Westone Thunder I

Bought this guitar new in 1983(Chas. Hutton & Sons, St. Johns, Nf.) for $350 Cdn. Made in Japan. My Thunder 1 was recently lost in a fire along with my 50 amp Tagus tube amp. Trying to replace both these is going to be like replacing my left arm. The guitar was a natural maple construction with a laminate running the length of the body and neck. Absolutely beautiful. It had the basic volume and tone control but that's all it needed. It had 2 humbucker pickups, make u/k and the brass fittings (slightly tarnished after 18 years). It also had a loose conection at the plug input. Westone brand tuners with a sticky 3rd string. I'm going to miss the old girl.

The sound quality was unlike any bass I've tried before or since owning the Westone. I looked at trading it a couple years back but decided against that after testing some of the newer guitars. There was no comparison to the deep rich bass available right up to the highs with no problem. I used it with a Tagus 50 watt tube job that was about 25 years old. Reliable and strong, both heavy as lead by the way.

No factory tuning required. Th action was always smooth and easy to discover new sounds. After 18 years there was not a solitary scratch on this piece, but now it's just fire debris.

This guitar lasted for 18 years with no problem. I'm convinced I could have passed it on to my son (which was the plan) in another 18 years and it would have looked and sounded as good as it did when I last played it the day before the fire.

Never had a warranty issue and only found out a couple years ago the company had gone out of business. Found out the guitar was actually worth more than I had originally paid for it.

I've been playing about 25 years, all my gear was destroyed in a fire at the Church I play at. I's only after it's gone do you realize how much an instrument can mean to you. This thing is irreplaceable. Anyone wanting to sell one of these let me know.

I got this guitar new in '82. It was made in Japan and has a h/h pickup configuration with passive electronics. It has kind of a combination strat/sg style body and it has a natural wood finish. It has some kind of composite wood thing down the middle of the body. Kind of like the old aria pro's around the same time. The neck is the same wood as the body a light wood of some sort. The bridge is a string-through the body type. Everything is stock on it except I replaced the strap locks with a Dimarzio clip-lock strap system. It came with an allen wrench and a hard case. The neck has 22 frets on it and the fingerboard is rosewood, I think. I have the standard pickup selector toggle switch as well as a switch that switches the pickups from single to double-coil which is really nice. It has one volume knob and one tone knob for each pickup.

I use it with a Peavey Studio-Pro 40 and a Zoom 505 multi-effect unit and it sounds great. This guitar can go from a full humbucking Gibson sound to a thin Fender sound. I like the variety of tones I can get out of it. You can get a nice jazz chorus sound out of it on one song and go to a great distorted sound the next. I have found it to be an extremely versatile guitar. I even simulate an acoustic-electric guitar with it via the Zoom.

The set-up was great when I got it new and still is except for a slight ring I'm getting now on the high e string. The hardware is brass and over the years has subsequently accumulated a bit of tarnish over the years. The high e-string is the only area I have noticed that needs to be adjusted. Overall, having had this guitar for more than 16 years I would say it has been fantastic in terms of action and durability.

This is the only electric guitar I own so subsequently I don't have a backup and have never needed one. This guitar is great for live playing as well as recording. I have done home recording with it and it sounds great. The strap is very secure thanks to the Dimarzio strap I installed on it. Unquestionably reliable.

Westone as far as I know, (and I've tried to research this) is not in business any longer. So even if my guitar was under warranty I would be hard-pressed to find anyone to service it. My guitar has never needed repaired (only rescued, when it was stolen and I had to buy it back for $40 at a pawn shop). It was definitely worth the $40.

I have had comments about my guitar from other guitar players when I played live. I was surprised when any of them told me that they had heard of Westone. But most of them were impressed with the sound I got out of it. Of course there have been some guitar purists who have turned their nose up to it because it didn't have Gibson or Fender on the headstock but I'd never trade mine. I can only imagine how great the Thunder IA sounds with the active electronics installed on it. If anyone has a Thunder IA I would be interested in hearing what you think about it?