The guitar legacy of Matsumoku Industrial Co. Ltd.

Westbury Guitars Price Guide
Westbury Guitar Serial Number Identification
Westbury Guitars Ebay
Westbury Guitar Serial Number Lookup

Westone guitars and basses were made by Matsumoku (or “Uncle Mats” as we affectionately refer to it) in Japan and subsequently in Korea for St. Louis Music during a period of 10 years from 1981 to 1991. Here, you will find information, history, pictures and specifications of these amazing instruments.

We are also gathering information on the range of Westone Prestige guitars designed by renowned British luthier Sid Poole and built by Status-Graphite in England in the late 1990’s.

Korean

Westbury Guitars Price Guide

While you may find a few early post-Mats Korean made instruments listed here, we do not feature them, concentrating primarily on the Japanese made Matsumoku’s.

German

For a brief period, roughly late 2010 to early 2012, the Westone brand was revived by a German company, Musik-Meyer, which is still in business but no longer selling Westone guitars. The products in no way resemble the MIJ or MIK post-Mats models, but were copies of traditional guitar configurations.

Westbury Guitars Inc. P.O.Box 10582 Westbury N.Y. Info@westburyguitars.com Source:Guitarsite “The entire history of Westbury Guitars could be found on the history page of westburyguitars.com There is also a informational section where people could find out all about the vintage models. I obtained the company back in 2004 but didn. Westburys were made in the Matsumoko factory between '78 and '82 - The serial number sticker on the headstock is labled Unicord (the distributor). For the longest time I thought that was the model name. The truss plate says 'Standard' (well 'tandard' at least - it was chopped in half to make room for the lock nuts). YEAR APPROXIMATE LAST SERIAL NUMBER PRODUCED 1953 1000-1500 1954 1500-2200 1955 2200-3000 1956 3000-4000 1957 4000-5700 1958 5700-8300 1959 -1969 This chart displays the first and last serial numbers of guitars produced in each year from 1960 to 1969 (inclusive); no corresponding model names or numbers are available. Visio stencils logistics.

Our Best guess is that they were likely made in China but under relatively good quality control.

Westbury Guitar Serial Quantity Starting. The import guitar versions before Nov of 2000 have a serial quantity starting with the letter N, the Us models do not. Its got a wonderbar tremelo and still is the best playing guitar i very own. It does not have got a stamps on the back of the headstock.

Chinese

Chinese made “Westones” are also seen occasionally but are mostly copies of traditional American styles. They are considered to be inferior instruments and are definitely not covered here. Our advice is to avoid them!

Indian

We’re also aware of the Westone brand that was featured on a now defunct Indian site selling guitars of dubious quality. These were cheap and somewhat gaudy looking acoustics and bear absolutely no resemblance to a Mats made instrument whatsoever.

This site also sold similar poor merchandise under bastardized versions of well known brands such as Givson and Fendar. That should tell you all you need to know.
Avoid!

(More info on Indian Westone in this Forum thread discussion )

Addendum April 2016

“Weston” brand (no “e”)

We have seen instruments stamped with the Westone ‘bird’ logo accompanied by the word Weston. We speculate that this was to avoid any potential copyright infringement at the time. These tend to be Super Strat type copies rather than original designs and as near as we can determine the majority of better made guitars and basses were Korean made. Dates and manufacturer are unknown but some may have been made by Samick.

Korean instruments are identified by checking the neck for a scarf joint. They also tend to have position markers beyond the 12th fret located an the edge of the fretboard instead of the centre.

The Weston brand also appears on some poorly made Chinese copies which appear to be post-Korean era builds. Quality is dubious and it is best to avoid these instruments.

Westone Guitar Forum

If you’re an active collector, player or enthusiast be sure to visit the Westone Guitar Forum the definitive authority on the current state of all things Westone.

There, you can discuss your instruments, recommend places to buy them, and learn how to look after them. Whether you have a missing trem arm, or need to completely rebuild your guitar, the Westone Guitar Forum is the place to go!

If you love Westone, become a member today!

How old is my guitar?

This is one of the two most frequently asked questions on the Forum.
Most Matsumoku Westones can be dated by the serial number, usually found on the back of the headstock, but some early 80’s models have the serial number on the neck plate.

7-digit serials are the most common:

The first digit = the year it was made

For example: a serial number beginning with 2 indicates a guitar made in 1982
It is possible that the second and third digits give the month.

Addendum November 2014:

6-digit serial numbers:

Several Westone forum members have recently presented guitars with 6 digit numbers. Although not as common they do exist.
Looking at dating information compiled by our friends at the Matsumoku Forum we note that 6 digits was in use until mid to late 1981.

We presume that the interpretation for those instruments is the same for early Westones, until the 7 digit scheme was applied:

The first digit (0 or 1) = the year
The next 2 digits = the month

Westbury Guitar Serial Number Identification

5-digit serials appear on some models:

The first two digits = the year
The last two = the month

It is important to note that these are not really serial numbers, just production dates, and are not unique…84009 is extremely common!

8 digit serial numbers:

These appear from late 1987, in the format NN NN NNNN (eg 87 10 0001).
We think that:

the first two digits = the year
the second two = the month

Any guitar with this sort of number was probably made in Korea.
Later models (1987 onwards) have no obvious serial number and may have originally been on a sticker on the guitar.
These are also Korean made.

Letters in the serial number

Many early 80’s models are also seen with a letter prefixing the number.
These represent the production month and are interpreted as:

A = Jan	D = Apr	G = July	J = Oct
B = Feb	E = May	H = Aug	K = Nov
C = Mar	F = June	I = Sept	L = Dec

So, a serial number like D810040 would indicate that the guitar was manufactured in April 1981.

What is it worth?

This is the most frequently asked question on the Forum, and one we wish people would stop asking, for two reasons:

We’re Westone enthusiasts and players; we’re not merchants.
Fundamentally, there’s no real answer to the question.

If you