The Electra Forums

I've been taking pictures of some of my guitars lately, thought I'd post em. Here's the X5RD Monark:



It's a pretty cool guitar, i love the body lines, and it's got monstrously hot rail pickups. LIke all the H-S-H pickup guitars, it has three pull knobs for coil tap, fat, and phase reverse. It's got a wider neck than most Westones, and fat frets, and I suppose that's not exactly my style. But it's also got a Bendmaster bridge set up for full-floating,and once you plug it into a bucking screaming tube amp, it comes into its own and none of that matters- it's a cool guitar, fun to play. I think it just resents being played at anything under 100 decibels :)



BTW, you sometimes see this guitar listed as 'Monarch', which is incorrect, it clearly says 'Westone Monark' on the headstock.

And here's a white one!





You'd be surprised how comfortable this shape is to play. The long point fits right against your leg, and the beveled edge is perfect for resting your hand on. It's a remarkably ergonomic guitar. The only problem with it is that the body is so light that when it's in a gig bag it's awkward to keep the neck up. This guitar is nicely set up, and so comfortable to play that it makes me want to go over the red one in detail to get it equally well set up.





This is the only Westone (or Electra for that matter) I've ever seen that didn't have a serial number (well, aside from the rail guitar, that is). I looked carefully at the back of the headstock- if somebody removed the serial number, they did a dang clever job of it, there's no scratches or discoloration or anything to suggest the serial number was removed. Odd...

my Prestige is lacking a serial number as well. when i first acquired it, i didn't realise it should have one, but i have checked since, and as far as i can tell, there wasn't one to begin with. hmmmmm....i wonder why?

This white Monark is getting to be a really great guitar. The balance is great!

The Monark is turning out to be the mystery guitar among Westones. I don't find it included anywhere among the catalogs or flyers. If it had one of the 'Hot Stuff' flyers, it would be the only one to have its own- every other guitar is accounted for.

Curious... I wonder who designed it? the H-S-H pickup arrangement is very SLM, but it's not included with either the Electra guitars like the Dynasty, nor the non-SLM pointy Westones like the Raider. It has the black neck and headstock of a Dynasty, and of the Dimension IV.

The other Electra-origin Westones (Spectrum/Phoenix, Dynasty) showed up as supplements to the non-SLM Westone catalogs. The Dimension IV had never been around as an Electra, but appeared in 85 with the same H-S-H formula, although it had different rail pickups than the Spectrums (the FX got the same ones in 86). The Monark had the same stuff- but it never appears to have been pictured anywhere, not yet that I can find.

I wonder if it was just too weird. Like the Dimension IV, I bet it got a lot of attention in the display window, but people bought more conservative, less embarassing guitars. I bet it appeared in 85, nobody liked it, and it was dropped? Just guessing...