Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: WezV on January 08, 2010, 04:59:12 PM
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been curious about these for a while... and a late friday afternoon punt means i have one on its way attached to a westone thunder 1a
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200423674665&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:GB:1123
i quite like these guitars anyway and it should be straight forward to put back to normal and upgrade the p-ups
then i have a wonderbar to play with too :)
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thats very you wez!!
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I've always been fascinated by the Washburn Wonderbar.
I think the double set of rollers should be an improvement on the Kahler and give better sustain - but never actually tried one. Big lumps though, aren't they?!
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yeah, the wonderbar is hideous and looks particularly bad on this guitar. the guitar will look a lot nicer without it
so the plan is to get the westone back into original shape - maybe with some double cream humbuckers i have here. and then make something crazier for the big ugly wonderbar
i always liked the westone thunder basses so expect a similar solidly built budget guitar
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(http://is.gumtree.com/ad_image/live/big/284723328.jpg)
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This bridge is uglier than beat the own mom :P
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I only clicked on this because I thought is said Wonderbra.
I feel a bit short changed.
However, nice buy!
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I only clicked on this because I thought is said Wonderbra.
I feel a bit short changed.
However, nice buy!
:lol: :lol: :lol: nice one! So is the wonberbar a Floyd type trem? Never heard of them!
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the wonderbar is kinda an attmept at a modern trem but it has the advantage of needing no routing becuase it is spring based... not spring based like a fulcrum trem, like a fender or floyd and not cam based like a kahler. its most like a kahler i suppose but hte cam on a kahler needs a route under the trem, this needs none... it mounts from the front and is fully adjustable from the front
but it is a bulky mo-fo and i thing seeing it on the westone shows how ugly it can be. I am almost planning a build around it though... something industrial. but first i want o see how it works and see how to make it work as good as it can... then the westone will be probably be put back stock and sold on
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sorry tom :)
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(http://is.gumtree.com/ad_image/live/big/284723328.jpg)
That was my FIRST electric guitar!!
Bought it when I was 18
learnt the value of straplocks because of the slightly dangerous angle of the upper strat button - guitar fell off my strap (was gutted - didn't break but gave me a scare)
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the 81's have the strap button there. the one i am getting has it on the inside of the horn which makes a lot more sense and puts it at 83-84 in this style
apparently the pickups are quite nice too. we will see. My first thoughts was that it would look very bc rich with a set of double creams so i m up for changing them but if they work good i wont bother
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It was my first serious electric as well!
And it cost £3 cheaper (brand new in 80 or 81) than your winning bid :lol:
Sold it to my niece for £60 a couple of years ago. She posed in front of her mirror with it for a few weeks... her brother has got it now... I have been wondering in the past few months about tempting him with a different guitar (an Epi LP or SG with Gibson pickups) to get it back.
Looks like this one was string through as original? Mine was a top-loader. I don't seem to have the original bridge plate, but I'm sure the saddles were a single screw and barrel arrangement like a tele, except there were six saddles - I replaced it with a plate/saddles that didn't keep flipping over while I was playing!
The pickups were OK, I replaced them with something, can't remember what. They didn't offer much improvement, but I was a strat player by then. I put the originals back and sold the replacements to a budding luthier friend at the time who loved that brand of pickups.
Lots of memories in that guitar - ZZ Top's Eliminator was riding high when I was using it live. It sounded very "modern" Billy Gibbons (at the time) with it's stock pickups through a valve amp.
If I were to get it back, I'd probably be thinking Black Dogs.
Back on topic though - Wonderbar... WTF, what's so important about that? The Westone is the big deal here! :lol:
Congrats :D
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thanks guys, nice stories
yours would be an earlier one too, they switched to string through and moved the strap button for the second lot
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Thanks for the explanation Wez.
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yeah, the wonderbar is hideous and looks particularly bad on this guitar. the guitar will look a lot nicer without it
so the plan is to get the westone back into original shape - maybe with some double cream humbuckers i have here. and then make something crazier for the big ugly wonderbar
i always liked the westone thunder basses so expect a similar solidly built budget guitar
Would that make a WEZtone?
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i should register that ;) :)
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Ooh, my brother had a Thunder I in natural, and I used to have a IA in black. Bought it off a mate's brother because I hated my Squire Bullet so much. My actives packed up so I used as a kill switch.
