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I thought I'd post this here since I just picked it up and it seems to be something of a rarity. I figured people might appreciate seeing one of these. I paid $70 Canadian with an old Peavey amp (which I sold for $55) noticing from the Craigslist ad that only had a blurry photo of the body that it looked like a Westone of some variety. Having always had an interest in those old Matsumoku basses and guitars, I figured it was a great deal. Got it home and it's actually an Electra Phoenix, which seems to be somewhat rarer than the Westones. Sharing the same body as a Westone Spectrum it looks like it has different electronics and a middle single coil which the Spectrum didn't have, however it did come out of the same factory and eventually Electra became Westone. This seems to be a 1982-84 model roughly from what I can gather. It has the HSH config with vol/tone/tone electronics, each with a push/pull the first of which is a coil tap, second activates the single coil and third is a phase switch, I believe. I bought this thing with the intention of flipping it, which I probably will still but it sounds and plays incredibly. Neck is a bit wide for my liking but has a nice low action and tons of sustain with a super versatile sound from single coil strat type sounds to big humbucking rock sounds. I'm really impressed and if I hadn't just invested a bunch of time and effort in refinishing my Les Paul and if the neck was a little slimmer I'd be sorely tempted to keep it. It also has some really nice little features like the string tree rollers. You can tell this thing is quality. Even the control cavity is immaculate considering that it's 40 years old. Please excuse the poorly lit photos and nasty carpet...

fairly decent amps can be bought 2nd hand quite cheaply. At the moment Andertons are offering the vox mv50-ac plus a cab for 160 quid. A very good deal and a very nice bit of kit. I have the MV50 ac and have been gigging it through a 1x12 cab. More than loud enough for the function band I play with

I have a Gibson Les Paul AFD guitar from 2010. It's not that I am a massive Slash fan, I just thought it would look good. However mine doesn't have the reverse chevron flame but it sounds amazing. I particularly like how it cleans up (both pickups on) when you roll the volume back. I bought it new, unseen and almost returned it because I don't like the top very much. What a great guitar and they only made 600 of them. I have a Jerry Donahue Vintage telecaster. It cost peanuts really. Again not a JD fan but the wiring and 5 way switch made this guitar very appealing to me. It is also a great guitar I also have a Brian May red special guitar. I use this in my 80s duo. An interesting sounding guitar, nothing like a strat really but still a really useable guitar. I use it exclusively in my 80s thing. and a Justin Meldel Johnson Fender Mustang bass. No idea who JMJ is, they got great reviews on basschat, so I bought one, again, unseen. It is my favourite bass and is my goto instrument. Signature models sometimes offer a different flavour on a given guitar, which will suit some people but not others. Just enjoy

Fender's strategy has been very clever in many ways, imo. Why fight to have the market recognise your Gretsch copy as just as good as Gretsch when instead you can just buy Gretsch and sell Gretsches?