Westone Thunder 1A

It was made in Japan, unknown date, 22 frets, six string, two volume and one control dial, 3 way pickup selector (2 humbuckers) and a mystery (possibly defunct power) switch.

The body is made of what I think is ash with rosewood stripes, the neck is rosewood and the headstock ash.

The bridge is fender style, without the lever and the tuners are self branded.

I got mine second hand from a friend and it came with a case and leads.

My style is sorta rock/metal and it has a very solid sound. When overdriven (with my crappy 10w amp) it sounds perfect - nice and loud. The guitar doesnt change much however, it all has to be controlled at amp level.

The guitar was in tune out of the case and holds its tune for weeks of gentle play ;). All the bits were in the right place but there are a few very minor knock marks on it. The brass is losing its shine somewhat also. Once all the little nuts had been tightend it soundes fine.

This guitar has been through 20 years (approx) of solid use and still looks great, the finish is quite thin but is intact all over - so it must be quite strong. Everything about it feels solid.

None - companys bust

It is a lovlyey instrument, and excellent strength considering its price.

Let me tell you a story..About a year ago a work colleague of mine told me he played guitar. Oh, says I, I didn't know that. Whatcha got? A Westone Thunder, says he. A Westone? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! says I.

Forward wind six months. I was walking past my local junk shop, and there in the window was a Westone Thunder 1A. Golly gee! (they weren't my exact words). That's the guitar that whatsisname's got. Let's have a go on it for a laff. So I went in and 300 SECONDS later walked out with the guitar, having parted with 90 quid folding money plus nine quid shrapnel.

So what did I get for my money? Well, the guitar has a multilaminate body which appears to comprise ash wings with a five piece maple/walnut/maple/walnut/maple central section. It looks like one of those neck-through-body designs but the neck is actually a bolt-on. The guitar has an asymetric double-cut design with pointy cutaways, two exposed black-coil humbuckers, brass Strat-style bridge, three piece laminated maple neck with a seriously chunky slab rosewood board, three single-throw toggles (coil split, reverse phase and active select), brass knobs (same to you, sir!) for tone, volume and active EQ and the customary three-way toggle for neck pick-up, bridge pick-up or both. The tuners are Westone-branded enclosed types and are extremely smooth and accurate (in fact, they are better than the Grovers on my 1800 quid Heritage jazzer). The headstock is back-angled like a Gibson, but is NOT scarf jointed. The strings mount through the back of the guitar like a Telecaster. The quality of the workmanship is quite extraordinary considering the price that these things originally retailed at. The guitar has a natural finish which appears to be quite thin but extremely tough. There are a few very minor dings to the body but overall the thing is in amazing condition for its age, which I guess is about twenty years (serial no. is 4100709). The action was perfect straight out of the shop. I checked the intonation with an electronic tuner and it was spot-on.

I play mostly blues and funk, and the first time I took this guitar out on a rehearsal I thought it stank. The humbuckers sounded very harsh and brittle, with little warmth. Couldn't get a single good sound either in passive or active mode. Especially in active mode. The problem, however, may have been largely to do with the amp (a Peavey Delta Blues with 15" speaker). Sometimes this amp sounds great, sometimes its a dog (irrespective of the guitar plugged into it). Even so, I was convinced the problem was with the guitar so I changed the pick-ups to Schaller Dual Sounds. MY GOD!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING????? These things have the output of a neutron bomb. Now the guitar's only good for moshing. What it really needs is a nice pair of PAFs.

The guitar was bought used so I don't have any idea of what it was like straight out of the factory. However, you can see from my comments above that the playability when I bought it was superb. The guitar fits like a glove, is extremely ergonomic and is probably indestructable. Oh, those inscrutible Japanese!

Although this guitar is the cheapest instrument I've bought in the last twenty years, it's a keeper. No, I'm not entirely happy with the sound at the moment, but I figure it's only a matter of time before I stumble across the perfect pick-ups for this beauty. If suspect a pair of P90 types in normal humbucker dimensions might do the trick. Are these called P94s or something? Let me know! I will probably also disconnect the active circuitry since I feel it gets in the way of the guitar's real tone. In terms of reliability though, this thing is absolutely bullet-proof. It's weathered the last twenty years better than I have.

Not applicable.

The thing I love most about this guitar is its unique feel. It's neither Fender nor Gibson - it's BOTH. The back-angled headstock, the two humbuckers, the chunky fretwire and the 24.75" scale length are pure Gibson, whereas the bolt-on neck, bridge and through-body stringing scream Fender. Westone got it right with the Thunder 1/1A. They took the best features of both camps and combined them to produce a winner. I have to knock points off for the sound, but you must understand THIS IS ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE! If you are thinking of buying one of these instruments then please bear in mind my comments but use your own common sense and judgement to decide. For me, it's probably the best 99 quid I've ever spent.

