Westone Bendmaster Deluxe

s/s/h configuration, the humbucker is awesome. 22 jumbo frets and this one is in a canary yellow finish. Not real sure where the tremelo is from though. Its a locking tremelo though. Reverse headstock. Good tuners.

The humbucker gets an awesome sound, if you leave it on that. If you put it up tot he two single coils, it sounds horrible. You cant even get a nice clean sound out of it that way. This guitar would be a metal guitar if you left it on the humbucker alone, and that needs to be changed, it gets good tone, but not very good tone, its really thin.

The tremelo is pretty much useless, if you use it to do a dive or a harmonic scream, it instantly goes out of tune. The action is very hard to set, and it seems a bit off anyway you set it. The neck is a good neck, its just the action makes the neck seem crappy.

A good first guitar, thats it though.

The guitar was made in Japan in 1987 as the company's 75th anniversary edition. It's a strat body with H/H pickups, one volume control and one tone control. The toggle switch has three settings:one for each humbucker and the middle position for both pickups together. It has a locking tremelo system that responds a lot better than those I've played on more expensive guitars...(i.e. Ibanez, B.C. Rich) This is the first guitar I ever bought and the main reason I've kept it is the guitar's finish. It's a wood surface stained a deep brown with a laminated finish over top of it. It's the prettiest guitar I've ever seen and I've never come across another guitar like it except for the other Bendmaster (with a reddish stain) in the store that night. I give the guitar a higher rating mainly because of its looks and tremelo system.

I've come to realize that I prefer a S/S/H pickup arrangement over the H/H which puts this guitar behind the 8-ball if you will. The front and middle positions sound great clean. I get a deep rich tone that works well with jazz and melody chords. I play it through a Carvin MTS 3200 and with a chorus effect it sure can sound sweet. Unfortunately it's not so hot when I turn up the gain. The front two pickup arrangements create a muddy sound that's o.k. for death metal but not blues or any overdriven "garage-rock". The bridge pickup's a little better but it's sometimes a bit too twangy for what I'm trying to do. This guitar is also not friendly to harmonics (you know, that 80's metal stuff) in soloing. It's totally incompatible with the Lead channel of my Carvin MTS 3200.

The guitar was set up just fine when I bought it new. Over the past dozen years I have adjusted the intonation and action a couple of times. The knob for the tone control fell off and the nut for the whammy bar mount (it's the type where you screw the whammy bar into the bridge)has loosened a few times. I've had to replace the toggle switch and input jack because they both have failed.

When the toggle swich and the input jack failed (at different times mind you) it did cause problems for live playing to say the least. Since these have been repaired I have confidence in the electronics of the instrument. Some fool stripped a locking screw for the locking system making this an unreliable guitar to stay in tune. But before that happened I could always count on it to stay in tune the whole night.

The music store that I've gone to for years and years has always provided decent service for me. Westone covered the input jack repair under warranty without any problems. Some creativity was used to replace the toggle switch because Westone discontinued that product. It certainly is more difficult to obtain parts from a company that's not around anymore.

This guitar definately does not match up to my Ibanez RG570 or the sound of any Fender single coil. If it were lost or stolen I'd probably buy something that looked like it if I came across it. But no, a Bendmaster Deluxe is only a decent enough guitar for a beginner who should graduate on to something better as their skill improves. Best Feature: Looks and Tremelo System Worst Feature: Sound With high gains It'd be a whole different beast with a S/S/H pickup design using better quality pickups.

i don't have any clue when it was made, or where, but it sounds great. it's a 22 fretter, with jumbos, they seem to be the originals, which is fantastic, the frets are really durable.
it's got a volume and tone, five way selector, and a coil-cut switch for the humbucker in the back.
the single coils sound great, i backed the neck way, way down, and it sounds so great for rhythm.
it's got a gotoh floyd rose that is oddly enough only a single locking. the nut locks, but the bridge doesnt.

it suits almost any style, mine included.
it's got a great fast neck for metal, the fretboard radius is so wide i can bend until the two e strings touch, and the tone, it's just simply awesome!!
it makes so many different sounds, it's great without any effects.

the action's low, great for speed, and makes for less work with chords.
the only problem i've had with setup is the strap pegs-the came out!
turns out they wore small holes in the wood, but it's super easy to fix!

the guitar's heavy and solid, it can take almost anything.
the hadware's never been replaced, the guitar's almost six years old, and it's in excellent shape.
it's a dependable guitar.

this guitar is my main axe. i let only one other person touch it.
i have no complaints, only praise!