Wesley Dominator

explorer style guitar, nice baseball bat neck, reddish see through finish, 3 way switch, 3 knobs, 2 humming pickups. rosewood board, mahogany body. gibson style bridge.

i bought it from a kid on ebay. when it arrived it was in a right state, so i cleaned it up and put some much needed new strings on it and plugged in....
OH. DEAR. worst sounding guitar i've EVER heard! by a mile! hummed like all the wasps and bees in the world, in a really bad mood. did i get a bad one? it might have sounded ok apart from the humming, but all i could hear was the humming.
i did have a wesley s-type with an acrylic body that sounded better than my mexican Fender tele, so maybe i just got a dog...?
so i replaced the pickups, and now it sounds great! i put the neck pickup from my epi. les paul hollowbody in the neck, and a pickup from a gibson sg in the bridge. one day i'll probably replace the neck pickup, but there's no rush!
i play thru a marshall 15 watt practice amp, or through a yam. dg stomp into the mac. either way it sounds great!
with the replacements, i'd give it an 8 for sound, but i'm judging the originals here...

the guitar was set up great-couldn't fault it! nice action, stays in-it's all good!

i'd say the guitar was really solid and would stand up to anything..

i've dealt with them before when i had the acrylic s-type, and they're ok as far as it went... friendly and helpful.

been playing so long that i really ought to be a lot better! got all sorts of gear: fender 50's classic player strat, fender mex. standard tele with bareknuckle brown sugar p/ups, gordon smith graduate 20th anniversary, epi. les paul hollowbody with a gordon smith in the neck and a bareknuckle mule in the bridge, 3 other elctrics that i've cobbled together from bits, yam. dg stomp, marshall 15 watt practice amp, a bass, takamine acoustic, some pedals...etc...
i'd buy another if it were stolen, and replace the pickups!
it's a great guitar now, all i'd change is the neck pickup...some day..
i can't remember how much i paid, but it was a bargain. buy one and put some decent pickups in!

The finish on the body is a natural look, it's brownish red.
It has a rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets, with easy sliding and good grip. the neck is a reddish colour that looks awsome.
The body including the scratchplate is in the exact shape as a gibson explorer.
It has three knobs; two volune and one tone.
the pickups are both humbuckers with BHC written on the back.

this guitar's sound is amazing for the price. Even if you do not the pickups get a pair for ??20. I have a ??600 fender telecaster and no-one can tell the difference between that and this wesely when it's on heavy distortion. The guitar is pretty one way and tou may have to have it on clean to notice a massive difference between the pickups

the finish on this guitar looks so cool. and shiny too! the tuning pegs look a bit cheap, they're fine, but if you're really picky you can get a new set for ??10, So no problem here. The stop bar looked really cheap on the internet but it's much better when you get it. Oh and you might also want to know it is quite heavy, but it won't break you're shoulders or anything.
Don't just go by what it looks like on their website it looks much better when you get it

I'm not sure if it would withstand a battering, it seems pretty sturdy with no visible marks yet. The stap would probably need some strap locks because of the way the guitar is shaped these are inexpensive and easy to fit. Finding a case may be difficult as it is quite a big guitar.

I haven't dealt with customer support_- and I don't intend to but they do say they will take it back and give you a refund if you're not satisfied.

I have been playing for about 2-3 years now and think this guitar is amazing for the price. You can use it on it's own or if you want to make it look cooler it's an excellent guitar to customise. It beats out all the other cheap guitars out there and is better quality than a guitar 2 or 3 times the price.

Mines a green 2005 model, as to where its made I would guess far east somewhere. 24 Frets. MDF body with wood grain paint effect and a coat of laquer. Single single Twin pick ups with usual strat style selector. One tone and one Vol control. Body is super strat ish in shape. Trem bridge. Cheap diecast tuners. Fatish neck with an odd round profile. Came with the tinnest lead I have ever seen. It has features so I am giving an 8

Sounds well, this is where it all goes a big wrong, straight from delivery its pathetic, set up is ok but the horrible pickups just spoil it all. On any settings. It goes out of tune quickly too, and I mean a dozen strums quickly! All postions sounds similair, muddy, harsh and unclear.

