Westone Spectrum SX

This guitar was made in japan circa 1985, 22 frets,pickups are s/s/h.
passive electronics. maple neck and body. finish in shiney black. body style is strat shaped. Floyd rosey type trem,locking nut. tuners are westone. neck scale is 25 and 1/2 I think. bought second hand.

I've used this for years in my little home recording studio and it has a few usable sounds. It is nice and fat and bright on the neck pickup, A lot of strat type sound combinations in between, then a chunky bridge Humbucker great for rock, and excellent for heavy leads, it picks out harmonies great and powerchords sound full. I use the effects on a BOSS BR6 and I can get loads of different sounds with this guitar. The bridge and neck pickups can be a bit noisy but thats usually off the computer monitor, otherwise it's fine for recording. For what I paid for this (60 quid) I have had a lot of bang for bucks, it has never let me down even after a year in the loft (hot/cold)it's still going strong.

the pickups sit fine now as they always have. The selector switches and pots are still smooth with no noise.The tuning pegs (not that they get much use) are smooth and in perfect nick.

I've played live a few times over the years and it was spot on, in tune,sounded good. I have played alongside fender strats, Les pauls, and yamaha SG's and this sounded okay for rythm I did play the odd lead part with it and got away with it really. The finish has lasted okay although it has a few dings now. The hardware is good as new although I don't use the trem much now, it works fine, I had to put 2 extra springs in as it didn't stay in tune that well. I have and would work with this live on it's own (with new strings though!)
oh yes, and the straps buttons are solid.

Never contacted westone.

Ive been playing guitar for 30 years. I have a computer running logic, an E-MU sound card, BOSS BR8, encore precision bass, yamaha synth ( ys200 for midi), loads of MICS, cheap amp, squllions of pluggins.If I'd known I was gonna get 18 years out of this guitar I would have said 'here's a hundred'. I have had strats and les pauls (copies) and this doesn't look as good as either but if it was stolen and I could get one for 60 quid I would get this.
If you want a work horse for the home studio and you aren't to fussy on looks get one of these. I haven't really looked after this guitar it's either sat in a corner or been in the loft or the kids bashin it with plastic hammers and it still works fine.

I know nothing about this guitar, it was given to me by my uncle when i was 17
its got a pick up configuration of s/s/h, the body is primary colour red & the neck is laminated red on both the back & the front, making it VERY easy to play solo's on. Also good for thrashing if your that way inclined |?]
its got a Floyd Rose style bridge, a "bendmaster deluex" apparrently, with locking tuners. I dont have the arm for it so ive never been able to utilise it properly, but is a very reliable system, i'm a massive fan of fine tuning.
its a very thick, heavy guitar, & nicely shaped, like a sharp strat shape. The necks a bit thick for my liking, edging more towards the Les paul size's
it 1 volume & 1 tone (i think) & the volume will switch up to create a thinner sound.

The Humbucker is spectacular for heavy rock, its got a very gritty sound, a bit too trebly for my perticular taste but its great for blues.
the clean is quite nice in the s/s setting, very deep but a bit muffled. PLus with anything single coil the buzzing we all know of can get a little tedious.
Personally, i prefer my Ibanez, but its a great backup guitar

my uncle is an amazing guitarist, it jst so happens that his set up is the same as mine so its perfect at the moment. I have to adjust it once every 3 months, but i put that down to it being an old guitar.
The neck finish is superb! more guitars should do it. The fretboard & neck have been laminated the same way as the body so its very smooth to play. It can be a bit troublesome though so i've put on heavier Gauge strings. For a long time i had some 11 to 49's i think, & had it C# tuned, very nice for a drop tuned guitar.
Its seen some gigs, there's plenty of drunken scratches in it but it doesnt take away from the guitar at all, i kinda like it. The entire thigns Red with black nobs & pick ups, & silver machineheads & bridge

i've never gigged it, its always been for home recording. Its not let me down yet for what i want it for though.

I got it 2nd hand & the company has folded

a nice recording guitar, feels nice to play, unique neck. Looks beautiful! & even more novel because the companies gone down |?D i wouldn't change it for anything

My dad bought me this guitar used about 10 years ago.
It's a Japan made guitar.
22 frets.
One volum knob, one tone knob that can be pulled out, 5-way selector.
2 singlecoils and one humbucker in bridge position, type Aria Pro 2. (I love the sound the humbucker makes!)
It's got a rosewood fretboard, the guitar is completely black.
The bodyshape is kinda like a mix of Strat and SG, small and heavy.
It's got a Floyd Rose system called Bendmaster Deluxe.
I have a Westone hard case for the guitar.