Bought for me as a present from my dad at age 14, so that was 20 or so years ago, it cost him #135 brand new from a shop in Wolverhampton England. Anyone remember Langdons? anyway I digress.
I remember the 2 twin coil pickups, coil tap, phase switch, active circuitry...very nice, lovely wood finish, brass knobs I know this sounds a bit simplistic but I loved this guitar and haven't seen it for about 17 years. Anyway, yes it had loads of features and they ALL worked...nuff said.

I was a drummer in a crap school band at the time so most of my playing was just for pleasure and yes it gave me lots of it. In fact the guitarist in our band loved the sound. I think it had a very full sound, and with the active kicked in it could really drive, in fact my mate used it regularly when he moved on to a pub rock covers type band a few years later. He just couldn't get the right sound from his squier strat. I recall he would use it with an MXR distortion pedal through a Laney combo, a bassman I think?? I just used it through an old 50 watt combo jacked right up with the active on larrvely.

Only problem was the bridge, mine was a very early one and I think they changed the design to like a strat type after? or did they I don't know? it used to very often come out of adjustment and was poorly made, that was it really, I did see others with a different bridge.
action low
loses a mark for bridge

top stuff never let me mate down EVER.

n/a

Been playing 25 years, wish I could get this guitar again, would buy a secondhand one
Also own a cheap strat copy {encore i think) and a Fender Mustang, which really belongs to my sister, but am currently looking after it, beautiful guitar I weep when I look upon its greatness....just wish I could get the bastard in tune !!!!!!!
Peavey bandit combo.
small practice amp.

(With thanks to previous reviewers) Early '80's, Japan solid-body double cutaway asometric contoured electric, (22 frets. Body solid wood not plywood, but laminated from 5 pieces top-to-bottom (not front-to-back like plywood). Volume control, passive tone (treble cut like most "tone" controls are) and active tone- clockwise boost treble counter clockwise boost bass- this is what a tone control SHOULD be! 3-way pickup switch on top horn, 3 mini-toggles for coil splitter, phase and on/off of active electronics. 2 open-coil black humbuckers, ala Les Paul. Natural honey wood finish, quite heavy. Double skunk stripe down middle of body giving it a neck-thru look, but is a bolt-on. Neck same finish and wood. Semi-satin finish, maybe was shiny just dulled with use and time. Tele-style bridge, non-tremolo. Bridge and knobs made of brass : mini-switches, 3-way, pickup-screws and tuners are all chrome. Westone-stamped tuners. Neck is pretty thin. Active circuitry is driven by two PP3 batteries which fit into a compartment in the back of the guitar.

Modifications: Added Floyd Rose type trem and locking mechanism at nut, otherwise as original. The omission of a good trem was a big mistake in my opinion (although it undoubtedly kept the price low) since the guitar?s tone makes it eminently suitable as a Vai-type wanger. Nevertheless I have ignored this omission for my rating because of the affordability of the guitar when bought.

Can now only be obtained second-hand.

I've had this guitar for around twenty years now. I tend to play a lot of blues and rock, although more recently, I have moved into the more demanding world of jazz. I'm afraid that the Westone is not the guitar for the latter category, but for Rock and Blues I have found the Thunder 1a to be almost ideal. If the guitar were only to have the passive circuitry, then it would be only a mediocre instrument at best, having an uninspiring, muddy sound and low output. However, at the flick of a switch, the guitar becomes a different beast. The transformation owing to the active circuitry is startling and improves the marque's tone remarkably as well as boosting the output significantly - enough to drive even the most demanding of amp input stages. The output has no significant noise in humbucker mode. With all this in mind, I wonder if some of the criticisms that have appeared in other reviews in this section (low output, muddy tone) are from guitarists who don't realise that batteries are required! The most usable tones are certainly those utilising the full humbucking power of the guitar. I have found that the coil taps to single coil mode and phase switches are of limited value, preferring to switch to a Strat if such timbres are required. Nevertheless, the sounds available in the 'full humbucking' mode using the tone control (with built in taps) and pickup selectors are among the most useful for rock, blues and metal (whammy a must for latter) that I know of, and is still my first choice when a 'kick ass' tone is required, hence the high score for sound.

