Westone Dimension IV

1985 Japanese star shaped maple body, bolt on black maple neck with 22 fret rosewood fretboard. Medium jumbo frets with tiny dots as the matkers. 6 in line tuners with a inverted v shaped locking nut behind the nut. @ hums and a single, 3 way switch, 1 volume and 2 tones, all push/pull switches. (Volume is coil tap for the 2 hums, 1st tone is mid on switch, 2nd tone is phase shift.) Westone locking trem. More than what the kids who love the shape will ever use!

Without a doubt the most sounds for the money! Stratish, with Gibby tones, funky with bite, and sustain out the yingyang!!! The Matsumuko MKII pickups have all the warmth and tone of the old DiMarzio's and PAF's. The single isn't pronouced as a pickup, but more as a varible in the tonal spectrum.
Despite the heavy metal shape, it is well suited for all types of music. I use this primarily as a jazz guitar for the ocassional gig, and I love the looks of disbelief I get when it comes out of the case!
It records beautifully! No muddiness, and nice, crisp clean tones all around.

It's 22 years old, so factory sertup? HAH!!!
All the hardware st1ll has it's sweet black finish. The body has some dings and dents, but the black still maitains the shine. (It's being refinished in a green pearl as we speak. I despise black guitars!) The finish is reasonably thick, and will allow a certain amount of carelessness. the neck is straifght as hell, and the frets are well seated and polished. Even all of the controls are flawless!

After 22 years, it's still has all the famous Matsumuko durability! Strap buttons are a tad bit oversized, and the screws deep. No issues what-so-ever!

HAH!!!!!!!

People are finally discovering what we "Uncle Matt" fans have know about for years. That these rival the best of Gibson and strats! They will eat up most guitars, and spit them out as the toothpick wood they are!
At the present I have: 82 Electra/phoniex X155, 84 Guild S280/281, 84 Yamaha RBX250II bass, 85 Yamaha 300H, Mid 80's Lotus (Made by "Uncle Matt") 87 Yamaha SE1212, 90 Ibanez S540, 02 Samick 335 clone, 03 BC Rich Mockingbird, and a 05 Brice 6 string fretless bass. I run all at thru a Behringer V-AMP2, Digitech RP200, Marshall G30R-CD and a Crate BXR 25 bass amp. After 25 years or so, I have owned a crap load of stuff, but this guitar is high on the top of thelist for keepers! Pity the poor fool who touches it, much less steal it!

1987 Westone Dimension IV - white with red stripe! Beautifully made, solid maple body with a hard maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, graphite nut, humbucker, single, humbucker configuration with very hot pickups (often seen as DiMarzio's but actually Magnaflux - which are excellent pickups - very hot), push/pull pots, hand filed frets, over 60% handmade, and a great trem with locking nut. Made by Katsumoto in Japan, rated as an outstanding guitar in the 10-or-so years the Westone was around (the sold the rights in the late 80s) and comparable to any American made guitar.

This guitar is a beauty for metal (both from the '80s and the style is back again - look at Jackson, Ibanez, Dean and others ---- thank goodness, I love my pointy guitars). It plays hard rock and heavy metal extremely well, but, it cleans up nicely also and can sparkle on my Marshall Mode 4 (which I have taken the time to set up properly), especially when the push/pull pots are 'pulled'. No noise at all - with the exclusion of some feedback on the bridge position at higher volumes when the mid-range on the amp or EQ is kicked in. This is easily remedied by the very reactive tone knob - by flicking the pickup selector switch to 'neck' - or adjusting the volume down...piece of cake. If you are 'scooped', no problem. Pinch harmonics fly of this guitar. Is very conducive for fast playing and shredding. The neck is thin, so people with meatier hands may have problems when arpeggiating.

The action is fantastic - although it takes some tweaking (like any guitar - get it to YOUR likes). Out of the box though (19 years ago) this guitar was ready to go. No flaws, no issues. I adjusted the string height and, subsequently, the intonation.

