NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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D_Rad
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NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by D_Rad » Tue Jun 06, 2017 12:14 pm

happy guitar story.... back in 1982ish I wanted to start taking guitar lessons and at the time had a Teisco-type strat copy, as many know without a lot of attention to setup these guitars can be quite discouraging to learn on... so some buddies and I were checking out a local NW Houston music shop one day and one thing lead to another I bought this guitar on lay-away and signed up for lessons. Each lesson they would pull the guitar from the back. Don't remember why this particular one struck me ... probably the thin finish/natural wood and that it wasn't a les paul or strat shape? After it was paid off had the tremolo system installed during some dive bombing heavy metal infused confusion!....Years later when attending college at Tech in Lubbock an individual decided they wanted it more than I and relieved me of it s ownership!.... flash forward about 10 years... the Lubbock police contact me that it had been found at a pawnshop ...I had written my TX DL # inside the control cavity so they were able to track me down. However, they then realized insurance paid for the loss and could not return it to me and said it now belonged to insurance company.... disappearing once again into the void. Being a guitar enthusiast I saved a search on eBay several years ago to alert me if one ever pops up...never expecting "The One" to show up... they are quite rare and most that turned up were the 2 pickup model, usually in Europe or Japan and way too expensive. Recently, an ebay notification was in my inbox "Westone Paduak 1 - Vintage Matsumoku Japan Project w/ MMK 45 " ... the image in the email gave me chills... what were the chances another weirdo out there had this brand guitar and put the same trem on it.... there was also an arched shaped scratch on the lower bout where the guitar had fallen over and dug the trem arm in.... I contacted the seller and told them my story and asked if they would indulge my curiosity and see if there was a DL # in the control cavity... Yes! One "buy it now" deal later.. and here it is!!.. full circle... haven't seen this guitar since 1988! It was being sold as a parts/project guitar because the neck has a twist in it... yup, remember doing that to it when I left it in my car while at work for a lesson later on...lesson... don't leave a guitar in a car during a Houston Summer! Have the neck clamped to my workbench now and am working on straightening it... heat... some steam ... and a bit of twist counter action. Hopefully have it back together and in playing condition again soon! weeeee!

...sellers pic... trem+arched scratch= likely match!
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...all these years thought it was a Kahler when in actuality is an Accutune... some people will say they are Pre-Kahler, others say counterfeit!
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...where the brass nut and string lock used to be...
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DL# for the win!
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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by mgeek » Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:51 am

This is incredible!

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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by HNB » Thu Jun 08, 2017 6:20 am

Grats man!!
Christopher
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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by AWSchmit » Thu Jun 08, 2017 11:23 am

Such a cool story. Glad you got it back. I would love to have back my first electric guitar and amp. Both were pretty junky, but would love to see them again.
I finally finish building a guitar, go to play it, and then remember, "oh yeah, that's right. I suck at playing... Why did I build another guitar again?"

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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by D_Rad » Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:29 am

... cheers all! Really stoked to get 'er back playing! Took 3 rounds of heating to remover about 98% of the neck twist... still has some forward bow, but decided to give it a break (especially since the heating was starting to darken the fretboard lacquer... got it a little too hot on the last round- answered a phone call and spaced out!?) Had a tusq nut in the parts box and strung it up to see how it would settle. Bit of neck shimming got the action down pretty good though the forward bow causes some fret-out past the 12th. It did give an opportunity to see how the electronics were funtioning... jack is twitchy even after cleaning so will replace it and the pots sound like they could use a little de-ox. The switching all is good... coil split (forward switch), db boost (rear switch) powered by a 9v battery really kicks it up. Pickup sounds good although bit murkey.... definatley needs poles balanced to bring up the treble...

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The big thing I started to fantasize about even before it arrived was to remove the Kahler and return it to the string-thru bridge. This model came with a solid un-plated brass bridge and a brass nut which attributed to it's sound character (along with raw brass knobs to continue the aesthetics). Finding an original will be close to impossible, however, Gotoh made the original and the GTC101) http://g-gotoh.com/international/product/gtc101.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) is the exact bridge just plated. No easy way to remove plating from what I've read except reverse electo-chemical process!? Next would be to get a Charvel solid brass bridge ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/JEL-Brass-Harta" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 2548.l4275) which has a beefier saddle mount flange ( saw a few images of these guitars with that style of bridge seemed original to them?). Another option is thru http://www.armadilloguitar.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; who have made reproductions for others in the past.... they also make reproduction solid brass knobs!.... But before my enthusiasm gets ahead of reality I popped the trem off to see how big a route is under there!!!???....

...Uhhgggg... picture says it all... guitar tech who installed this 30+ years ago didn't have a router I guess!???
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....let's see how much of the crater is covered by the bridge....
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...hmmm, only about half. I almost gave up on this idea until saw forum member, pad, post his Kahlercaster restore project. He used a cnc router to make the route and a plug that fits exactly! The local makers space here offers a class on their router so think I will sign up!... now to find a piece of Paduak with a similar grain! What do you all think?... leave the trem or go for it!?

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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by AWSchmit » Thu Jun 22, 2017 7:33 am

I don;t know man. I this was my guitar and when I owned it before if it had the Kahler I would probably leave it. Especially if it functions fine. For me, if I owned this guitar once and it came back to me then I changed it too much, it wouldn't be that guitar anymore and the magic of it would be a little lost. Just my two cents though, feel free to ignore me completely.
I finally finish building a guitar, go to play it, and then remember, "oh yeah, that's right. I suck at playing... Why did I build another guitar again?"

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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by estranged » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:47 am

Good old SLM product right there! cheers!

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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by NoiseNoiseNoise » Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:04 am

The repair would be too obvious, so you'll be better served by stopping up the string through holes at the back. Then tidy up the cavity and refit the Kahler, or junk the trem for a Kahler fixed bridge which will be a direct fit, from what I read.
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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by thisisnickpaige » Fri Jun 23, 2017 9:21 am

AWSchmit wrote:I don;t know man. I this was my guitar and when I owned it before if it had the Kahler I would probably leave it. Especially if it functions fine. For me, if I owned this guitar once and it came back to me then I changed it too much, it wouldn't be that guitar anymore and the magic of it would be a little lost. Just my two cents though, feel free to ignore me completely.
I have to agree with Andrew. As someone who got an old guitar back just to get rid of it after overmodding it it certainly killed the memory and dream. If it feels right, and your cruising on memory lane I'd say that's what matters.

Edit: I thought I had already commented on this thread, but congratulations on the guitar! I recently got my first guitar from my brother and I can agree how wonderful it is. Plus your story with the license is incredible.
Jesus

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Re: NGD Westone Paduak 1 Reunion

Post by mgeek » Sun Jul 02, 2017 12:39 pm

I'd totally leave the trem as it is.

Filling the route invisibly would be next to impossible, so you'd either have an obvious filled bit or end up re-finishing the entire thing...can of worms.

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