The Electra Forums

Hi guys,
anyone got any info on these. saw one on ebay and they look quite nice

There were two flavors of them. The originals were somewhat of a super-stratish design, a shredder more or less. I suspect they were one of the last models added to the Westone label before it was dropped.

The new Corsairs (warning: link may be unreliable) are a cop on the earlier Westones with a slightly "Prestige" body style made in the very recent past in the UK. There is no connection between them and the REAL Westones. They apparently did not take off as I believe they are no longer made.

If it is the auciton I am thinking of, it is one of the "new" Westones. I suspect the seller has never played a Prestige, Rainbow, or Thunder having called the REAL Westones "cheap".

They did however recieve rather favorable reviews when they came out but I vaguely remember them also being a bit pricey.

thanks AP2. yes it must be one of the new ones ive seen then. shame, it looks quite nice, not that i need another guitar, but we all know how it goes when you see something you kind of half can talk yourself into wanting if the price is right if anyones interested, the corsair is http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 3774341928

its a bit late at night so i might of read the comments wrong if i have many apologies. I own 2 of the westone cutlass models one in natural ash and one in powder blue (alder i think) They are not cheap junk. They were/are Fantastic guitars made in the Stratus factory here in the Uk designed by the late Sid Poole. these where made by the second owners of the "Westone" label before it was sold on to the current owners who are making the current stage prop guitars.
They play with ease, they didnt do well despite favourable reveiws due to the fact they where priced too high (£599) but at the price i got mine for (around the £250-350) they are everybit as good as modern day gibsons ( which i also own) and better than the current US Fenders (which i did own but got rid, do you know they make huge p/k routes now for any combination?).
To sum up apart from the Washburn Falcons these are my fav guitars and id reccomend them to any one. Personaly id shy away from the corsair models and look for the Cutlass these are the earlier ones (1994-1995 i beleive) and where still watched over by Mr Poole. The quality of build is amazing and the woods are fantastic the only thing that lets them down is the Humbuckers that come with them, their ok but you'll need to replace them. Everything else is great though even the stock single coil is as good as fenders texas specials, 22 frett 25" scale tremelos that work what more could you want?
if you're interested I might still be able to get hold of some, the guy who used to work for the distributer in the uk has 4 i think 2 in mint condition and 2 with slight scratches.

I never said the newer line was cheap, it was the seller implying the earlier versions were so. While they enjoyed their brief run they garnered nothing but rave reviews, much in line with your opinion. User and mag reviews were all on the upside.

I suspect in some small way it was not as wise a business decision as first thought to re-use the Westone name. Expectations come with the Westone name for many folks (whether the Prestige comes to mind or the Spectrum series) and that magic is gone. It did however raise interest in the guitars since Westone was a well established name.

I guess they have gone the way of th Skylark.

sorry! I Re-read your post again this morning when i was sober (nearly) and yes i got the wrong end of the stick.
Your right about the idea of using the westone name for these guitars, i think maybe they would have sold more if they had used the Patrick eggle moniker ( built in same factory) or even a new name where no stigma or past history would be attached. Its a real shame that some of these guitars remain never played in some guys wharehouse, ive done my best to rescue as many as i can but theres still a few left i just cant afford or warrant after my recent aquisition of the falcon.
Also i wonder if PRS said anything regarding the design? the headstock and neck(including scale) is a direct copy of their wide/thin and the body certainly shows some family traits.
One thing i didnt like about the cutlass was why build a fantastic guitar with the best woods money can buy then supply it with the cheapest bargin basement gig bag i have ever had the misfortune to see, it really isnt worth the money it cost them to ship it over from the factory in china.

There was an eBay auction last year I should have grabbed the pics off of. It was for a Westone Cutlass with an Ibanez neck. Not only that, but I think the seller had done that oddball mod more than once. It had a custom pickguard which I suspect probably hid the mess required to pull it off. Unfortunately the auction is gone from eBay.