Well...I've played live and in the studio for 19 years with this guitar. I've used my other guitars as well (about 5 others) but tend to always come back to my Westone ("Westone?" people say...yes, Westone!). Strap buttons work fine, although strap locks are recommended if you're an 'active' guitar player. Can gig without a backup (but won't, it has a locking nut and you need the included allen wrench to losen the strings at the nut to change strings...this just takes time, so I always have a backup; usually 2 backups).

Never used it

I've been playing for almost 30 years...of course, the first five were not so great! :) I would definitely grab another one if this one 'disappeared'. I will never sell it. It just melts in your hands and allows you to rip. I compared it to many others before, and many others since, and it still measures up to any guitar I've gotten my hands on - any guitar! (insert Gibson purists snicker here - but guess what, there ARE other guitars in the world - just look at all the people playing 'em - people laughed at Ibanez and Dean as well.....uh-huh! And, I have a Les Paul Custon, which I love, but it does not diminish the quality and playability of this guitar.).

I Noticed Several People had The same guitar I Do..I have a demension IV White X Shape With The Red Lightening Bolt Accross The Front Too..Paid about 465.00 Brand New..I have Had It For Years,,and It Still Looks Like New,,,and it Kicks Ass..This Is The Best guitar I have ever Bought..Others have said What a Great Sound it has..Others Offered To Buy it...But I would Never part With It...The Westone Dimension IV Out Shines The Rest...

Im Play hard Rock/metal Type..Play It Trough Both Peavy Or Fender Chorus Amps...With The Digetech Pedal...It Kicks Ass

This Guitar was Set Up Perfect From The factory..since the day I Bought This Guitar,..i have Never had Any Trouble With This Guitar..The Action has always Been Perfect..This Guitar Is Flawless..It Still Looks as New as The day I bought It..Keep it Weel Protected In Its hard Shell Case

This Guitar has Stood Up to hard Playing//The hardwear Is Great,,The finish Is Still like New...I can Depend On This guitar..and I Play It The most..as This Is my favorite...

Never had To Use Custonmer Support Ever..It Still Playsas Good as It Did When I Bought It New...

Ive Been Playing Since I was 13..I Compare how a Guitar feels When I hold it...The Neck ..how easy It is To Run My Fingers Down The Neck...This Guitrar has The Best Chording Neck I Ever Found In a Guitar

1986 Westone Dimension IV. According to websites, it was made in Japan...and was made PERFECTLY! It has 22-frets and appears to be a solid body construction with some type of plasti-cote paint that takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. One vol, two tone, 3-way selector, push/pull pots for infinite sounds. H/S/H/ Dimarzios, which are very-very hot. I also own a Les Paul with a Gibson Iommi p/u in the bridge position (which rocks), but the Westone's Dimarzios are even hotter (who'd-a-thunk it). I'm not even a Dimarzio fan, but these, I love. Passive electronics. The body actually looks like Dimebag's V+, before there was a Dimebag V+ and mine is white with a red bolt running diagonally. Locking tuners with a trem that never takes you outta tuning. Came with a Westone hard-case that is much more plush than my LP's. A very thin neck, which is why I bought the thing new in the first place (in 1987), because you can just fly through the fretboard, a-la the 80's Shred Gods. Harmonics jump off this guitar, to a point that I use it when playing Zakk Wylde's stuff (instead of my LP). Maybe because the Westone's p/u's do a better job of replicating the active p/ups.

It suits my music style perfectly. I play a lot of hard rock/heavy metal (Zakk Wylde, Adrian Smith/Dave Murray type-stuff). This guitar has been my favorite for 18-years...and I love my LP and Ibanez' (multiple). It is very quiet and my Peavey 100-watt Transtube helps it scream. I also use a DigiTech floor processor, octave box, phase shifter, and floor EQ in-line. The sound can be rich, full, muddy, or strat-like (which I never use - because I hate that thin little sound - just my taste). The only negative I found is that it takes a while to change strings because the trem wants to pull up and raise the action (stiffer springs would help, thinner strings as well). But, that's it.

