Another trip in the Ade Phazy Gear Time Machine. The year is 1980. The guitar is a brand new Westbury Standard in wine red/burgundy. My first electric guitar!
Image courtesy of www.univox.org.
This was my first electric guitar which, I recall, I purchased new in late 1980.
All I can say about it is that it was probably a better guitar than I remember it being. There was a bit of a buzz about these guitars in those days, thanks to their decent build quality, low price, and two DiMarzio pickups. I even remember friends telling me that the pickups cost more than the guitar – which is probably why the manufacturer eventually went bust – and I’m pretty sure a friend of mine owned one in black. Its body shape was not dissimilar to the Yamaha SG1000, as used by people like John McGeoch in Siouxsie and the Banshees. That alone added considerably to the guitar’s coolness factor…
No idea what happened to this guitar. It is vaguely possible that I part-exchanged it for the Ibanez Roadstar. Alternatively, I may have given it to someone who wanted to learn how to play. No idea.
Kudos to the authors and maintainers of www.univox.org for such a helpful resource which enabled me to track down more details about this guitar. More info re the Westbury Standard can be found here.
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