Westone Rainbow II

This is a early 80's MIJ curly maple tobacco burst Weston Rainbow II...made before they put the eagle's head/logo into their name. For 25 years this guitar has mainly sat in it's lamb's wool lined brown tolex HS case...played sparingly. Then one day, I decided to give it a new lease on life. I just rubbed the thin gold paint off the bridge/tail until it all came off...looks MUCH better, now. Also had the neck adjusted, frets redressed/leveled and intonation setup for 11s.

Then, I replaced the nut, replaced the pickups with Fralin Unbuckers (!!) and got rid of that goofy p.o.s. tone circuitry and weird volume pots...replaced them with quality 500Ks and push/pull tones for coil tapping.

Oh.....my.........God.......... (see next category)

After I put in the Fralin Unbuckers (7.5k neck, 8.5k bridge, coil tapped 3-conductor).....THIS BABY CAME TO LIFE!!!! No more sitting in the case for this bad boy. Not only can this axe play R&B and Jazz like it supposed to, but now with these pups and the splitting combos I can make this guitar sound like almost anything! I currently play it through my VOX amp from clean to crankin and everything in between. Just totally awesome!

Let's get this outta the way...the original hardware is crap. At best, it's spray on brass paint that comes off easily when using polisher...so I recommend that you....well.....rub it RIGHT off. The nut was crap, too...so I replaced it. Next, I'll replace the mahcine heads. For these...I subtracted 1 from a perfect 10.

However, folks...this story does have a happy ending. The foundation of this guitar...the body....the neck....the fretboard....these are EXTREMELY WELL MADE and HIGH QUALITY!! Much better than some cheesy Korean Epi Dot. The top looks like one-piece curly maple (i.e. no seam). The neck appears to be 3-piece mahogany. My guitar tech loves the way this baby plays...now he wants one!!

I believe that this guitar is very durable, for a hollow body electric that is. Other than the thin brass finish as discussed, the hardware seem pretty good...nice and solid. I would depend on this thing in a gig situation...but I'm not stupid. Of course I'd have a backup...who wouldn't? I can see this and a PRS McCarty being the only guitars that you would need...since both provide a wide variety of sounds.

I've been playing for over 35 years (OMG...am I THAT old??) and play mainly classic rock, blues and some jazz. I also own a McCarty, and a strat. People, I recommend that if you find one of these gems...buy it...and then fix it up. If you only change one thing, please change the pickups! You will notice a HUGE improvements. If you have some coin...make those pickups Unbuckers....you'll never regret putting them into this guitar!

Mine is the Birds-eye maple version, with cream binding and chrome hardware. It came brand new, in its proper Westone hardcase, as a 40th. birthday present... that's 21 years ago! It played straight out off the box and has never needed a set-up. Strung with 11's it has an action to die for. I play it through a Digitech processor, straight into a Carlsboro Marlin PA and it gives me every sound I've ever needed... I really love it on a really sharp, funky, treble sort of jazz sound. Any complaints... yeah... First, it's damned heavy, so you need a good, wide strap if you're gonna stand all night... second, the hardware is not up to the standard of the rest of the instrument, the bridge especially is quite pitted and corroded from sweat. An upgrade to Gibson hardware might be a good move. Otherwise, I would not swop my Westone for a 'real' 335.

MINE IS A 1976 CHERRY WITH CREAM BINDING EVERYWHERE,NECK-F/HOLES BODY.MADE IN JAPAN BY THE OLDEST INSTRUMENT MAKERS THERE (14TH CENTURY) SO THEY SHOULD BE GOOD ,I CHANGED THE WIRING AS THE POTS WERE A BIT DUFF AND PUT SEYMOUR DUNC VINTAGE 59S ON IT AND RECENTLY A LOVELY GOLD BIGSBY ?50 FROM U.S.A. WICH IS THE CHERRY ON THE TOP,OH AND ALSO A SCHALLER ROLLER-BRIDGE RESULT GUITAR-HEAVEN

I PLAY ANYTHING THE PUNTERS WANT AND THIS GUITAR PLAYS ANYTHING I WANT

HAVE DONE ALL WORK MYSELF SO THE SET-UP FOR ME IS PERFECT.THE STANDARD OF MANUFACTURE IS EXEMPLARY.

BOMB PROOF CONSTRUCTION,PLAY IT AS ONLY GUITAR ON MANY GIGS.

ABSOLUTELY NO-IDEA?

AS A 40YEAR MAN IVE PLAYED MOST THINGS WOODEN, I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ANOTHER ONE

I love this guitar, and i Must admit i know little about it. I work in a guitar shop and it came in on second hand. I looked at it and it is gorgeous, beautifully finished, binding is fantastic. Two humbuckers and encapsulated tone and volume pots. Based on a 335 its pressed top looks awesome. Its got the tune-O-Matic bridge in chrome and it just looks superb.