As I said, the action is very fast, very low, and the intonation perfect from the factory (many years ago). No flaws in this beast. As I get older, and my fingers a little more, ahem, meaty, I have to pay more attention to string bends because I may hit another string if I'm not careful because of the thin neck (that's my playing, not the guitar).

I've played live, recorded, and jammed around my house (lookin' like an idiot) and this thing keeps going. I neglected it for a few years while I became a slave to the name-brand US big-wigs. When I picked back up the Westone (I was feeling sorry for neglecting it) I realized how GREAT the thing plays, how full it sounds, how sturdy it is, how underappreciated Westone is, and how pleasing it is to play. It's worth the (choke, $2K to $3K that has been spent on U.S. made guitars of great materials, but poor quality control).

Never needed it, in all these years! THAT'S a sign of quality.

I've been playing for 27 years and this guitar is one of the best I've ever played. It has its niche. It's a rock guitar - it'll play clean, but it just doesn't seem right for some reason. I don't understand why it's so undervalued (price wise), but if I see any others, I'm buying 'em. My friends (one with a PRS, one with a [few] LP's) are amazed at how much BETTER it plays than their guitars (and that's the truth). It's only downside is depreciation - but, heck, it'll play forever so why sell.

With this pickup configuration, and the coil tap and the phase reverse you can get almost any tone you'll ever need. The fine tuners took awhile to get used to but if u dont like to use them just take off the locks up by the headstock and that way you can just use the normal tuners.

The pickups sound great! I like to go to the neck pickup and pull the coil tap to give it more of a strat tone. It's hardly noisy at all. All the sounds you get out of this guitar sound like they should be coming from a custom made $1,300 guitar.

Mine has a beautiful 80's looking cream white finish with a red lightning bolt across the front. The action make you feel like your steve vai. Even though I still suck when im playing this guitar it feels like i could play alot faster.

When you pick this guitar up you can tell its a beast. The wood seems really solid and heavy duty and its sustains like crazy when the intonation is set up. This guitar takes a beating on its huge fins "haha" because they stick out so far its hard not to bump it in to your drummers crash stand if your practicing in a small area.

I've never needed any.

I know this sounds crazy but when I get this guitar out and my dads les paul the westone competes with it. Of course any vintage Gibson is obviously going to be built better. My friend has a Gibson SG faded series and he has offered to trade his SG for my Westone lots of times because when were jammin the westone makes his Gibson sound like an old Harmony(nothing against harmony)

My Westone is kick ass. I bought it about 2 years ago. Its a 87', 22 fret, laminated top, jet black screwed up X design. It has a volume and 2 tone controls that are push/pull based. It also has a 3-way selector which gives you any sound your heart desires. Not sure of the pickups but there are 2 double on the outsides and one single in the middle. Got a custom case with Westone printed on the side, custom strap-locks and almost mint condition.

I play metal and hard rock like Metallica and I've never had a better guitar for that type of strumming. I use a Fender Twin-Reverb amp with it from the 80's and it sounds beautifully. Nice full rich sound.

I have never seen better action on a guitar. You barely touch them and they make a sound. There is one minor scratch on the body of mine and thats the only flaw that I see and that was caused by the guy I bought it off of.

This guitar would withstand a nuclear disaster. Everything seems like it will last from finish to fretboards to pickups to everything this guitar will last a lifetime if not more.

I bought the guitar in 2000 so I dont know about the customer support.

The greatest guitar I have ever played. I will NEVER sell it and anyone who does is a complete retard for doing so.

It of course is a Japanese made guitar, fucking badass, read the other reviews for all the fret numbers and stuff that is too boring to retype since they all already typed it, crazy off white color with a big red lighting bolt across from one point to the other, it is shaped kinda like a demented X. Very badass, gets a lot of looks, and its not just the visual aspect of it that is good, so lets move to the most important part, the sound

The sound is so fucking great I can't even believe it, I have a Ibanez SG Custom from 76 and i loved the thing, interesting triple humbucker tone, but this guitar, this guitar is what I use in the studio, dimarzio pickups that don't make tons of unwanted noise at all, a tone that is so nice, sounds like you almost have a nice amount of compression on your sound, just so pleasing to the ear, a very nice clean blues tone SRV-ish, the tone can change however with all the various pickup patterns, it can go from strat style to a les paul sound, super super diverse sound range, a magnificent guitar and I got it for so cheap I figured it would be shit, but it sounds better recording, through an amp, and even without anything, then my friends 2500 Paul Reed Smith, this guitar is great

