As the wood will be on display under a few coats of wood oil, the base has to be as perfect as possible. Unlike a painted finish, it isn’t possible just to sand back the top coat and use wood filler to fill any blemishes. The original body finish was a pale, yellowy clear lacquer which suited the look of the guitar, but now has some quite deep scratches and dents on the front, back and upper horn (see pic). The humbucker (by Gotoh, I believe) screams nicely and the whole package is well balanced and well made.Īs I said in part one of the Westone Cutlass rebuild, I have decided not paint this guitar, but to keep it natural looking. I love the feel and the sound of it, It’s beefier than a Strat, but still capable of subtle tone variations. A real pleasure after the hassles with the Westone Thunder 1-T rebuild. The neck was perfect and didn’t need any truss rod tweaking so the whole re-assembly took less than an hour. I did a quick test by plugging in a lead to the jack socket and my amp and tapped the pickups with a  screwdriver to check I had sound, and as all seemed ok I went ahead with re-fitting the scratchplate assembly.Īfter that, it was just a case of re-stringing and setting the bridge. I refitted the pickups and pots, and reattached the wires for the humbucking pickup which had become detached. Most of the wiring was already in place as the scratchplate was fully assembled when I got the guitar, but I had dis-assembled it when I repaired the crack. I screwed the neck and bridge back into place and reinstalled the springs on the trem block. I left it for a few hours to be sure it was fully dried out and then began re-assembly.
When it has dried for a while the finish is buffed over with another clean duster to remove any excess and give a nice satin sheen. It looks pretty dark when first applied, but lightens up as it dries and soaks in, leaving the colour only slightly darker than the bare wood. It dries in about 15-20 minutes and then you can keep adding layers (3 or 4) until a decent covering has been built up.
I headed off to my local DIY warehouse and bought a large tin of Danish Oil for under a tenner, which will probably be enough to refinish every Westone Cutlass in existence! Applying it couldn’t be easier…tip some sparingly onto a clean duster and stroke it into the wood, keeping the coverage as even as possible. Oiling leaves a nice satin finish and brings out the grain of the wood, while giving a reasonable amount of protection. The problem with varnishes is that inevitably the finish will get damaged at some point and begin to chip away, looking pretty nasty over time.
#Westone guitar black series
The previous instalments of this series are hereĪfter investigating various varnishes and lacquers, and taking advice from friends who know about this type of thing, I went for an oiled finish rather than a painted one.
#Westone guitar black update
I’m fully aware of how long it  has taken me to write this update and I seem to begin virtually every post with an apology these days, but you know how it is.Īnyway, the nice clean wooden body needed some protection from the wear and tear of musical life, and as I said in the last update all those months ago, the owner agreed with me about keeping it natural looking.
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