Westone Thunder I restoration (long & picture heavy!)

[munkieNL]

Hi, i'm new here. Just restored (well halfway...) a Westone Thunder I.



Situation "ante". Tele(!) PU near the neck. PU switch broken off. Dirty and rusty. Worn fretwork. Non-original knobs. Thunder I in black, a rare combination.



Nice neck plate, i've seen Thunders online with a "plain" neckplate.



Bridge PU: a genuine MMK45 with a red wire sticking out the bottom plate...



The mess after dismantling the MMK45. I'm just an amateur guitar tech but the guy who worked on this guitar before me was a vandal!


New electronics, GFS Crunchy PAF's, new output jack. No tone control just 2 X volume!



The solid brass bridge after polishing. 2 hours of my life!



Script logo.





I'll try to make better pix someday.



1st impressions: what a bargain, what a killer guitar! I'm an old dude with 30 years of guitar experience, i've had lots of gear. About the longest sustain i've ever heard from a bolt-on guitar. Nice low string tension due to the short scale length. Fat sound with deep bass but also attack and enough highs to cut through. With low budget pickups, GFS Crunchy PAF's no Seymour Duncans etc.

On the to-do list: new humbucker rings, new screws, new knobs, maybe new pots. And, last but not least, a complete re-fret job. There are some deep indents in the frets. I could do a levelling job but then it might be hard to remove the frets.

[norfolkngood]

Well done that man!! Another one saved

[Bunyip]

Nice work, you have done a great job. Nothing thunders like a thunder 1. I have restored an 83 lefty thunder 1, in which I installed GFS Fat PAFs. They sound nice and fat, very Gibsonish if I say so myself. Thanks for the pictures of the deconstructed MMK45, I feel inspired now to take apart the faulty one from this guitar and see if I can get it working again.

[munkieNL]

Check out this thread:

http://forum.westoneguitars.net/technical-f3/mmk45-wiring-t913.htm

Get yourself a multimeter and set it to 20 Kohm. Even I can do it. Good luck!

[munkieNL]

With speed knobs. More grip and better looks.

[Barry]

Looks terrific!

[munkieNL]

SOUND DEMO : http://www.quickfilepost.com/download.do?get=4edf5a228534de1496d1acd60df67a32 (click the link and download the MP3). Appropriate tune methinks

BTW solid brass knobs on the way!

[Barry]

Very impressive!
Was that you playing with your bad self?
Live or looped?

[munkieNL]

Just me, myself and the Thunder And a Line 6 POD 2.0, a Tascam US122L USB interface, a PC with Cubase and EZdrummer. Oh, and a cheap Chinese jazzbass copy.

[Barry]

Yikes! Sorry I asked.
We old folk tend to rock it live! (with some reverb...maybe)

[Racing]

Don´t fret(!!!!!!!!!!) Barry.
´Nother old fart right here....and indeed....reverb junkie...

I don´t get it with the youngsters...
Multis and what have you not.
I fail to see the point(which i guess is my age showing)

It works like this;
Good sized tube amp
412 of choice.
Guitar.
Hose.

Plug hose to guitar.
Plug hose to amp.
Dial to 11 and let her rip.

If it´s to loud...you´re to old...

[munkieNL]

Of course i have a 4X12 with Celestions and a 50 W Brit tube head, but the neighbours probably wouldn't appreciate me for letting it roar...

[Barry]

...If it´s to loud...you´re to old...

...the neighbours probably wouldn't appreciate me for letting it roar...

Hey, if they can't take a joke they shouldn't live next door!!!

[corsair]

You're all rank beginners in the loud stakes; I used a 100w tube combo 2x12 amp - with a few select and discreet mods! - and then miked it through my PA, along with a DI input as well!! I liked to practice chops at stage volume if at all possible so that there's no surprises on performance night!! Mind you, I lived a lot of my life in the country side where I could also sight in .300 Winchester Magnum rifles from my deck and no-one cared!

I'm with the reverb freaks; I still own and occasionally used, my very old WEM Copicat on a fast repeat/decay backed with the amplifiers' big, swampy spring tank ... mmm ... mmmm .... .mmmm!! Although when I stopped performing Iadmit to having most FX as digital stompers simply becasue they're bullet-proof ... and guitarist proof!!

I'm writing this from Mackay, in Queensland, Australia at 2225hrs, and the temp is 29 degrees and ther humidity is about 92%....

l.....looking forward to a bit of that global cooling that Barry rabbits on about, eh.....

[Barry]

Hey John! Glad to see you're still kickin'!

I gotta play it loud to get over the raging tinnitus in my ears...Geez, it's like a chorus of deranged American Idol, Mariah Carey rejects, with Kenny G thrown in just for fun...all singing different songs...and all out of tune!
Reverb is my friend.

As for that weather thing, our brutal cold snap has finally broken and temps have creeped above the freezing mark for the first time in weeks. That's the good news. Hope my European and mid-western American bruddas and sistas are experiencing some similar relief!

The bad news of course is that more rain/snow/ice is coming, and little or no sun. (What else is new this year?) I'll gladly trade your 29°C for our recent -18°C (-25° or so with wind chill).

[Warrn]

I'm so glad I live in Florida. Our low for the two weeks of cold was 17F. Still way below my comfort zone, but better than -18C! Hope you're doing well, John.

[Barry]

17F is about -8C and still pretty bloody cold, especially for Florida! Still, makes you appreciate what you have eh?

[Warrn]

It definitely beat last year's low by 10 degrees or so. It was so cold during the day that work was cancelled for about two weeks.

[Racing]

We´ve had it harder than usual too.
Temps have been around 20-25 minus C around here,and just north of us they´ve seen minus 40....
Better right now tho with temps hoovering around the zero mark.

[corsair]

At the moment, I could do with a little coolness; it's cyclone season here and that means pretty heavy humidity which to those of you who haven't experienced it, is a little like breathing water and makes you break out in a sweat as soon as you walk out the door!! Uncomfortable when, like me, you are not even roughly used to it!

There are beautiful beaches here, but at this time of the year, you are not allowed to swim at them beacuse of the 1) saltwater crocs, 2) sharks, 3) stingers, which are what the Aussies call box jellyfish and the Irakandji jellyfish which are both small but extremely lethal. Literally.

Still, we'll have our chance at coolness when we hit Europe in March, eh!!!