I got it used and it was all setup really badass, Everything on it is badass, it doesn't have a back plate on mine but that doesn't change anything, but provides me with the ability to do crazy sound things that most can't do. The finish is heavy and thick, very nice and polished, mine has some chips out of it but it is just very high quality paint on it, not some shitty Squire style shit, this is a very high quality japanese guitar no doubts about it

This thing can withstand anything, super solid super thick, finish will last for goddamn ever, everything on it is just super badass, I would/and have used it at gigs with no backups and it performs flawlessly, a great guitar if you see one, buy it!!

company is gone, NO NEED FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE guitar is badass and you won't need help with it so i give it a ten anyways

Been playing for a while, i like to collect lots of rare stuff and this is great, nobody has these things and its a shame cause it sounds SO good, but its nice to get the looks and then have the sound to back it up. If it were stolen I would cry and cry, i would definately have to find another one, stays in tune GREATLY

1984 Blood red Dimension IV paid $465 in 1985 in a Miami club, Bought from a band called "Cinderella"-
22 frets
1 Volume-two tone-push/pull tap
H/S/H, dimarzio on the duals-single-not sure

same as other comments of others-mine does lose tune if you hammer on the tremolo.
love it

Like it for lead and rock, the push/pull knobs make choices almost endless

neck is a little skinny at the top of the neck for my hands, could be my own failure to learn right

I have beat the H*** out of this thing and it wont break, I love it,

I dealt with Westone in 1987 right before they sold off the rights, and they were helpful considering the changes they were going thru

I bought my Dimension from a pawn shop for $89.... I snuck this gaudy red guitar in without my wife seeing it. Hands Down this is the BEST money I have EVER spent. It looks like a total Custom, I had a feeling the PU's were Super D's from Di Marzio & damnded if they are'nt. The PU's ALONE justify spending the cash on this thing, being the ONLY guy on the block with an Extremely distinctive one of a kind guitar is another....
This bad MF'er will be played through a Marshall (dry) and a Peavey(wet) and undoubtedly will kick the living crap out of my old Ibanez RG (to be fair: the RG's still all stock)
AS all guitars are is just plain old wood, steel & wire I'd take this bad cat over quite a few others 10x more expensive. Cheezy trem???
Hell, Jimi only had a vintage strat bridge, I see Nothing wrong with the trem on this thing. Mine's only missing a few minor pieces, at $89 JF'in C this is a bad Mf ing guitar!!! I Love all the guys who only buy the big name stuff, more of these wild gems out there for me..... a 12 in my book, blood red finish.... (push/pull pots? I did'nt even know it till Now! can't wait to get back downstairs!!!!)
Crud! a 14!!!!!! a true Samuria, a Super Saen, woo hoo!!!

Sound? Tight bass, orchestral.. heavy... Rip machine of the highest order.... let 'em laugh at the painted fretboard, the leads'll shut 'em up Real fast.(even the single coil will rip your face off, an SDS-1 I believe)

Ab-So-Friggin-Lutely beautiful..... Some rust in some spots yeah (big woop, eliminated real easily) and neglected no doubt.
(some poor sap somewhere got labeled a poser huh?)
But I always wanted a top notch killing machine & here it is thanks to some unlucky idiot who wanted a flame maple quasi vintage "real" guitar. Blood Red finish.... Goth before there was Goth....

I would make this my #1 axe in a heartbeat even without a floyd
it's heavy & solid. This may look like a flashy 80's gimmicky guitar BUT this Ain't no toy. Bring on the suburbanite thrashers with their top dollar mom & dad bought axes & let 'em all fall! Yeah, I like this axe a LOT.

I just got this thing.... IS THERE a Westone yet?
I'm not too worried about repairs, I do a lot myself.

