Comments on: Westbury Guitars

by: Damon Rice

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:20:17 +0000

i have a Standard that was given to me,it has a super d in the bridge and a paf in the neck,stock tuners,gibson bridge,and GFS pots/switch/jack…it looked like this when i got it

[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff29/diceman1000/westbury015.jpg[/IMG]

[URL=http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff29/diceman1000/?action=view¤t=westbury015.jpg][IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff29/diceman1000/th_westbury015.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

i refinished it with napier of london gunstock oil and she now looks like this…

[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff29/diceman1000/westbury056.jpg[/IMG]

[URL=http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff29/diceman1000/?action=view¤t=westbury056.jpg][IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff29/diceman1000/th_westbury056.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

she is my #1 player.the guy i got her from was going to trash her:(…i will never get rid of this one and i’m currently looking for other models as well…

by: Tracy

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:13:33 +0000

I bought my Westbury Series 200 brand new from a music store in Russell Springs, Kentucky, called “Moonglow Entertainment Center”. Mine is black, with the maple fretboard…exactly like the small pic on the univox.org website. It was my first good guitar. I had a no-name Les Paul copy that I believe came from JCPenney at the time. This would have been around 1981, and I was just a teenager. Anyway, I traded in the Les Paul and gave $219 I earned from mowing lawns to boot for the Series 200. During high school and college, and beyond I gigged that guitar in several states in the midwest. I took out the old Strat bridge and replaced it with a Washburn Wonderbar, back when everybody wanted a Floyd Rose. Took out the bridge DiMarzio and replaced it with an overwound Shadow humbucker. Still have the guitar and bring it out sometimes when I need that hot humbucker something.

by: paul

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:44:12 +0000

I hate to upset anyone, but while i was collecting some donated items for the charity i work for, the guy gave me a westbury super custom on pain of death that it was never sold or given away.
It’s a great guitar, but unlike the ones i’ve seen on the web, mine has seymour duncan pickups and a master volume switch.
Oh yes……the items he donated were an old marshall valve combo and a fender twin reverb.
the generosity of people never fails to amaze me.

by: Marje

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:11:38 +0000

Have a black Westbury standard that I got from a friend. Changed the tuning gears (one broken) to Schallers. Needs a switch (also broken off). Holes where he attached the strap. Some nicked spots, but still hot. Original hardshell case is rough but serviceable. Need to sell. Best bet to Ebay or
trade in to Guitar Center, or what? If it’s not worth anything I’ll just hang it as a display.

by: David Jaz

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:12:46 +0000

I’m staying with my cousin for a few days recovering from swine flu and check out his guitar, which my dad used to have back in the early 80’s and gave to him,..
it was from a brand I’d never heard of but sounds and plays like a charm so i decided to google it and this is what it came up

I really love the instrument

by: Jim Wilmer

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:25:08 +0000

Hi
I was the marketing director at Rose, Morris & Co Ltd in London NW5 1NE up to the summer of 1985, and I was deeply involved in the design of Westbury guitars, as RM and Unicord had a close relationship as distributors of Marshall amplification.
I decided that we should approach the then legenday Larry DiMarzio to see if he would allow us to feature his then market leading pickups, which RM distributed in the UK, on Westbury guitars, to be made at Matsumoku, where I visited to check prototypes.
By far the most popular model was the Standard, which had two Di-Marzio Super Distortion Humbuckers, then costing about UKP60 for a pair, in a guitar that sold at list for UKP149 I think.
The range was a combination of US and UK design, produced by the excellent Matsumoku factory.
If anyone has any specific questions, I’ll do my best to respond (jim_wilmer@compuserve.com).
I believe production stopped about 1982, and RM then began producing rather comparable VOX guitars made by Matsumoku. There is a picture of me holding a prototype in the VOX book by David Petersen, who I last saw in Chandlers Guitars in Kew, London in about 1999.

by: Simon

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:18:08 +0000

I’m regretting it already, but I must part with my treasured Westbury Super Custom. It goes live on Ebay on 06/02/09 at 22.00hrs GMT.
This instrument has been owned, played and loved by me since 1995. This is truly an emotional event for me. It would ease the pain if it went to a genuine enthusiast.
I have listed it as a Super Custom because, although it bears the Custom title on the truss rod cover, not Custom-S, my research suggests that it has Super Custom furniture, eg cream neck binding, trapeze pearl fret markers and gold coloured pickup covers. If anyone can enlighten or correct me, I will alter the description accordingly.

by: KrisBelucci

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:37:55 +0000

Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I’ll definitely be coming back to your site.

by: Roland Williams

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:51:35 +0000

I’ve just dug my deep cherry red Standard out of hibernation after 22 years, and it feels as good as it did back then. It’s great to hear people rate them – I’ve only had the pleasure of playing on a handful of guitars, none of the ‘classics’, so I’ve had little to compare to. BUT the weight, the action, the neck, the sound – somehow I felt this one was a good’n.

I wonder if someone could put me straight on a small point. A friend, impressed with my Westbury Standard purchase, bought one for himself about a year later. Exactly the same, but sounded slightly less wicked – he was convinced the manufacturer had switched from DiMarzio super distortion humbuckers to cheaper DiMarzio humbuckers, or something like that, some way through its brief 4 year production life.

Also, don’t know about over in the states, but I’m sure I remember them being re-badged under the VOX name for a short period before disappearing from the music shops I’d gaze into as a teen.

Thanks Kirk and all
Roland in sunny London

by: Scott Riddell

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:16:29 +0000

HI fOLKS,
The Westbury Standard bought through ebay after reading feedback on this site has been in our home a couple of weeks now and is every bit as Good an instrument as described here.
The feel of this Guitar is Great.
Does anybody have a sugestion as to a change in PUPS.
Don’t get me wrong These Dimarzio SD’S are not bad at all but still want to try another combo.
I have some Gibson Burstbucker 1&2 I am considering giving a whirl.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Cheers, Scott