From what I remember, the guitar was well set up when I had it, but benefited from some hours spent with a screwdriver, resulting in an extremely low action without buzzes, which was carried over when I added the whammy. The guitar was very well built for a guitar of this price, and everything hung together well, but the cheap plastic pickup knob top broke very early on. After fixing this many times, I eventually discarded it and the switch works fine without it. The guitar itself is no looker, but the natural wood seen covered with the matt/eggshell finish over the has a certain rustic charm of its own and I have never been tempted to change it. The chunky brass pot knobs and tiny microswitches are well positioned and pleasing to use.

My Thunder 1a was subjected to around 10 years of gigging, with rock bands and in 'rock opera' / musical situations and has been used in numerous recording studios. In the past 10 years, it has been resident in my study (uncased) and been abused by a succession of rugrats. It is testimony to this marque that I have never had to replace any of the original components due to wear/breakage (crappy plastic pickup switch extension excluded). Although there are a few very minor dings in the woodwork, these are not easily spotted owing to the natural wood finish. The electrics, including all pots (still silent in use) and pickups have always behaved themselves and, provided I feed it new batteries (a rare event given the lifetime of modern cells), the guitar has never once let me down either on stage, or in a recording situation.

Never needed it!

I've been playing for around thirty years and have had a succession of guitars, all a damn sight more expensive that this one. The Westone and an early 80's Fender Strat have been the only two that I have been unwilling to part with. If the Thunder 1a went AWOL, I would move hell and high water to find another. Although I've found that the single coil/out-of-phase sounds don't really cut the mustard, this shouldn't deter people from considering this guitar - would you not buy a Les Paul because it has no usable single-coil sounds? The real strength of this marque is its (active) tone which, in my opinion, up there with many of the best humbucker-equipped guitars and wouldn't hesitate recommending this model to anyone who could pick a not-too-battered example up second-hand.

Made in 198someting in japan its got 22 frets

NOT the bass this is 'squalid-top' 3 knobs, volume, tone and another tone.

Let me just note that mine is getting repaired for #50 this very moment cos it got all the controls sliced off in an accident and the insides are a bit mashed!!!

active on/off switch is bust so it keeps flicking!

another switch, which works, adds alot of bass whilst cutting out the mids which is real basssy in rhythm mode.

I think theyre the original westone humbuckers but im changing them cos they sound pretty shitty.

fretboard is maple with free syrup! (just joking but it can be sticky at times!)
dont know about the other woods but it weighs a ton!

i hope itll look half decent when it comes back from the repair shop cos it sure looked shit before!

im giving it a 7 cos theres so many fiddly switches and things!

the sound is muddy and not very good for clean effects but crank up a bit of distortion and the bass response is nice.

with the middle little switch flicked down, the middle harmonics become very clear in a fuzz kind of effect.

It can be noisy but compared to other guitars its clean and it never hisses.

I like the fact that it sounds very grungy but i dislike the fact that it switches itself off every 2 minutes and you have to slap it to start it up again! (yes, im still talking about a guitar!)

but im getting that fixed...

set up is solid it feels and looks like it was hand-made but the pickups are not directly under the strings, in fact theyre miles out!

the action is a bit clumsy but its brilliant for power chords and sliding (not for bending).

this guitar would withstand loads if it wasnt so heavy it just wants to fall from your hands in live perfomances! luckily it has wide strap buttons so it doesnt happen too often.

i can believe that the brass looked nice once upon a time but it looks terrible now.

the finish is thin and worn off in some places

i would take a backup guitar because after a while i would probably get back ache and fall over and die with the weight of this one.

other gear: epiphone SG copy, various electro harmonix pedals.
the SG is great but it puts out zero bass even in rhythm,
so i use the westone for all the rest.

it only deserves 5 because i would never buy one.

Features : Black ,Three knobs ohh err ! (british humour)
I thought they were all the same ,shows how much I know .Love the active feature ,use it all the time gives a real punch.

Use a trace ellott ,love it ,really versitile but like most of us stick to our fav sound all night.

Given to me for my birthday 15 years ago after giving up my "rick" to get married ,not regretted the change in bass or getting married .The finnish is great ,now a bit chipped in places and needs a good clean but still looks and sounds great.

The battery has given up at at the wrong time (does not give you any warning) still my one and only bass ,a bit heavy after breaking my shoulder bone ,but thats another story .100% dependable .

never needed support so no comment

If nicked I would try and find another but I would not hold out much hope of finding one.

