NGD: £5 Westone Thunder 1 Project (Pic Heavy!)

Kittyfrisk

ICBM said:

HarrySeven said:

Yup, all lovely.

Pics please!!

+1   But possibly not quite as many 

Sarge

Come on Harry, put the new toys down and get the old pics out! 

HarrySeven

I’ve got to find the damn thing first! Errrr...it’s in a Hiscox case...along with at least another 50...  

Kittyfrisk

That'll be one hell of a big Hiscox. Should be easy enough to spot 

HarrySeven

Kittyfrisk said:

That'll be one hell of a big Hiscox. Should be easy enough to spot 

Lol!

HarrySeven

I found a couple of pics once I'd completed it.

I didn't sand it too far, as I liked the patination. Pic was taken before I'd located a spare knob.

Plays great, sounds great.

ICBM

Great job.

If the wood grain didn't match I would have assumed you'd just bought another one .

MLten80

gotta be worth at least £5.50 now




(great work btw)

Kittyfrisk

HarrySeven said:

I found a couple of pics once I'd completed it.

I didn't sand it too far, as I liked the patination. Pic was taken before I'd located a spare knob.

Plays great, sounds great.

Bloody hell, nice job. Was it a total delamination & re-glue job or a mega drop fill & clamp ?

HarrySeven

@Kittyfrisk - bit of both!

Kittyfrisk

Oooh, you little tease  !! 

Adey

Thunders are brilliant, under-rated instruments. Really well built too. Any lesser brand would have completely died if left outside like that one.

(Note to self - get a Thunder I again (or preferably a II if I can find one))

HarrySeven

Adey said:

Thunders are brilliant, under-rated instruments. Really well built too. Any lesser brand would have completely died if left outside like that one.

(Note to self - get a Thunder I again (or preferably a II if I can find one))

I love them dearly, but some of the insane prices I’ve seen recently (£350 for a Thunder 1A?!?!) seem overly excessive...

ICBM

HarrySeven said:

I love them dearly, but some of the insane prices I’ve seen recently (£350 for a Thunder 1A?!?!) seem overly excessive...

I think that would be reasonable for one in perfect condition, but that alone would make it a real rarity...

It's hard to get anything better for less really, but I think £150-£250 is probably more of the right range for ones in typical condition.

Flanging_Fred

I still see the Thunder Jet model for very low prices <£100.  I guess the all black appearance puts many people off. I think they’re quite a bit lighter than the standard models being made out of alder (I think) rather than the sandwich of woods in the regular models.

I got mine for £40 and love it.  It’s paid for itself many times over now as it’s one of my most comfortable and decent sounding gigging guitars.

HarrySeven

Flanging_Fred said:

I still see the Thunder Jet model for very low prices <£100.  I guess the all black appearance puts many people off. I think they’re quite a bit lighter than the standard models being made out of alder (I think) rather than the sandwich of woods in the regular models.

I got mine for £40 and love it.  It’s paid for itself many times over now as it’s one of my most comfortable and decent sounding gigging guitars.

Yup - last one I bought was £25. They’re a really good sub-£100 guitar.

MrBump

That's really awesome - well done.

Funkfingers

Flanging_Fred said:

I still see the Thunder Jet model for very low prices <£100.  I guess the all black appearance puts many people off.

The original natural finish guitars earned themselves a good reputation the hard way. Leaving the wood visible demonstrated that no ply has been involved in the making of those guitars. 

The opaque colours arrived partly in response to fashion and partly to grumbles that clear natural finish were a bit plain and boring.

Sarge

Excellent job H!
Pics of the repair process would have been nice, slacker  

Sarge

Adey said:

Thunders are brilliant, under-rated instruments. Really well built too. Any lesser brand would have completely died if left outside like that one.

(Note to self - get a Thunder I again (or preferably a II if I can find one))

My blue refinished '81 1a is for sale