Westone Prestige Series

Westone Guitars Made in England



This is a Corsair Classic in Natural the only colour available

I suppose the story of these is reasonably well known. The Westones had been made in Japan at Matsumoku until the mid 80s and then in Korea. The standard in Korea was not as good as Japan by 1991 the brand has gone.
The Europe and UK rights to the name were owned by Music-Meyer of Germany who distributed in the UK via FCN music. In 1998 FCN decided to revive the name and collaborated with the well respected luthier Sid Poole and used the manufacturing facilities of Status Graphite to make four new models. Status Graphite were an English manufacturer predominantly known for the production of Graphite neck headless bass guitars. Sid also made his own hand made guitars branded in his own name some of which sell for thousands of pounds now. Sid died in 2001. The Westones were made in limited numbers for a short time and despite the obvious quality can sometimes be picked up for about £300 or so. After these guitars the Westone brand ceased until Music Meyer produced some strat, telecaster and Les Paul copies using the Westone name around 2010-2012 possibly made in China.

The Models

There were 4 models the Corsair was a HSS model and the Cutlass a HS model both came in Classic and Custom versions.

Cutlass Classic Cutlass Custom Corsair Classic Corsair Custom
Body 2 piece Alder Aged Satin Finish 2 piece Poplar Gloss Polyester 2 piece Light Ash Aged Satin Finish 2 piece Light Ash Vintage Finish
Neck 4 bolt Hard Rock Maple Dual Action Truss Rod Total Access to 22nd Fret 4 bolt Hard Rock Maple Dual Action Truss Rod Total Access to 22nd Fret 4 bolt Hard Rock Maple Dual Action Truss Rod Total Access to 22nd Fret 4 bolt Hard Rock Maple Dual Action Truss Rod Total Access to 22nd Fret
Fretboard Rosewood 12" radius 22 medium frets 25" Scale Rosewood 12" radius 22 medium frets 25" Scale Rosewood 12" radius 22 medium frets 25" Scale Rosewood or Maple 12" radius 22 medium frets 25" Scale
Headstock Back Angled no string tree Black Back Angled no string tree Black Back Angled no string tree Black Back Angled no string tree Natural
Headstock Markings Front Westone in Gold Script Back Prestige Series Serial Number and Made in England Front Westone in Gold Script Back Prestige Series Serial Number and Made in England Front Westone in Gold Script Back Prestige Series Serial Number and Made in England Front Westone in Black Script Back Prestige Series Serial Number and Made in England
Tuners Gotoh Chrome 3 a side straight string pull Gotoh Chrome 3 a side straight string pull Gotoh Chrome 3 a side straight string pull Gotoh Chrome 3 a side straight string pull
Pickups Gotoh Black High output Humbucker at Bridge Gotoh Black Vintage Single Coil at Neck Gotoh Black High output Humbucker at Bridge Gotoh Black Vintage Single Coil at Neck Gotoh Chrome Vintage Humbucker at Bridge 2 black Gotoh Vintage single coils Gotoh Chrome Vintage Humbucker at Bridge 2 black Gotoh Vintage single coils
Controls Black speed dial 1 volume and 1 tone 3 way switch Black speed dial 1 volume and 1 tone 3 way switch Black speed dial 1 volume and 1 tone 5 way switch Black speed dial 1 volume and 1 tone 5 way switch
Nut 43mms Graph Tec 43mms Graph Tec 43mms Graph Tec 43mms Graph Tec
Hardware Chrome Chrome Chrome Chrome
Bridge Gotoh Vintage Trem with Sprung Arms Gotoh Vintage Trem with Sprung Arms Gotoh Vintage Trem with Sprung Arms Gotoh Vintage Trem with Sprung Arms
Pickguard Black Laminated Strat Style Black Laminated Strat Style Black Laminated Strat Style Black Laminated Strat Style
Colours Natural Black, Faded Blue or Aged White Opaque Natural Twintone Burst

Pickup Selector Switches

The Cutlass has a 3-way lever switch to control its two pickups.
Position 1 – Bridge humbucker*
Position 2 – Neck facing single-coil of bridge humbucker and neck single-coil*
Position 3 – Neck single-coil
The Corsair has a 5-way lever switch to control its three pickups.
Position 1 – Bridge humbucker*
Position 2 – Neck facing single-coil of bridge humbucker and middle single coil*
Position 3 – Middle single-coil
Position 4 – Middle and neck single-coils*
Position 5 – Neck single-coil
*In any combined coil position the two coils act as a hum-cancelling pair.



Some Pictures



Corsair Catalogue Scan both Models


And the Cutlass


These are the head stock pictures. The headstocks are all the same except the Corsair Custom is Natural not black


The Cutlass Classic


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