Project #3 - Westone Thunder I-A

Well, so project #1 is still progressing, albeit slowly, and project #2 is still in its box, but project #3 is now about to take off! Maybe I should take one thing at a time, but this one requires rather less work than the first two and it should be fun.

I've been keeping an eye on Ebay for a while in case any interesting potential projects come up, and in amongst a lot of rubbish and over-priced stuff there's the occasional gem to be had - probably true of buying just about anything on Ebay! I've missed out on a couple of things, a perspex Aria Legend body in particular which would've been fun to put together, but a couple of weeks ago I managed to secure both the body and neck of a Westone Thunder I-A.

It was made in 1986 by the well-regarded Matsumoku factory in Japan, and in simple terms is a double-cutaway, fixed-bridge, twin-humbucker guitar. The thing that sets it apart though, is the active pre-amp circuit that's built in - hence the "A" in "I-A". I also happen to think it's a really nice looking guitar, with laminated Ash/Maple/Walnut body that's put together to resemble a neck-through-body construction. There was a neck-through version of it in the Westone range apparently, but this one is actually a bolt-on neck.

The neck has its original tuners but is missing a nut, otherwise it looks in good condition bar the odd minor ding and scratch. The body could definitely be described as "well-used" and has a fair few little dents and marks, plus quite a bit of pick-wear on the front, but it's just cosmetic. I suppose I could sand down the body and re-lacquer it but the cosmetic wear isn't something that particularly bothers me, not at this stage anyway. Maybe that's something I can do at a later date, but for now I just want to get it working. The body has the original (I presume) bridge - a fixed, string-through-body design - and most of the electrics (including the all-important active circuit) but is missing a push/pull tone pot, pickup selector switch and the pickups.

There's some great information on the internet about it, particularly at westone.info which is an absolute treasure-trove of information, including an all-important wiring diagram. The model I have is the Version 5 on this page.

I figured that I could just get some cheap pickups and get it working, but I'd rather make the best of it that I can - so I've decided to get a set of Seymour Duncans, and hopefully it'll sound really good. Most of the parts are now on order, so I'll post a bit more about them as and when they arrive.