It suits my playing just fine, I play a lot of hard rock and alternative rock.
Im using a Bogey 30watt amp for practise, works just fine.
The humbucker givs quite a rich sound, this is the pickup I mainly use because I like this sound it gives. The singlecoils are good for slower stuff and clean playing, use the neck coil most of them.

I bought it used so I adjusted the pickups and bridge myself, and of course, I like the way I adjusted them!
The guitar have a few marks here and there, but I like the wear and tear look on guitars so it doesn't matter to me.

I haven't used this guitar live, since Im a singer, and I can't grasp the guitarplaying and the singing at the same time good enough. Besides, we already have 2 guitarplayers that are more skilled than me. And I like being all over the stage to put on a good show.
But, a friend of mine borrowed it, and as another guy said in his review, my friend didn't wanna give it back either!
The strap buttons are very solid.
I would depend on it, but I don't think I would have played a gig with any guitar without having a backup.

The company went under before I even got the guitar!

Ive been playing on and off for almost 10 years, but more serious the past 2 years.
I don't think I would be able to find another guitar like this if mine were stolen or lost...
I just love playing it, it's as simple as that!
What might be annoying is that it's pretty heavy, and it's impossible to sit and play without a shoulderstrap because it's so slippery.
I might have prefered having 2 humbuckers instead of the S/S/H system. But it's not exacly bugging me.
Ive compared it to 3 other guitars, I like this one clearly better than 2 of them, those guitars are a Yamaha Pacifica, the other an Squire Strat. The one I liked as much as this one was an Gibson Epiphone Les Paul Heritage (a VERY good Les Paul copy, probably the best new one you'll find)!

The "red wonder", red maple neck w/ a skinny profile (easy to play) and red body (not sure wood type, but it was heavy). 25.5" scale, 3 pu's H-S-S, there was a coil tap for the bridge humbucker, and some other weird "out of phase tap switch that gave the classic inbetween sounds and made it even more hollow and funky. Locking mechanism above the nut, and a floyd rose knock off whammy bridge. the body shape was strat like in double cut-away, but the horns were pointier like an SG.

This was my main guitar from about'88-'90, and it was a decent guitar. PU's sounded decent, action was easy to play, it was well made for an inexpenisive guitar. I think this guitar was trying to tap into the Jackson/Charvel 80's guitar days, and probably did ok. The whammy wasn't a floyd rose, but it stayed in tune decent enough. It was set up as a floating bridge and I was one time pretending to be Steve Vai and pulling up on bridge and I broke like 3 strings. At the time I didn't have a lot of disposable income to buy tons and tons of strings, so after that I set the bridge to rest against the body ala EVH, and that worked ok too.

was decent for sitting in a pawn shop for awhile. The
guitar was well made for the time.

it seemed pretty sturdy. and considering that it sat
in a pawn shop, the electonics never gave me any
trouble even w/ all the coil split and funky out of phase
switch. So it was well built.

I think it was made by St. Louis Music and I remember their
big ads in the late 80's was some guitars for Trevor Rabin
and guitarist for INXS. I never dealt w/ them. I think
the co. went out of business at some point.

This was a decent guitar for the money. It wasn't top of the line,
but it also didn't cost much. had a decent sound, mostly
strat like, but w/ the humbucker could give some decent distortion if needed. After I got my Steinberger in '90, I pretty much stopped playing it, and it sat in a closet. After about 3 or
4 major moves I decided to sell it on ebay in '90.

myspectrum sx was made in 1960 its my first guitar and i have just started to learn how to play i bout it off a friend so i dont know if it came with anything. the bridge on my one is a deluze stagemaster i dont like it its massive.

i use a hohner amp which is okay it suits me really well and is the sound that most of my songs need.

i dont like the pickups.

my guitar has got a massive crack dow the middle and lots of scratches.

i have just started and i own a hohner amp i wish i had reconsidered before bying this product id rather a squire strat which are good for begginers and really good and affordable.

unknown yr manufactured, sometime in 80s, mint condition when i got it, floyd rose bridge, cherry red, left handed aswell, didnt know much about guitars, bought it off this kid for 240 canadian, thats about 150 USD.

Perfect for beginners, as well as experts, all my top guitar buddies,
including one in a successful band had never heard or seen it, but
played it and loved the sound and action.

Guitar had no flaws, this guitar was rarly played, everything was nice and tight.

Had it for 2 months now, and since its 20 years old, and still looks amazing, easy grade

Never dealt with company

I still have it, its my first guitar and the price i got it for was amazing, its left handed as well so its very very rare. Im very happy.

