Westone Cutlass Custom

British-built, 22 fret, solid poplar bodied rock machine. It has a rather chunky but player friendly deep bolt-on maple neck. Its loaded with a single coil at the neck and a meaty humbucker at the bridge. Theres one volume pot and one tone pot. The three-way switch blade pick-up selector allows, bridge or neck pick-up (obviously), with the middle position combining the neck pick-up with the top coil of the humbucker for in-betweeny tones. Hardware is great quality Gotoh chrome stuff. Features a tremelo bridge, smooth tuners and a superb graphite nut.

I've always used my Laney TF200 amp with this guitar and I love the sound. The neck p/up has a beautiful richness that brings out the tonal qualities of the wood, particularly when played clean. The humbucker at the bridge is a fat meaty beast that loves a good dosage of drive. Its well defined for lead and good for pinch harmonics and nonsense. Great sustain but quite sharp.

I bought this guitar second-hand so i don't really know if the set-up was per factory standard, although it was set-up fantastically. Low, fast and not too buzzy for heavy gauges. The finish and build quality of this instrument is exceptional - as good as any american Fender i've seen and certainly exceptional for the price range. Some screws and a few poles on the p/ups have started to show signs of rust but thats probably my fault!

This guitar is solid as a rock. I've gigged with it and lugged it around and its still as great as the day i bought it.

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I've played guitar seriously for about 5 years and owned my black Westone Cutlass Custom for neraly 2 years. If I was lost or stolen (God forbid) I'd probably save a bit more cash and buy something a bit more like a real-deal Les Paul or something but only because my playing is more serious nowadays. Its light-years better than anything else i've heard for #300.

Not sure what year this was made but it was made right here in the UK.
Its a two peice alder body with a deep set maple neck rosewood board 22 frett 25" scale and a nice handfull of a frett board it is too! Great Pale blue finish nick and thick/durable, its a single coil in the neck and a Humbucker in the bridge.
Graphtec nut
Gotoh birdge/tremelo
Gotoh Tuners and pick ups.
3 way switch wired so middle is neck coil and front coil of humbucker
1 vol 1 tone.

This guitar is pretty much capable of anything you'd want to play the neck pick up is just wonderfull sounds to me exactly like the texas special on my fender . The humbucker is Hot and a little too much on the bright side for my tastes but I wouldnt change it all the same. It sustains really well probably due to the very deep set neck i think it joins the body at the 19th frett but when i looked under the pick guard it actually bolts on under the neck pickup!!
Strong clear sounds and not a setting i dont like ( i have two of these the custom and the other a cutlass classic that i replaced the humbucker with a duncan JB more bass less highs than stock but only just not really worth the extra #80did however reverse phase in middle postition to get a nice strat like quack ) Ive only used this through a Class A Tube Amp so couldnt comment on a solid state.

one word Flawless! The Pale blue on mine coupled with the black 5 ply sratch plate looks amazing
Built like a tank.
Great solder work and quality parts A true BRIT!

Have and Do play live with these no problems at all the over sized strap buttons mean no need for strap locks BONUS!
Maybe some day change the tuners but im just being picky after a few hours play its only a couple of micro tones out.

unfortunately the company no longer makes these guitars so if you find one grab it (just not any of mine) infact i dont even know if the company still exists. If your familiar with the old matsumoku westones you wont be diappointed with these!
I think a company called FCN in the UK was/is? their distributor
i'll give a neutral 5 Coz i just dont know

Ive been playing around 12 years now and know quality guitars, ive owned allmost every make out there(Fender,Ibanez,Hagstrom,Fernandes,Guild,Washburn) and these are my favourite guitars definately keepers i havent got a white custom but i'll make sure i get one.
At the price you can get them for now their unbeleivable value and will outshine any Epiphone etc... in fact even US Fender on build quality alone let alone bang for the preverbial buck.

I paid #200, and I traded in my old Squier. This guitar is worth #549, I got an amazing deal!

This is a Westone Cutlass Custom, part of their prestige series. The differences between the Cutlass classic and Custom is that the Custom body is Poplar, and the custom is available in faded blue, black, and aged white (the one i have). The custom is more expensive than the classic though.

These guitars should not be confused with the 70's/80's westone's that were budget guitars. These are designed be Sir Sid Poole I believe, and it is certianly not a budget guitar!

