Westone Thunder 1A.

[edwardd]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post on the Westone Guitar Forums. It's great to see an ongoing appreciation for these superb guitars.

I wonder if I might ask some questions about parts and things as I'm refinishing my T1A.

- Is there a trem unit I could add to the guitar without routing?
- Can I obtain new logo decals anywhere nowadays? I know this has been asked in other threads but seems a bit dated.
- What are the nearest sounding modern PU's I could use? My old pickups tend to break up a bit in the bass frequencies. I'm not keen on EMG, they're a bit too clinical

I'll add some quick pics here.

Before stripping.



Back to bare wood.



The new finish. I'm trying to match the Violin Amber Burst as used on PRS guitars. This is using various nitro-cellulose spray. It still needs a couple of top clear coats then the flat sanding and buffing etc. I have loads more pics of this project if anyone is interested in seeing them.



All the best,
Ed

[spidey2]

oh yes please post more , Im going to make my own thunder 1 body still gathering the wood for 2 bodies please post more pics of the sanded body would be cool all pics would be cool!!

[edwardd]

@spidey2,

Here you go mate.

Cheers,
Ed.

[Barry]

Hello Ed and welcome to the craziness that is the house of Westone! We're all quite potty here...about these guitars.
What a shame you had to go to all the trouble of stripping her down, but you've done a beautiful job so far!

If you've checked out the old threads about logo replacement you'll see that most of the boyz have had good success using water slide transfers. They are fairly easy to make if you're handy with computers and such, but someone may have a spare one kicking about that they can liberate for you.

As for pickups, the MMK45's are the dog's privates and they sound amazing on this guitar. I can't recommend a replacement but your best bet is to either rewind 'em if you're sure they're knackered, or look for them to come up on eBay and the like.

[sarcaster]

Water slides worked perfectly for my Pantera. Just need to find the correct logo for the thunder, then make it the correct size in a photoshop type application, make it grey-scale, print it out on the water slide paper, then spray a few coats of clear coat on the sheet and let dry before cutting. Once it's dry, put it on the guitar and when you are spraying your clear make sure to add a couple extra coats in the logo area and do all the sanding as normal and it should come out fine.

I think the Westone log is different on the pantera than the thunder so I can't help you with the image itself, but it shouldnt't be too hard to find an image that will be useful.

[Iceman]

AFA treks go there is a wonderbar on ebay right now. I understand these require no routing but as far as intonation to the scale of a Thunder.........

[edwardd]

Thank you guys for your advice and info, much appreciated

@Iceman, yeah the scale length is something I'll have to make sure of when / if I do get a trem. Thanks for that tip. I did get a Kahler 7300 in gold from GAK last week but sent it back as it was second hand, full of hairs, fluff and pit marks bad GAK!, naughty GAK!. Just as well I didn't do the small route needed for that trem beforehand.

Cheers,
Ed.

[The Chad]

That finish is very pretty, great job.

Pickups... go original is my opinion. And probably the opinion of most of us on here! The MMK45's have a wonderful sound, suits the guitar. Have a crack at repairing them if your brave enough, which by the looks of the strip down you're plenty brave enough!

[edwardd]

Couple more of the finished guitar.





All the best,
Ed

[The Chad]

Great job Ed! Looks a LOT better than it did. The head particularly impressed me. How did you decide go about the logo. Great job.

What pickups?

[edwardd]

Hi Chad,

Thanks for the comments. I had to re-veneer the headstock with some 0.6mm rosewood from ebay. The logo is one I've designed in Corel draw and I had it printed by a nice chap at Redfirecracker.co.uk. It took lots of nitro to cover the decal which is actually still a bit soft. The neck and headstock are finished in satin clear as opposed to the hi-gloss body, I think I now prefer a satin finish, it looks more 'even' than the gloss.

There are a few flaws here and there but I'm happy with it, being my first attempt with aerosol nitro.

The pickups are the original MMK45's.

[bowenjaybee]

excellent work that, it looks great in that colour.

[sarcaster]

color looks great!

[Westbone]

Excellent, that looks real good.
What would you call it, 'Toffee Burst'
Definately an improvement and different, nice

When you gonna route it for a trem............Stick a go fast stripe on it.

Looks bloody great man.

[edwardd]

Thanks guys,

@Westbone, I was hoping I could match a PRS finish called Violin Amber Burst although I think they use a clear red in their finish. For this I used clear orange and clear tobacco around the edges. My brother saw it and said it looked like a toffee apple, so I suppose that's what I'd call it if anything . strange though, the true colour of it isn't picked up by the camera sensor, it's very reflective.

Link PRS example

[corsair]

Wow. Just... wow.... stunning!!

[Westbone]

Jees, tins, how many did you use?

Worth it for the outcome.

[grogg]

Thats fab!
Really like the idea and looks of the veneer on the headstock. Hmmm

[Westbone]

All Thunder's('part from the painted one's) and quite a few other Westone's plus Gibson's have a veneer on the headstock.
Many makers use this process.
'not rocket science.
But it certainly looks good.

[grogg]

I know but not on a T1 and its a nice job. What happened to the brass nut?