Set up isnt bad but it does need work, I suspect the low quality of the components has a lot to do with the way its set up and the limits to which you can set it up. Pickups cant be adjusted, best thing to do is to bin them and put a decent set on if you want anything like a worthwhile sound. Finish is decent, it is a looker but its just a paint effect on the MDF body. Fisnish was again down to the cheapo components used which are very rough and ready.

Live, it may sort of withstand it but would be embarrassed to play it live with out some serious changes to the gear on it, pickups, tuners, bridge, frets etc. Fairly durable I guess but then so is a trabant.

Customer support is good, the guys at Wesley are ready to listen but not sure theres much they can do to help

Didnt expect much at this price but thought it would be reasonably playable. Its let down by bottom drawer components. I think given the raw materials its the best that can be done but frankly its not worth bothering. Get a squier or a Pacifica instead and save the time trouble and money it would cost to make it playable.

2005 Explorer copy, made somewhere in the far east. 22 frets (if I recall correctly), rosewood fretboard, mahogany body and mahogany neck (apparantly). Dual chrome-covered humbuckers, black hardware. "Natural" finish. And... a bolt on neck!

Well. What was I expecting for #80? Whatever it was, I'd set my hopes too... low! This thing sounds surprisingly excellent for a guitar that's less than #100. Bridge pickup is quite punchy and bright, neck pickup very mellow. But in the middle position it really shines. Good for rock, metal, blues, this seems pretty versatile.

Oh dear. Strings stick at the nut - it doesn't seem to be cut properly. Tuners are awful and NEED to be replaced. Black bridge and tailpiece look like they're made of plastic and cheap. "Natural" finish isn't natural at all - it's painted brown and the "grain" is just black paint! Also, this tacky effect is produced all the way up the neck... but doesn't quite match the body, so the joint looks far worse than it actually is. The poly finish is so thick, I'd swear the whole guitar was made of it. Intonation was atrocious. Switch feels fairly loose. The fretboard is actually longer than the neck, so there's a small gap between the fretboard and the body at the last two frets. This is INEXCUSABLE.

Of course, the guitar isn't unplayable at all. Far from it. In fact it's playable right from the box, and possibly a beginner wouldn't notice. Again, at #80 it's nothing to drastic. I planned to refinish it anyway. But as it is you probably only want to admire it from afar.

Seems fairly sturdy. The finish is so thick it could probably withstand a direct nuclear strike. Neck joint is strong. Strap buttons are a little small and the strap easily falls off. Tuners aren't good enough to keep it in tune on stage for any length of time.

Never needed them, but delivery time was excellent.

It's a cheap guitar. If it were stolen I would not buy another.

There's not much advice on Wesley's on the interweb, so here's mine:

- Keep it simple: strat or tele copy (possibly an LP too). Anything fancy or unusual probably won't be well done.
- The natural finishes aren't natural and are paint effects or other fakes. Keep to solid colours.
- Make sure you can set them up yourself.
- Don't buy new from the website; you can shave off a good percentage by buying on an eBay auction.
- The sound on them will generally be better than you expect.
- Sight unseen: you may get a gem or a dud. At this price though, a dud isn't the end of the world. And a gem will be far better than a Squier or similar.
- Customer service, packaging and delivery time are excellent, so no worries there.

In short - they're not bad. I'm sure there are worse out there. But there's probably better too... but you'd be hard pressed to find them this cheap.

Explorer Style guitar (original size and shape), transparent finish, black Hardware, white Pickguard. Mahogany body and neck, bolt on. 22 medium frets, Gibson scale, HH Pickups. Fixed bridge, non-locking tuners, 2 volume, 1 tone pot, PU toggle switch.

This is a rock and blues guitar. The Pickups lack some lower mids and/or bass, I'd recomend to change them. Anyway, the sound is absolutely sufficient for a start.

There was absolutely no setup from the factory/dealer. The finish, though is almost perfect as is the quality of the hardware. You make your adjustments by yourself or even take it to a luthier and still have a fantastic value.

I have no doubt this quitar won't quit on stage or wherever. All parts look solid and reliable.

never dealt with the company

Looking at the price you can't go wrong with this guitar. Explorer shape, all mahogany and a very good finish - a perfect base to compete with epiphone even with some changes at a lower price.