Mid 80's Japan strat alternative. 22 frets. H-S-S pickups. Vol, tone, tone. Splitter and tap for humbucker in bridge position. All passive stuff. Heavy, but don't know what kind of wood. WAY COOL finish- ALL TRANSPARENT RED! and I mean body, neck, even fretboard! Black tuners, knobs, etc, with a little chrome. Floyd rose type locking bridge. Locking nut and enclosed tuners. Pretty thin neck. Got it with original hard shell case, allen wrenches, even Westone warranty tag.

Good sound. As good as most any Strat, imho. Quiet. Bright but full sound. Very good variety of sound, with hb splitter and tap, and 2 single coils. Haven't had any problems with the locking stuff.

Bought it used, action was just fine when I got it. Same for pickups. No construction flaws that I can see.

Very durable, both wood and hardward. Finish is beautiful, but deep and durable. Could easily gig without a backup.

Gee, do ya think I could get the warranty serviced? I got the warranty card, maybe I could find the original owner and ask him to pretend he still owns it... of course, it's a double moot point, seeing as the company is out of business for what, 20 years? and the guitar is about bullet-proof...

Yeah, i got other guitars, been playing for years. Never mind about me, let's talk about the guitar. Overall, great looking, very durable, pretty versital, and I'm gonna have to sell it, anyway. Got another Westone (thunder 1A) I like just a little bit better, and need to raise money for PA speakers. I'll miss it, though.

But I gotta say, Westone was sure a egnamatic company. Seems like they would make each guitar just a little bit different than the last. And did you ever see so many different models??? I'd love to get as many Westone owners gathered here in Atlanta, just to see if we could find two alike.

Don't know the year it was made, bought it used.
Japan, 20 frets, Im not american or english so I don't understand this tecnical language

It suites my style perfect

It kicks ass live!
The hardware seems pretty stabile
Solid strap buttons
I depend on it
Would never use a guitar live without a backup

Bought is used

I have been playing for about 6-7 years, also use a Fender Stratocaster and a Fender Telecaster.
I like all the guitars, but the Westone was the first one and the one I like the best.

I bought my spectrum sx right out of bootcamp in san diego in 1985. It was black, dovetail neck to body (no bolt on crap). Japanese 22 frets, a hummer in the bridge plus 2 singles mid and neck. floating bridge (wasn't too bad definitely not a floyd) 5-way selector w/ a push/pull volume (hum to single on the bridge p/u). passive electronics, rosewood fingerboard, and a nice finish rounded it out. I did a lot of learning on this guitar as it had very nice action and a good overall sound (loved a chorus clean through the neck single :) ). Had a complete practice setup in the case (Tom Scholts Rockman, remember those?, stereo chorus and phaser plus 4 or 5 cords so I could plug in anywhere). Like a total IDIOT, I left this w/ a "buddy" at his apartment in san diego in mid-late '86 (flew home for 3-weeks for leave and didn't trust airlines). When I came back, he had moved, no forwarding address. I can only say that I've had several guitars since but I really liked playing that one (sounded fantastic through a Marshal w/ mids scooped out). I was looking at an old photo of it that made me check to see if there was a site about it. Knew the company went under, too bad that model was pretty good. Oh and by the way, If the guy that has it is reading this, you got over but fate prevails.

Humbucker was good but had to lower it a little (kind of muddy sound when overly driven). Neck single was definitely best for clean playing, didn't use the middle single much.

didn't have to adjust action (low but without buzzes and pings). No flaws but did ding the finish myself from time to time. Very thick so didn't do much damage. One of few guitars I owned that had rosewood fingerboard as I favor scalloped maple but rosewood didn't get in my way

Never used it live but a friend did and he wouldn't give it back. Must have been good. Didn't have it long enough to really put it to the test.

N/A

Over 20 years. I would love to get this guitar back (it has my initials and SSN scratched into it in several places). I currently have a modified '87 Charvel M1-A, a '78 Rickenbacker 4001, and a Washburn accoustic/electric 12-string but the Westone was special because it was the best guitar I'd had at the time. Only thing I'd do to it would be to remove the wammy-thing and put a Gibson-style tunomatic bridge w/ stop piece.

transparent blue,made in japan,22 fret,1986 model year,all woods hard rock maple,pickups h/s/s make and model unknown,5 way selector,all electronics are passive,body style is stra crossed with sg type contour to cutaways,body is small like jackson dinky,floating bridge with locking(no string lock at bridge),tuners are non locking fully inclosed,neck is 'c' shape with 25.5 scale,westone molded case.