Mutsumoku, Japan, SN#2010188, early 80ies. Laminated body made up of three pieces of maple the center, two thin pieces of rosewood and two pieces of ash at the sides. I have added some Wenge at the sides just for good measure. Three piece maple, 22 fret, bolt on neck. Indian rosewood fretboard. Two Westone humbuckers (10K), volume control, balance tone control, three-way toggle switch, coil tap switch, on/off switch for the built in Pre-amp and Active tone control. Seperate volume control for the Pre-amp.
Modifications I have made: New body shape, new headstock shape, Schaller mini tuners 3L/3R, graph tech nut, removed phase-switch, replaced fixed bridge with an ABM tremelo, Schaller strap locks, new Poly-Urethane paint job (black).

When I bought this guitar, I wasn't very impressed with the sound, it was too 'muddy'. After I replaced the fixed bridge with a tremelo the sound just sorta 'opened up' and the sound improved a great deal. The active tone-control and the built in Pre-amp make this guitar very versatile, I can get anything from jazz to Mega-distortion leads from this thing. the only thing lacking is the Fender single-coil sound.
(I play a Laney GH50 valve-amp, a Marshall VS40 and Pod II).

I bought this guitar used, so nothing I can say about the factory set-up. Fit and Finish seem to be at a very high level though. The original hardware was very high quality, even though I have replaced most of it for aesthetic reasons.

This has been my main guitar for the last 10 years, the only problem I have had is that the toggle switch had some corrosion, but nothing a little contact spray couldn't solve.

I bought the guitar used, and I do all my own repairs, so no rating here.

I own 12 other guitars, including 7 U.S. made Kramers and two home-made custom guitars, but this is still my main guitar. The built in pre-amp / active tone-control is the best in the bussiness.

Year, unknown. it looks pretty battered though. 22 frets, but its a left hander strung right handed! you cant reach the top easily. the body is solid wood with a fetching dark two stripe pattern running from the bottom of the neck to the back of the bridge. main 3 way switch with 3 others for more tone and thickness! and an on/off volume switch too. 2 humbuckers, model unknown (possibly originals)
Types of wood are unknown at present (i cant really tell). At first guess all components are original; tele style bridge etc.. possibly even the strings!! no locking nut. I bought it coz it looked nice+ it looked like no-one else would have one.

I was dubious to whether it would give me the sound i needed, but after 2-3 mins of fiddling I got almost exactly what i wanted. a bit of R.A.T.M and Led Zep. incredible sustain suprised me and it sounded just as good at the top end of the neck. as good clean as it is distorted. I use a Fender Rockmaster amp (100W) No dislikes so far!

From what i can tell (im no expert) the whole guitar is built rather well. nothing has been replaced and it suits me just fine. The only thing that worries me is that its left handed but if Jimi can do it, im gonna have a bloody good try!

Solid as a rock, it could have been built with children in mind. maybe they borrowed some design criteria from fisher price! I would always take a backup but my only real concern is the durability of the strings. no laminates, no flakey wood!

I haven't had the guitar for very long. it was bought second or maybe even third hand from a shop in Yeovil. I'm looking for more info on it and i will try to contact the company. Im sure i wont have too many problems i cant deal with

Ive been playing for about 4 years, i can play every kind of music i'd need on it and it looks pretty cool too. my favourite feature is its left handed and that must be fairly rare. i wouldn't part with it for anything less than a signed strat by jimi hendrix, or maybe a bit of a profit. All in all i am very pleased with my bargain find and im sure you will see me using in the future on KerrangTV and wish you had one too. Never mind eh.

Made in Japan, 22 Frets, Laminated top, 3 controls (volume, tone, treble/bass), 2 Westone Humbuckers, active electronics, double-cutaway, Westone tuners, thin neck. Red all qver, exept top of bridge.

I play indie-rock, and through my Korg AX1500G, it can produce clear, unmuffeled sounds , to suit all types of playing. Great for playing all types of music.

When i got it, it was set up perfectly, with well ajusted pickups. all joins were well built.

After numeruos knocks on various items the guitar has only a few, very un-noticable knocks. Big, solid strap buttons, and very depenable.

N/A

Been playing it 4 years, never let me down once. if it were lost i would never find a guitar that could match it for #100, let alone #40!!!

As far as I now it was made in Japan. It is a 4-Stringer. There is one volume control and two tone controls. There are two small pick-ups and one long one. I have changed the pick-ups becaise the old ones had awful gold plugs in them.The finish is red metallic and the shape is a little "batmanLike".

My style is a little grungy and the bass sounda great in that genre. It has no flaws, it never fails and it is absolutely beer proof.

The bass sounded just fine, but the gold parts were getting very old and the gold paint was falling off. I have chosen to change everything and make it a own brand bass with black hardware.It looks awesome.

This bass will last forever. It even ended up in a swimming pool one time.

Westone? I saw the name in a book somewhere but I bought it second hand

It is the best! I have had some different stuff but this will always be there