I've been playing since the late 70's. IF you like it flashy, loud, maybe even Wagnerian & Classical (Ygnwie) This'll get ya there No Problem, just don't buy 'em all, I want a few more...
Competes with ANY-THING out there at ANY price.

This is a wild guitar from the 80's metal era. I think I saw one in a Venom video once. Anyway, it was built in Japan, probably around 1984. It is a pretty flamboyant shape. Alot like a dean ML, but with much sharper lines and points. Much like a Randy Rhoads flying V-Explorer type idea. The body is very well finished, with the edges very smooth and beveled, which make it very comfortable to play. I am not sure what type wood the body is constructed of, probably alder ash or maple. The neck is maple. Anyhow, the body has a very durable plastic\gelcoat finish which can withstand all kinds of sweat, moisture, or nicks. It even has a groovy red lightning bolt graphic on it. The pickup configuration is H/S/H. And they awesome pickups. I believe they are dimarzios, which I heard were factory for this guitar. Some of THE best pickups i have ever heard. They scream if you want them to, but they can also sound very smooth and clean depending on the setting. The electronics are passive. It has one volume and two tone config. with each being a push/pull coil tap potentiometer, so you can get all sorts of awesome single coil sounds as well as fat humbucking. Awesome for that hendrix sound. every one of these guitars I have seen have a single locking tremelo(early floyd rose type) with fine tuners. The head tuners are gotoh, which a re very precise. It has a 22 fret neck, which is quite slim, feels like many strats, with a rosewood finger board.

I love this guitar. One of the best I have ever heard. I play alot of hard rock/ metal /punk type music, and it can dish out the gain. It can be very ferocious. But with so many different settings, almost any sound can be acheived. From clean twangy tele sound, to a Jimi type strat sound. And it is always clean, never any unwanted noise. Very bright sound, very colorful. On the neck pickup, it has that awesome "woody" tone. very barky and clean. I swear, you can get any type sound you can imagine with the push pull pots/ coil tapping. I love this guitar. I run mine through a '79 peavey Session 500. An awesome amp I must say.

Since I bought it used at a pawn shop, I have no idea how it came from the factory. When I got it, it looked pretty tired, but it was ready to go. I think I raised the action a tad. I think it still has the same strings that were on it when I bought it! So with new strings, I can only Imagine how good it will sound.
The construction is pretty much flawless. The jumbo frets are very well finished. The neck is perfectly straight. I guess if I had to complain, it would be about the tremelo system. The single lock above the nut was bugging me a bit, so I took it off. I think it sounds better without it. I didnt need it. And the whammy bar is a cheesy click in type. The tremelo is not quite as quality as a Kahler or a Floyd, but I never hav trouble with it. It sounds great. doesnt rob tone. Great sustain. This guitar was heavily used when I bought it, it looked neglected. But every thing on it is still very tight, works great.

I would use this guitar anywhere, any time. The finish is almost bulletproof. The construction is very tight. Big strap buttons so they wont pop off. It has withstood many years of abuse, and appears that it can a handle many more. The ultimate guitar, no backup will be needed. String changes can be done quickly.

Never dealt with this co.

I have been playing guitars for about 12 years. Almost every day. I have seen and owned countless varieties. I love the stuff from the 80's metal era though, that stuff always makes me smile. What were they thinking? But since I bought this guitar just cause it looked funny, I have been very inmpressed with all this era Electra westone stuff. I have a small collection. Anyway, the dimension 4 is my absolute favorite. The sound is amazing. Very comfortable as well. If it were stolen, I would cry, and go find another just like it. I have my eye on another at a nearby pawn shop. Its sad how underappreciated these guitars are. every one discounts their quality/ sound because they may look a little silly. And most people dont realize the push pull pots, my favorite option. Which makes endless tonal possibilities. Dont waste your money, buy one of these instead of some expensive prs. With whats leftover you can buy a car or something. If I could add anything, I would put a humbucker in the middle position instead of a single. Because with the push pull pots you could have a singl coil sound. And then it would look even wilder! Like spinal tap! or ace frehley. ill shut up now.