i play mainly hard rock/metal.this guitar can do the trick stock but really it is a very good beginners guitar.some noise from the singles(no more than a strat costing way more.sound is basically bright, 7 out of 10 for richness,8 out of ten for fullness,the neck single sounds the best out of the three especially for clean tones.this guitar is very versatile setup wise,you can split the humbucker,and put the 2 singles or the hum and center single out of phase all with the pull of a pot.this is the best most flexable sounding guitar in it's price range.i've been playing for 17 years and have owned or own 11 guitars in this price range.

from the factory the set up was very good all i did was lower the action and the pickups to match.the only other flaw was the 15 fret needed to be cut down a bit to accomidate the very low action,i did this my self and will say that i own several guitars over the 3000 dollar mark and they all needed similar tweaking,some more,and some not being able to do so.all hardware,wood finish(beautiful,were very good even the nut was cut well.

definetly a live guitar,all hardware with the exception of the bridge is worthe of the road,definetly a awsome epoxy clear coat that could probably withstand more than most guitars twice the price.very dependable never broke down but i allways use a backup it just makes sence.

tere was a warranty but i never used it,quite frankly the st.louise company(distributer)could'nt have cared less and the customer service was non exsistant.i had the one waranty repair done at the shop that i purchased it,ther was a bad 1/4 female jack.

this was my first serious guitar purchase i got it because i liked the price and the body style.it has since been stolen and all the ones i looked at were so badly treated that i have yet to replace it but i will.i really liked the tone bang for the buck(no les paul or strat but for the money?)the action was insanely low,lower than anything else i've ownes with the exception of my larrivee custom shop v.i really liked the finish,the only real problem was the trem bridge(a piece or crap really)non locking at the bridge,break strings and just destroyed the tone.thats wy i put an origional floyd on it,that really improved things.

Saw that this model wasn't listed yet, so I thought I'd put mine in. This is the only Westone Spectrum SX that I have ever seen. If anyone has another one, let me know. My SX is black. It was made in Japan. The company went out of business several years ago. It's a 24 fret solid body electric with volume, tone, 3-way selector switch, H/H pickups (not sure of the make and model) Has a Rosewood neck on a strat style body. The guitar was really, really, really rough when I got it. Looked like it had been in a basement. I just replaced the switch and strings of course. Everything else works great. The tuners are non-locking, but work fine. The bridge looks like it used to have a tremolo bar, but has none now, which is fine with me, because I don't like them anyway. :) This has been a great first guitar for me. It's tough. It has a great sound. Everyone I've ever had play it always says, "Never seen one of those before". After they play it, they can never believe how good the action is. I have an Epi Dot now that I really love, but I still like to play this guitar just as much. Two totally different sounds and feels.

I play anything my guitar teacher tells me to play. (grin) Actually, I like to play Christian, jazz, and a lot of contemporary music. My guitar teacher is more favorable to REM and AC/DC. LOL I have two amps. I have an Peavey Audition 110 and a Peavey Delta Blues. The guitar is really quiet and is capable of producing a lot of great sounds. I like to turn the base all the way up, and trem and mid to about 3. Gets a nice, rich, full sound that sounds really sweet. There are lots of other options, but hey, this is what I like about it, right??

I have no idea how it came from the factory. I do know this though...when I got the guitar it had been treated like no guitar should be treated. After replacing the switch, putting on some Di'Addario Super Lights, getting a professional setup, the thing was ready to go and sounded great. The finish must be tough as concrete, because it's taken a beating and still looks great. The action has already been commented on above. I'm giving it a 5 just because I have no idea how it came from the factory. I just know how I got it, and where it is now.

First of all, the finish is awesome. Would it withstand live playing???? Since I don't ever plan on using it for that, who cares?? The strap buttons are solid, but I would buy locking buttons if I was really going to use it a lot in a live gig. I would depend on it for anything. It's a tough guitar. I wouldn't ever go to a gig without a backup though, so that's not really a fair question and think people who do are crazy if they have a choice.

Since they don't exist, it would be hard to collect even if there was a warranty.

Well, I've been playing piano for 23 years, and guitar for 1. :) My other gear is mostly listed above already. When I got this guitar, I though what in the world am I going to do with this. Well, I learned how to play, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. It it was stolen, I'd find them and kill them. I love this guitar; and there's really nothing I hate about it. If I want a feature not on this guitar, I'll buy another one that has it. (expaining the Dot) My advice to anyone who sees one of these is to get it. It'll probably be really cheap since Westone's not exactly your Gibson "gold plated name plate guitar"; but it's a great guitar. You won't be disappointed.