His got sold on, mine ended up lent to one of his friends and, last I heard, it had a neck a bit like a rollercoaster.
EDIT: Both of ours were string thru body.
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it turned up today and i am over the moon with it. Its not playing perfectly yet but nothing a fret dress and set-up wont sort... and its got at least another level before the frets are too low which is a pleasant surprise, might change them for something bigger anyway
it sounds pretty good, the active tone circuit adds quite a boost, hardly transparent but sounds good. although very ice picky with the treble turned up. split and phase switch are uninspiring but pickups are not too bad
the wonderbar is in perfect condition apart from some corrosion on the bar and a missing screw on the lock nut. i will leave it on this guitar till i have it all figured out... it seems it can be set for in tune divebombs ala transtrem...although it doesnt lock in different positions the way that can. it doesnt have the greatest range but seems to work accurately... it feels somewhere between a floyd and a kahler in terms of tension/fight
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Nice one :D
it sounds pretty good, the active tone circuit adds quite a boost, hardly transparent but sounds good. although very ice picky with the treble turned up. split and phase switch are uninspiring but pickups are not too bad
That's my memory of a Thunder IA
I used the boost early on, through an HH VS-Musician 100w tranny combo - with "valve-sound"! Through a tranny amp, the boost nearly took you through the ceiling :lol:
The split and phase switching I did use, but it was what led me to a strat. An "old" geezer (I'm a couple of years older now than he was then...) explained to me that what I was reaching for was the sound of a strat... and he was right! :lol:
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its not too heavy, unless you count 9 lbs as heavy for a guitar not much bigger than an N4 ;)
it is very well made. i have just taken it apart to see what i am dealing with
album here:
http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/WESTONE%20WONDERBAR/
the trem:
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/WESTONE%20WONDERBAR/A3.jpg)
the original bridge;
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/WESTONE%20WONDERBAR/R3.jpg)
the old brass parts are a bit gunky looking but brass does clean up great. I have two screw holes to fill which wont disapear completely but wont be noticeable unless you are looking for them and i will have to rebuff the bridge area to get the colour more even
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nice find a bit odd, but remember friend having one of these and a aria pro 2
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Interesting seeing the shielded control compartment - nice touch on a budget guiyar, unless it was done by a previous owner.
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nah, its all original in the cavity - we often talk about budget guitars being made better now than ever before and for the most part its true... these things are the exception
I was impressed by the cavity, full size pots, nice switches and threaded inserts on the battery cover screws since they will need to be removed more often ... although the shielding may have been needed because of the pre-amp which is a very basic design. The only dissapointing bit was the box type 3-way on the upper horn - but its still working well
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It's making me want to get mine back! :lol:
That's an original Westone case as well isn't it? D'uh... didn't notice the album at first... yeah, I can see it now under the D'Addario sticker!
On the budget guitar thing- yep, I think I can say I haven't owned a guitar as well made as that one was, really, well not ever since!! I remember all that shielding, and the thread inserts :D
The neck-headstock junction is a bit weak on them though. I buggered both the Thunder and a Rainbow. The Rainbow fell off a strap in a soundcheck (the strap pulled off the strap lock!! I gave up buying them and switched to home-made devices). The Thunder incident was a bit more rock'n'roll - I put it through the venue's ceiling (er, deliberately :roll:) at the end of a particularly exciting set...
In both cases it was a visible split both sides, but the string tension held it on. I got the Rainbow repaired, but never touched the Thunder - and it's still going apparently.
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i dont know of many angled headstocked guitars that would survive being put through a ceiling andy, thats what fenders are built for ;)
i knew it was coming with a case but didnt expect it to be original. tbh i would have preferred a generic case as i could nick it for something else :)
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i dont know of many angled headstocked guitars that would survive being put through a ceiling andy, thats what fenders are built for ;)
Ah, mebbe that's why I like them so much :lol:
To be fair to myself, I should state that it wasn't a proper, solid ceiling... it was a a false one, a sort of slatted affair... and it had vague evidence of previous, similar attentions - my hole was slightly bigger though...
The rest of the band hadn't even noticed, but the crew were sh1tting themselves that someone-who-gave-a-damn had seen me do it and might not want us to leave the venue with our expensive gear (and more importantly, their PA) without making some sort of restitution first...