed a mirror-like covering from the body front and headstock face revealing this shitshow underneath, a gloopy soft acrylic substance over the original black finish.

Aside from a few gouges here and there, the top of the headstock being sanded flat and no hardware, it seems pretty solid, I've owned a few of these over the years and still have a really nice (stripped) one as one of my favourite players and the solidity is not a surprise.

Sarge · July 2022

So I'll be undertaking this resto as and when I get time, like last Saturday when I had a couple of hours spare...
I first brought out the thinners to see if I could remove the silver to inspect the finish underneath... it wasn't long before it became apparent this would be a messy and fruitless operation... big chunks of the original black polyester are missing... so out comes the heat gun and scraper...

ugh

Sarge · July 2022

I opted to try and keep the headstock face intact, so a wet sand session ensued...

part of the metallic W logo has been gouged out so either another visit to Rothko&Frost or see if my old inkjet will let me print onto white waterslide decal paper.

Funkfingers · July 2022

Under that gloop, there should be a solid, if simple, electric guitar. I am surprised that you avoided a bidding war against HarrySeven.

What's occurrin' at the end of the fingerboard? Is that a photographic aberration or is the end slanted like some Rickenbackers?

Sarge · July 2022

Funkfingers said:

Under that gloop, there should be a solid, if simple, electric guitar. I am surprised that you avoided a bidding war against HarrySeven.

What's occurrin' at the end of the fingerboard? Is that a photographic aberration or is the end slanted like some Rickenbackers?

It was a buy-it-now price, so no bidding war...
I did however get it for almost half his original asking price

Headstock end of the fingerboard? just my less-than-sublime photography skills I'm afraid

Jez6345789 · July 2022

I will follow along with this, as love these guitars from a time when everything was not S/T/ or LP derivative and it seemed a more hopeful time for guitar design.

PeteC · July 2022

Cool. Nice simple guitar gasping to be brought back to life. - bet it will be great when youre done.

Sarge · July 2022

Jez6345789 said:

I will follow along with this, as love these guitars from a time when everything was not S/T/ or LP derivative and it seemed a more hopeful time for guitar design.

I do like a strat, but I find these much more interesting

Sarge · July 2022

PeteC said:

Cool. Nice simple guitar gasping to be brought back to life. - bet it will be great when youre done.

I hope so

I think I'll be going for a gloss black 2k rattle can finish with cream pickups and plastics as it was when factory fresh.

AK99 · July 2022

I'm an avowed Westbury fan - but not sure even I would have been seduced by something as far gone as that. Fair dues Sarge. I think the black standard is one of the nicest colours in them, and for some strange reason one that never seemed to have sold well in the UK.

The heat gun is the business, no messing

(If you're stuck for cream pickups btw, I have an unused set of the Donlis high-output ones that the guys on the US forums rave about as a budget alternative to the DiMarzios. The poles have the little hex socket heads to seal the look. Might even have a set of surrounds, all acquired as part of an abandoned plan to change the black pups on my standard back to proper cream

)

KevS · July 2022

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..

Sarge · July 2022

AK99 said:

I'm an avowed Westbury fan - but not sure even I would have been seduced by something as far gone as that. Fair dues Sarge. I think the black standard is one of the nicest colours in them, and for some strange reason one that never seemed to have sold well in the UK.

The heat gun is the business, no messing

(If you're stuck for cream pickups btw, I have an unused set of the Donlis high-output ones that the guys on the US forums rave about as a budget alternative to the DiMarzios. The poles have the little hex socket heads to seal the look. Might even have a set of surrounds, all acquired as part of an abandoned plan to change the black pups on my standard back to proper cream )

Thanks fella, I love a challenge

I do have a set of Kawai/Mighty Mite cream for this, they're nice and bright but Super Distortions they are not.
What are the pole spacing on the Donlis? I'm trying to keep within the original specs for this and the original Dimarzios were 49mm which isn't easy to find in replacements.

Sarge · July 2022

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 mahogany pancake with a veneer on front and back.
most of the stripped black Standards I've seen have been either butcher block or 2 piece with the veneer

Sarge · July 2022

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

Sarge · July 2022

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

All fairly solid stuff and a lot of the original sealer is still on, I'll be leaving as much of that on as I can.

I will be wanting to add the little peak back into the top of the headstock though, wether to graft a piece of mahogany on (I do have some nice pieces from an old dresser I salvaged)
or shape some putty/filler/jb weld type thing I'm not sure what's best here.

AK99 · July 2022

Looking good

The pics are interesting - I never really got my head around the construction of the body on those or indeed the Deluxes. The Deluxe also seems to be a pancake construction, with maybe 8-10 (?) separate pieces of timber moulded together, but with a bit more effort on the grain direction as they weren't painted. Wonder was the in-house MO on the Standard to go cherry red on the 2-3 piece bodies, and black on anything that with more ?

Whatever way they did it - the actual sandwiching looks really well done. Nice also to see the 3-piece construction on the neck coming through on that one of yours.

Sarge said:
Thanks fella, I love a challenge
I do have a set of Kawai/Mighty Mite cream for this, they're nice and bright but Super Distortions they are not.
What are the pole spacing on the Donlis? I'm trying to keep within the original specs for this and the original Dimarzios were 49mm which isn't easy to find in replacements.

Aye they're not the original pitch either. I think they're Gibson spec - about 53/54mm, so definitely not the same as the originals. Higher output - as part of the plan was to wire it with a coil split option, and the received wisdom was that higher output coils work better than lower ones when you split them. Just checked, and the black ones in my Standard (which might be Kent Armstrong jobs if the PO owner is to be believed have the wider pitch too). Fwiw, whoever fitted them also put in two push-pull pots to split the coils on the pickups while they were at it. Gave the little Westbury a whole extra set of tones, which was a nice touch, which was why I was going to try to do the same with the cream ones.

BillDL · July 2022

Sarge said:

I will be wanting to add the little peak back into the top of the headstock though, wether to graft a piece of mahogany on (I do have some nice pieces from an old dresser I salvaged)
or shape some putty/filler/jb weld type thing I'm not sure what's best here.

When you originally said that the top of the headstock had been "sanded flat" I hadn't even noticed the missing peak and assumed you were talking about the face of the headstock.

If I was restoring the peak I would probably glue on a shaped piece of mahogany and fill in the "dent" caused by the slight rounding over of the headstock edge with hard-drying wood glue and mahogany sawdust mixed into a paste, or any other filler that can be sanded smoothly when dry/cured.

Sarge · July 2022

@AK99 I had a look online and the spacings are 50mm neck and 52 bridge.
short of getting a pair of original Dimarzios I wasn't really considering other pickups than my existing kawai set.
Thanks for the offer though

AK99 · July 2022

Hey - no worries at all Sarge. I've a list of other 'projects' where they'll not go amiss

As an aside, dunno if you've ever seen the Westbury Owners section on BookFace ? There's one or two posters on there who've been through the mill on restorations. A reasonable place for info.

Sarge · July 2022

AK99 said:

Hey - no worries at all Sarge. I've a list of other 'projects' where they'll not go amiss

As an aside, dunno if you've ever seen the Westbury Owners section on BookFace ? There's one or two posters on there who've been through the mill on restorations. A reasonable place for info.

Yeah I'm a member there already, this project has been posted there too

ICBM · July 2022

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.

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