This thing really does sound the Muts Nuts. It goes into over drive nicely and does my straight 'Aynsley Lister Solo ish' blues stuff brilliantly. Its warm, aggressive and subtle at the same time.

i usually use 13's on electric but this thing is just screaming to be whacked with 11's, which disappoints me a bit but with this tone, im not arguing. Its setup perfectly and im not gunna argue with anything about that at all, i could not ask for a nicer semi to play.

This guitar will withstand a lifetime, but dont tread on it, it is a semi!! Everthings solid on the thing and theres actaully no fault anywhere

I work for the company lol. Cant get better service than that.
Just for reference, I work for American Guitar Centre/ Bass World in England
www.psst.co.uk/americanguitars

Its Awesome, straight up

don?t know when it was made, came with a Westone brochure describing the spec?s as in earlier revies. Humbuckers were replaced by Seymour Duncan (neck) en Dimarzio (bridge).Three-way toggle and standard 2x volume en tone pots work fine and produce a variety of sounds. There?s an extra 2-way switch, I guess it is a coil-splitter, but in my ears ads nothing to it

Without amplification the acoustic sound i.e. the sound of the guitar itself is already beautifull. Lots of sustain and pleasing clear overtones. It?s a real pleasure playing this way. On stage the Rainbow turns out to be a real monster; heavily amplified (Fender Deville, Mesa BoogieMk11) it can produce a low, fat tone deep enough to emulate a bass or baritonguitar, powerfull santana-like sustain and bright clear screaming like old Peter Green.

Needed some neck adjustment when I bought it, but complete adjustment was easily done (no special tools needed).

its an old one, but everything is working fine (except for the coil-split) and imho will be for the next 25 years. I used to have this one as my backup for my Fender strat and my MV Pedulla bassguitar, but now a have this one as my main axe. It has not let me down so far.

does the factory still exist ? I do my own repairing and can always attend a guitarshop/repairman if necessary. Didn?t need one untill now.

Has all the features one might need on a guitar, looks good and feels like holding something precious. Sound of the guitar itself is already astonishing, the replacement humbuckers and double volume/tone controls make it a very versatile guitar, suitable for reggae funk, jazz, rock and blues (I don?t play heavy metal; don?t know about that) . I own a Gibson ES335, but that one is to fragile an to expensive to carry around and doesn?t have those heavenly ringy overtones. Tried several other guitars, imho only the PRS Santana could make me feel that good. If it were stolen, I?d sell my Gibson, try find another Rainbow and keep a whole lot of money in my pocket

This is a japanese leftie that I picked up in Swindon, Enlgand back in October 1985. A semi acoustic 335-style copy with Super Twin II pickups. It even has an ebony fretboard - unusual for a supposed humble copy. Brown sunburst finish. Came with a bespoke Westone Rainbow case. The main body is laminated maple and the neck is mahogony 3-ply and it has has cream binding and gold hardware.

It plays very well as I have managed to lower the action without incurring buzzing on the low E string. It has a good range of sound as each pick up has full tonal adjustment. The treble pick up gives a good bright sound whilst the rhythm pick up offers a creamy, full sound for nice lead.

The overall finish is excellent. a few dings over the years but generally you'd never think it was 18 years when looking at it.Its very easy on the eye. Deceptively heavy compared with my other guitar (Gibson Byrdland L/H).

It has proved to be a very reliable guitar. I have not however played more than a handful of gigs. it is not however a fragile guitar. The strap buttons are totally solid and never worry me in terms of failing. I would be quite conmfirtable using it in a gig.

Westone no longer exists but it is not a complicated instrument to maintain. I remember the retailer contating me a month or so after I bought it asking if he could buy it back. He clearly could have sold it for considerably more.

It is a great guitar and sounds good through the Marshall amp that I use, either through overdrive or straight into the clean channel. I adore my other guitar, the Gibson Byrdland, which is in another league to this instrument, but the point of submitting this article is to make the point that the Westone holds its own, notwithstanding some very serious competition.

Year unknown, maybe mid-1980s. Made in Japan, "a Maksumoko product". A 335-style guitar in sunburst with cream binding and gold hardware. Stop tailpiece with quick ball-end attachment and release (no need to thread string). Standard 335 pickup config, but with tone controls that have a central detent position and tonal variations either way. Haven't worked out how these function exactly. Maybe there's some of coil-tapping effect, since the sound becomes thinner in one direction. This guitar is left-handed. Scores 8 because although not feature-rich, what it does have is top quality.

Standard semi-acoustic sound, though with extra variation provided by tone controls described above.

I bought it used and set it up myself. After some 15 years, there's tarnishing and a little bubbling in the gold hardware, but that's no problem. I don't know what wood this is but it has a good weight (though not too heavy), and the hardware, engineering and build quality are superb, equivalent to the Ibanez AS200 I own from 1982. This is equivalent or better than many contemporary 335 copies.

I expect this guitar to last for decades.

Never contacted them. Anyway, I read the original Westone organisation is defunct. But if the care taken in designing and constructing this instrument were reflected in Westone's customer service it would be second to none.

I've owned many Gibson copies, and this and the Ibanez AS200 are the best, on par or better than their inspirations. Like other Japanese manufactures from the 1980s, this guitar is a hidden treasure.