The Westone Prestige Story
The Westone Prestige range of guitars was a collaboration between FCN Music, Sid Poole, and Status Graphite.
In the late 1990’s FCN wanted to revive the Westone name that had been so successful in the 80’s. Designed by Sid Poole, and built at the Status Graphite company to an extremely high standard. The instruments were priced between £500 and £800. However, the Prestige range was not the great success everyone was hoping for despite good reviews and the stellar names behind the venture. Perhaps the fact that the very last of the previous generation of Korean Westone guitars had a poor reputation after their Japanese 80’s heyday, influenced players.
These days the instruments are highly prized by players in the know. With both original Sid Poole, and Status Graphite instruments commanding many thousands of pounds, it is something of a rarity in the guitar world to discover that you can get hold of a fantastic instrument designed and built by these two well respected names for just a few hundred pounds. And with the new-found respect that 80’s Westone instruments have found over the past few years, the price is sure to rise over the coming years.
The text below is taken directly from the original marketing pamphlet distributed to music shops at the time of release.
The new Westone Prestige guitars combine stylistic originality with the sort of build quality you would expect from an instrument at double the cost. Every aspect of their playing quality has been carefully thought through by a design team headed by the world renowned custom luthier, Sid Poole. Manufactured in England to the most exacting standards in the world, Westone is immensely proud of these Prestige guitars.
Check them out. The specifications, the details, how they play, the feel and quality.
The only thing that might disappoint you is that we are making only a limited number.
Westone Prestige Family Features
The Cutlass and Corsair share the same design concepts giving each model a related and similar feel.
- 3-a-side back angled neck with straight string pull – no need for string trees
- Dual action truss rod for adjusting concave and convex bows
- Friction reducing Graph Tech top nut
- Combined side and face fingerboard markers
- 25″ scale length
- 22 fret fingerboard with 12″ radius
- Medium gauge fret-wire
- Total access to 22nd fret
- 43mm nut width
- Four screw neck-to-body fixing
- Gotoh tension adjustable tuners
- Gotoh vintage tremolo with sprung arm.
Woods
Westone Prestige guitars use the finest woods available. Hard rock maple for necks. Indian rosewood for fingerboards (maple option available on the Corsair Custom only). Corsairs have light ash bodies, whilst the Cutlass Custom uses poplar and the Cutlass Classic has an alder body.
Finishes
The Classic models have an aged satin body finish. The Cutlass Custom offers three color options in gloss polyester and the Corsair Custom features a vintage twin-tone ‘burst.
Electronics
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.
Tremolo
Each Westone Prestige guitar is set-up ready to play with the tremolo set flat on the body. This maximizes tone whilst down-bends and light shimmers are still possible. Naturally any other tremolo set-up can be achieved by the owner of a Westone Prestige model.
Strings
Westone guitars use American Flyer strings from the USA. Their gauge in unusual: .009.5″, .011.5″, .016″, .024″, .034″, .044″. These provide a particular feel, but owners can fit standard gauge strings if they prefer.
Accessories
Each Westone Prestige is supplied with a heavy-duty padded gig bag and a high quality right-angled jack lead.
Availability and Specifications
Westone Prestige guitars are only available in limited numbers from select dealers.
Cutlass Classic
- Two-piece alder body
- Amber tinted, bolt-on deep-set maple neck
- 22-fret rosewood board
- Scale length 25″
- Gotoh vintage tremolo
- Gotoh tuners
- High output humbucker at bridge (Gotoh)
- Vintage single-coil at neck (Gotoh)
- 3-way lever pick-up selector
- Master volume, master tone
- Available only in Aged Satin Finish
- Fitted with American Flyer Strings
- Shipped with quality padded gig bag and right angle jack lead
Cutlass Custom
- Two-piece poplar body
- Available in Faded Blue, Black and Aged White
- Other specification as listed for Cutlass Classic
New! May 2016 — Pictures of a mint Cutlass Custom
Corsair Classic
- Two-piece light ash body
- Amber tinted, bolt-on deep-set maple neck
- 22-fret rosewood board
- Scale length 25″
- Gotoh vintage tremolo
- Gotoh tuners
- Vintage covered humbucker at bridge (Gotoh)
- Vintage single-coil at middle and neck (Gotoh).
- 5-way lever pick-up selector
- Master volume, master tone
- Available only in Aged Satin Finish
- Fitted with American Flyer Strings
- Shipped with quality padded gig bag and right angle jack lead
Corsair Custom
- Two piece light ash body
- 22-fret rosewood or maple board
- Available only in Twin-Tone ‘burst
- Other specification as listed for Corsair Classic