Made in England, it has 22 rosewood frets. It has a 3-way selector, and a volume and tone control. It has 2 pickups, both made by Gotoh- one vintage single coil at the neck, and the other is a high output humbucker at the bridge. It has an amber tinted, bolt-on deep set maple neck, and a poplar body. On the body it is all a lovely shade of white, apart from the pickguard which is black. At the top it has 3-a-side Gotoh vintage tuners, which stay in tune very well. It also has big strap buttons, although I still use strap locks to be on the safe side!

Basically this guitar uses only the best woods, and all of the hardware is Gotoh, who are supposed to be good. It feels great to play, in particular moving up and down the neck (even better with some fast fret) It also looks great, sort of vintage style.

This section loses 3 marks because it dosent have as much hardware as i'd have liked, but then I did get it for a much cheaper price, but if I was paying #549 (the RRP), I'd expect some more features and hardware.

I like to play punk (Greenday etc), and it sounds GREAT for it! I am playing it through a Marshall MG15CD amp, which mabye dosen't do the guitar justice (see my review of the amp for info).

I have however used it in a studio to record an album, and it sounded AMAZING on the CD, it was ran through a Pod to the computer.

Only problem with sound was that bottom E string rattled like hell when I played it (see below), due to poor set-up, but that was soon fixed.

I have played Green Day, Metallica, Meat Loaf and others and they all sound great through my Marshall, and my Alesis Guitar FX.

Action was ok. Pickups- TERRIBLE. The strings were way too low to them and I had to lower the pickups myself to stop the bottom E String from rattleing. I might pay for this guitar to be properly set up sometime, because I wasn't happy with the factory set up.

One strap button was loose, easy to fix though with a screwdriver.

Also the output socket was very loose, which resulted in it falling to pieces (see below), I wasn't impressed with this.

Wood was great quality, no probs. Mabye I was just unlucky with the way the guitar was set-up at the factory, or mabye it had been badly treated at the guitar shop where I bought it from, they did say that they'd had it for a year in the showroom. Don't let this set-up put you off buying this guitar though, just thoroughly check all the faults above before you buy, and if they are faulty, tell them to fix it!

I'm sure this guitar will withstand live playing, once i've sorted out the output socket (see below). As I said earlier, i've already used it in a recording studio, and it got kicked about a bit in there!

I think the hardware will last a reasonably long time, I might get Duncan pickups on it if the pickups go wrong.

The finish seemss definetly good enough to last, it's not thin, and it is great.

The strap buttons are very big, and once I'd screwed the loose one in, they were fine, i'd definetly trust them with strap locks.

OK, now the problem with the guitar, the output socket. Yesterday I took my cable out of the guitar, and the output socket fell apart, and i was left with about 3 or 4 bits, and a hole where the socket used to be. Not impressive! I shall take it to another shop, not the shop I bought it from (see below in cust. support)

I would definetly use it in a gig without a backup, and I could play it for ages standing up as it feels good and isn't too heavy.

I will give this 8, due to the output socket.

I got a great deal on this guitar from the shop, i paid only #200 plus a Squier Strat trade-in!!!

However I rang up a few days after I got this guitar because one of the strings had snapped, without any hard picking or strumming. I asked if he could change all of the strings as they all felt very old and used. He went mad and started calling me all the swear words you could imagine, saying that he did me such a great deal so how dare I complain. I replied and said that when I buy a new guitar I expect new strings, no matter how good a deal. He eventually agreed and replaced them, but I wasn't happy, and I wouldn't buy from this shop again.

This gets a 5, because they were great selling the guitar, but very abusive on the phone.

I have been playing for just over a year. I wish i'd checked all of this guitar more thorougly before buying due to the minor problems above, but I am glad that I bought this guitar because it is such a great guitar! If it was stolen or lost, I'd probably wait a while and save up for a Fender American Series Stratocaster. I compared this guitar to my old Squier and a Cort G-250, which has had rave reviews everywhere, and it outshines both of them on looks, feel, and most importantly, SOUND!

My advice is that if you are offered a great deal on this guitar like I was, then go for it, I'd be prepared to pay up to #400 for this guitar, but I do think that the RRP #549 ($864 US) is an absolute rip-off. I think it is that price becuase employment costs in the UK are much higher than in Korea, Mexico, etc. where other guitars are made. My advice is don't pay #549, save up for an American series Stratocaster, BUT if you can get this guitar for under #400, then get it, as it is then well worth the price. I love this guitar and for the price I paid for it it is amazing, and the next step up from this guitar is an Fender American series stratocaster when you can afford it!

Any comments on this review PLEASE e-mail me, or if you own this guitar, thanks.