Westone Thunder IA Bass
Body is laminated ash, maple and
walnut (If the finish is all red or all black the body is solid maple)
3-ply maple neck with rosewood
fingerboard, brass nut., 34 inch
scale 20 frets
Single split-coil
pickup
Volume, active and passive tone controls
Active on/off and 'Dual Tone'
switches
There have been at least 3 versions of this model -
Version 1
As shown in the 1981 and 1982/3 catalogues - Westone script logo on the headstock (Which is slightly longer than on later versions), plain brass knobs
Magnet F-600B pickup (1981 catalogue), HF600B pickup (1982/3 catalogue)
The 1982/3 catalogue lists available colours as Ligth Oak (Matt), Ash Black and Sunset Red (Gloss)
Thanks to Mark B for these photos -
Version 2 (1983-85?)
As shown in the 1983 catalogue
Hard Puncher I pickup
'Bird' W logo on headstock - headstock is shorter than on previous versions
Active tone knob etched with B-O-T as on some PEQ knobs (Source - 1985
review)
Available colours listed as Light Oak, Black and Apple Red. At some
point a white finish was added - the one below dates from 1985
Thanks to Lee Wormley for these photos
Version 3 (1985/6 onwards?)
Different (Magnabass) pickup and chromed bridge.
The Thunder IA bass was in production until at least 1988 (Features in
the 1988 pricelist), I have seen a couple that seem to date from 1989, which implies that some later ones were made in Korea.
Page last updated 6th June 2008
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