For Fans of: Matt Hodges, Fran, Tony Iommi
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 5:11 pm
I recently bought a black Westbury Standard from ebay. I've been considering one for years but never quite felt the urge to buy one and see how I took to it. I've been wanting an MIJ black Les Paul Custom copy but the Westburys go for under half the price so I figured it was worth a shot especially as the Les Pauls are thin on the ground at the moment.
It was listed with a few blurry pictures, the strings the wrong way round the tuning post on the G, B and high E, a Red switch tip (the new amber) and an odd holograph sticker between the pickups. I was a little concerned that the sticker would be a bastard to get off or there would be damage underneath, but I justified it by thinking that these rarely come with the case and if it is a disaster under there I'll just replace it with a plain black sticker. Luckily it was a vinyl type that was easy to peal away with next to no residue.
The only long lasting problem with it as I got it was that the bridge was missing two of the intonation screws but I managed to find a similar type at work and replace them for free. Not a perfect fit as they're too big to be recessed like the others, and they don't reach the full length of the bridge but they do reach far back enough for it to intonate so that's good enough for me. The alternative would be a whole new bridge. It does have a small chip off the nut next to the low E but there's enough of it left not to make any difference.
Here are some a couple of pics of how it arrived followed by the original ebay pics.
The pickups sound immense. I believe it's a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and a PAF type in the neck. After a few years of mostly single coils it's amazing how throaty and aggressive these sound.
I've installed Tony Iommi style chrome robroes with black pickup rings and black mounting hardware. I've never been a fan of the 'how many screws can we fit on this pikcguard before it resembles a WWI battleship' approach to guitar aesthetics and definitely prefer things to look as uncluttered as possible in that sense. As far as I can tell the covers don't make a noticeable difference to the sound but I've waited until after changing those parts to put new strings on so it's not easy to directly compare. I'll wait a week or two and then take the covers off and see if they do change things much.
The only thing I dislike about it in the 'honeymoon period' is that it doesn't have slot-head tuners. Not that they should be expected on a guitar of this style but I much prefer them to the 'try and avoid stabbing the end of your finger when you do the high strings' standard type.
The headstock logo looks classier than I thought it would, the two-tone 'W'. The German carve on the body is a nice touch and it has a generous rib counter on the back (I forgot to take a picture but it reaches down to near where the neck would come if it were a neck-thru).
These are possibly the best guitar deal around at the moment. I honestly don't think you can buy a better guitar for less than £200. I suppose you could find a one-off deal that defies market value but when these come up for sale they're regularly £180-210, though quite often they've been gutted for the pickpus. Maybe a Yamaha SG200 comes close for value but I've not played one to compare. This one cost me £190 + 15 for the new parts (I already had a few small bits towards it).
So here it is as it looks now. If you look at the D and G on the bridge you can see the new screws sticking out a bit. From the playing view, looking back past the bridge pickup, it looks a bit like a poor man's Mastery. I've tuned it to a quite silly, but fun to play, CGCGCD. Let the stoner doom commence.
It was listed with a few blurry pictures, the strings the wrong way round the tuning post on the G, B and high E, a Red switch tip (the new amber) and an odd holograph sticker between the pickups. I was a little concerned that the sticker would be a bastard to get off or there would be damage underneath, but I justified it by thinking that these rarely come with the case and if it is a disaster under there I'll just replace it with a plain black sticker. Luckily it was a vinyl type that was easy to peal away with next to no residue.
The only long lasting problem with it as I got it was that the bridge was missing two of the intonation screws but I managed to find a similar type at work and replace them for free. Not a perfect fit as they're too big to be recessed like the others, and they don't reach the full length of the bridge but they do reach far back enough for it to intonate so that's good enough for me. The alternative would be a whole new bridge. It does have a small chip off the nut next to the low E but there's enough of it left not to make any difference.
Here are some a couple of pics of how it arrived followed by the original ebay pics.
► Show Spoiler
I've installed Tony Iommi style chrome robroes with black pickup rings and black mounting hardware. I've never been a fan of the 'how many screws can we fit on this pikcguard before it resembles a WWI battleship' approach to guitar aesthetics and definitely prefer things to look as uncluttered as possible in that sense. As far as I can tell the covers don't make a noticeable difference to the sound but I've waited until after changing those parts to put new strings on so it's not easy to directly compare. I'll wait a week or two and then take the covers off and see if they do change things much.
The only thing I dislike about it in the 'honeymoon period' is that it doesn't have slot-head tuners. Not that they should be expected on a guitar of this style but I much prefer them to the 'try and avoid stabbing the end of your finger when you do the high strings' standard type.
The headstock logo looks classier than I thought it would, the two-tone 'W'. The German carve on the body is a nice touch and it has a generous rib counter on the back (I forgot to take a picture but it reaches down to near where the neck would come if it were a neck-thru).
These are possibly the best guitar deal around at the moment. I honestly don't think you can buy a better guitar for less than £200. I suppose you could find a one-off deal that defies market value but when these come up for sale they're regularly £180-210, though quite often they've been gutted for the pickpus. Maybe a Yamaha SG200 comes close for value but I've not played one to compare. This one cost me £190 + 15 for the new parts (I already had a few small bits towards it).
So here it is as it looks now. If you look at the D and G on the bridge you can see the new screws sticking out a bit. From the playing view, looking back past the bridge pickup, it looks a bit like a poor man's Mastery. I've tuned it to a quite silly, but fun to play, CGCGCD. Let the stoner doom commence.
► Show Spoiler
