Westone Monark

The features? I've never seen a guitar with so many ways to change your sound! It's a Queen V, white satin finish, and has a black maple neck. I got it from one of my friends fathers, who kept it in its case. It was rather dirty, but I cleaned it up and fixed it, and it sounds decent, man. I have no idea what year it was made in. The bridge is a something (similar to a Floyd Rose, a something SpeedString), with fine tuners for after you tighten the nut lock. It has 22 frets, all PERFECTLY lined up. The pickups are passive, and the knobs pull out and do things (im not sure EXACTLY how or why the sound changes), the selector is 3-way.

If you take the time to fool around, this guitar CAN have a decent clean sound (but it takes me a while to obtain). But best of all, the distorted sound of this guitar is KILLER! This is the perfect METAL GUITAR! I play a lot of metal (on a marshall), and sometimes I use the DigiTech Death Metal Distortion pedal. SO SWEET! But if you don't have the right setting on the pickus, it will sound horrible. I had to lower the pickups when i got it (they might as well have been touching the strings), but it has a nice rich, full distortion. And I love putting lots of HIGH on for pinch(artificial) harmonics. Overall, a good sound quality.

I don't know about factory setup, but it was horrible when I got it. I spent all night on it. I'm no expert, and I got the action decent, so I klnow if I get it done professionally, it will kick a@$. It is very easy to control, and the neck feels great. The pickup selector in mine is a bit loose, but I think that was the owners flaw. If I set up the bridge right, it will be PERFECT!

The hardware has lasted a while (all but one of the saddles are original), and IT WILL STAND FOR LIVE PLAYING! I used it last night at my school concert, and it ROCKED! (Everyone loves it!) The finish will definitely hold, it's held for this long and is still strong. Strap buttons are SOLID! No need for new strap nipples, cuz these hold great. I cant say I can depend on it yet, cuz I've only had it 3 days, but it seems strong. If I were most people, I wouldn't worry about a backup guitar, but I get paranoid about my shows, so I'll always have one anyway. Good ALL-AROUND durability.

I CANT FIND CUSTOMER SUPPORT ANYWHERE! I'm going to try and find a manual online for this, so no more to say here!

I may have only been playing for a bit under 3 years, but I'm a damn good guitarist. I dont own much gear personally (my friend is the gearhead), but we have quite the setup. If this guitar were stolen, I'd kick someones ass. Its worth a suspension (or expulsion). I'd never sell this guitar, even know it's probably worth a lot. The action is like a Strat, the sound like a Tele, (and it weight like an AMP!)

not sure on the year but i have had this guitar for 5 years and it has an unbeleivable sound for the style of guitar it is, it a 22 fret maple neck and is white with a black neck,and it truely does stay in tune better than any other guitar i have ever seen

oh by the way i could be wrong but it is my understandign that the body style is called a queen V because the bottom is longer than the top, and a king V has a top longer that the bottom, and a flying V has them the same length but i could be wrong

i love the sound of this guitar but i do feel that it is not versitial enough for what i am doing now so i am looking for a reissue 72 fender thinline telecaster and am going to have th cols tapped. but the coil tap features and the humbuckers give this guitar a varity of uses which generally wouldn't be expected form the look of it.

this is a great guitar for certain types of playing but is definitely not one to sit down and try to play (just doesn't work very well) it stays in tune and can be played very hard for over and hour and still be in tune it is a really good guitar over all but it does have it's flaws

"Dive-Bomber" whammy, with tuners, that ROCKS!!! Locking nut, 2 humbuckers and a single coil in the center position, push/pull pots for coil splitting and phase shifting, hard-shell case, and one HELL of a body style! :)Kind of like a V, but with the upper let notched... One COOL '80's style axe!

The body style pretty well dictates that it be used, at least publicly for rock and metal music... Other than that, it's absolutely amazing! I've used it with a variety of different effects pedals and amps, but have found that the ZOOM 505, ToneWorks AX1G, and the DigiTech RP100 combined either with my AIMS Basso amp or recorded directly into the computer allow for the best variety of sounds. I've found that with these multi-effects processors in combination with the guitar's built in coil splitters and phase shifters allow me to create/recreate virtually any sound I could ever imagine! (All that it looks pretty cool, too!)

I was fortunate enough to aquire a Monark that has always been kept in it's case and was VERY well taken care of. It's original white finish is nearly flawless and the black annodized hardware shows nearly NO wear at all. The guitar is a tad heavy with it's odd body style, but it's action more than makes up for it. The neck is thin and fast, but has nearly NO radius whatsoever... That took a couple of days to get used to, but now I love it more than ever!!!

This guitar is an absolute powerhouse in my opinion! It stays in tune better than any other guitar I've ever had, even with the whammy! It's the flashmaster's dream come true! Together with it's stability, versatility, and just outright style, this has been the only axe I've needed for months!!!

This is the downside.... NOBODY knows ANYTHING about this guitar!!! :( I've searched the web and found only one photograph of one, and only a VERY small handful of pages that even mention it (5 or 6). I've even contacted St. Louis Music Co., who was the United States' sole distributor of the Westone line at the time, and they only have a single page, very sketchy description of it. Does anyone out there have ANY more info on this guitar?!?!?!?!?

I've played for about 15 years now, and I primarily use the Monark with my DigiTech RP100 and a big ol' AIMS Basso amp. Kind of an odd combination but really versatile and always ready! :) I'd love to find a couple more if they're available! People, help me get more info!!! :)