Westone Spectrum ST

[guitarkid]

Hey everyone,
I stopped in at my local guitar shop in town on Saturday, I'm good friends with the owner. I was just hanging out at the shop and I noticed a guitar in the used gear that I had not seen in there before, it looked like a cross between a Strat and an SG. I took a look at it and it is a Westone Spectrum ST, it was made in the Matsumoku plant in Japan, he had just got it on a trade in the day before he said. I picked it up and played it for a little bit and the neck on it feels great!! It really feels like a well made guitar. He said he was going to put $199 on it but I could have it for $150. Me and him trade gear a lot so I am thinking about trading him some extra gear for it. Its actually in really great condition, very few small dings, it just needs to be cleaned up and a decent setup. I found some info about the guitar when I was searching on the web here at http://www.westone.info/spectrumst.html At first when I saw it I thought it had Dimarzio's in it but I guess they are Magnaflux I pickups (never heard of them before). I didn't get a chance to play it through a decent amp so I can't comment on how it sounds yet. The pickups are wired with a push/pull pot for coil tapping though. I was wondering what everyone thought about these guitars or if you have heard of them? For the price it seems like a really great guitar to me, I just wanted to get everyones input. I don't have a pic of it yet but I was searching google images and found some exactly like it, I think they look pretty cool.
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[Shadow1psc]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

If you like the way it plays, that's great. If you like the way it sounds, even better. Find a way to get it through a decent amp, or make sure to work out a deal where if it's not meeting your standards after a day or two of fiddling with it you can return it, because $150 can find you other quality MIJ guitars easy.

The style kinda reminds me of a Satriani, it's kinda cool. I've never liked flat white guitars though, looks too... sterile for my tastes. Never played a solid maple guitar though, so like I said, if it speaks to you, get it. Nobody here can really tell you if you like it.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

Well built guitar. Functional rather than pretty. Budget for a upgrade on the in-house pickups. I cannot remember how good, bad or indifferent the other electronics were.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

Matsumokus are some of the best vintage Japanese models. While the pickups and pots weren't great, those are easily replaced.$150 is a fair price as long as the frets aren't trashed.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

The magnaflux pickups are very good pickups and I actually am looking for a pair. Leave them in. I had one of those Westone guitars. It was also a Spectrum IIRC. The Are heavy solid Maple body guitars. If you like vintage size frets and radius, abd a thin neck, then it might be a good guitar for you..just dont plan on doing any radical bends. Tell him you'll give him 135 if he includes a set up. hey..times are tough, moneys tight...people are almost expecting a deal these days.
BYW, I sold mine for 125 with a case. Depending on how clean the one you mention is, thats not a incredible deal for a fairly common guitar. YMMV.

 

[guitarkid]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

If you like the way it plays, that's great. If you like the way it sounds, even better. Find a way to get it through a decent amp, or make sure to work out a deal where if it's not meeting your standards after a day or two of fiddling with it you can return it, because $150 can find you other quality MIJ guitars easy.

The style kinda reminds me of a Satriani, it's kinda cool. I've never liked flat white guitars though, looks too... sterile for my tastes. Never played a solid maple guitar though, so like I said, if it speaks to you, get it. Nobody here can really tell you if you like it.

Thanks for the input. I actually kinda dig the look. Lol I think I'm going to bring one of my Blackstars up there to see how it sounds. Like I said I'm not going to be buying it, if I get it I'm going to trade an old acoustic and a project guitar I've had laying around forever for it.

Well built guitar. Functional rather than pretty. Budget for a upgrade on the in-house pickups. I cannot remember how good, bad or indifferent the other electronics were.

I'll give it a try, if I don't like the pickups I think I have a spare Duncan and GFS lying around here. I actually like the simple white finish.

Matsumokus are some of the best vintage Japanese models. While the pickups and pots weren't great, those are easily replaced.$150 is a fair price as long as the frets aren't trashed.

Nope, the frets don't look like they have any where on them at all really.

The magnaflux pickups are very good pickups and I actually am looking for a pair. Leave them in. I had one of those Westone guitars. It was also a Spectrum IIRC. The Are heavy solid Maple body guitars. If you like vintage size frets and radius, abd a thin neck, then it might be a good guitar for you..just dont plan on doing any radical bends. Tell him you'll give him 135 if he includes a set up. hey..times are tough, moneys tight...people are almost expecting a deal these days.
BYW, I sold mine for 125 with a case. Depending on how clean the one you mention is, thats not a incredible deal for a fairly common guitar. YMMV.

The neck actually has good sized frets not vintage size, I'd say at least medium jumbos or maybe bigger. If I get it I'm going to work out a trade for it, not buy it, we swap gear all the time. A setup won't be a problem because I always just set my own guitars up, he's actually the guy that taught me how to work on guitars. Whenever he gets behind on setups and repairs he just sends them to me and gives me store credit for it, so it works out pretty cool.

 

[richard parker]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

I remember these being around about 25 years ago. They weren't expensive and loads of my friends had them. I recall them as being very good guitars for not much cash.

 

[guitarkid]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

I figured if I could pick it up it would be a cool guitar to fix up and would make a decent backup to all my others or just to have something different.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

$150 is too expensive for that guitar.

 

[guitarkid]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

$150 is too expensive for that guitar.

I know, as I said I'm not buying it, I'm going to trade some extra gear for it.

 

[guitarkid4143]

Re: Westone Spectrum ST

I dig it.

-gk