Westone Choice

[gitman]

I remember these (with various different brand names on the headstock) from the early 80's through early 90's and they were good for the money, an alternative to the other japan-made archtops like Ibanez, Yamaha, Aztec, Suzuki etc. and I suspect they all came from the same factory/workshop. I actually brokered one just like this for a student of mine and if memory serves me well it was on the heavier side, had a decent if not very deep/dynamic electric tone but really good playability, stability and stage-worthyness. Good to see you back in the game and greetings to Bonny Scotland !

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, Gitman. Greetings accepted!

[Mick-7]

P.S. I've never seen a Westone "in flesh and bones" but I do remember that their jazz-guitars were advertised a whole lot in italian guitar-magazines back in the 80's. That L5 copy looks wonderful.

I've seen more than a few of the Westone Session II model guitars for sale, but rarely do you see the model that Rob bought for sale.

Westone Session II 1984 Limited Edition Matsumoku Japanese Hollow Body Guitar | eBay

Westone Session 11 Matsumoku Japan ES-175 body style

[Rob MacKillop]

They look good quality too for the price.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Haha, I think I just spotted something that might be one of those Westone super-strats in an old INXS video around the 2:10 mark. It has that certain 80ies ugliness (no comparison to a beautiful archtop) that is considered cool again these days and above all it has something written on the body that could be the old Westone brand logo which was written that way above the strings on the upper horn. I now remembered that my first guitar was not the Trevor Rabin signature one but another super-strat that looked like the one in the video. I had it in black and my then best friend had bought it before me in white, maybe exactly the same model as in the video (if that is a Westone). The last time I met that friend he owned four Lamborghinis and eight Eddie Van Halen signature model guitars which he played rather well as a hobby. When we jammed together he played me the Eruption solo. All I got these days is being able to look into the mirror without being ashamed and having Good Times with the people that are dear to my heart. Which is a lot. Rob, I hope you get really well soon to have really good times again.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

There are far more of the Westone solid body guitars than archtops floating around. I got out-bid on this one at Good Will (link below), which is o.k., I really don't need it, just that it's an oddity I thought would be fun to play with. They only made this model with the graphite neck for one year, in 1990, apparently because they quickly realized how toxic graphite dust is and the insurance cost to cover their factory workers was too cost prohibitive - that's the tale I heard anyway.

Modulus Graphite Westone Electric Guitar w/Kohler Floyd Rose Style Bridge | ShopGoodwill.com

Would you really like to bother with a Floyd Rose style trem? Break one string on stage and you are pawned if you do not have a spare guitar. This thing with the spring that EVH allegedly used did not help much either. What actually did help was a friend who became my guitar roadie for a while. And what helped was becoming a Thorndal endorser, the third or fourth ever LOL.

[Mick-7]

Haha, I think I just spotted something that might be one of those Westone super-strats in an old INXS video around the 2:10 mark. It has that certain 80ies ugliness (no comparison to a beautiful archtop) that is considered cool again these days and above all it has something written on the body that could be the old Westone brand logo which was written that way above the strings on the upper horn.

I think he's playing a Vantage brand guitar, looks like one of their models. Vantage is another brand that Matsumoku made in the 1980's. I don't know if they made Vantage archtops but they did make semi-hollow models.

See: Vantage Guitars – Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

I think he's playing a Vantage brand guitar, looks like one of their models. Vantage is another brand that Matsumoku made in the 1980's. I don't know if they made Vantage archtops but they did make semi-hollow models.

See: Vantage Guitars – Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China

Who the FCK cares? What counts is that vampires suffer "death by stereo"!!! Laisse les bons temps rouler!!!