NBD: Westone "Spectrum GT Bass" P/MM

Couldn't resist this one on Craigslist.

I won't be keeping it, but I have a fascination with Matsumoku basses and I had to own this one for at least a little while. This is my third Matsumoku. I've sampled Vantage and Aria, but both of those were beginners instruments while this one is clearly trying to punch a bit higher.

I love Matsumoku's proprietary hardware and pickups and I find their designs are still a bit different from what other companies were doing, even into the 80's when so many companies seemed to start leaning toward "Superstrat" styled basses. My interest wanes when the headstocks get pointy and angled but this one looks nice to me.


It's a P/MM. It has two finish cracks (probably from an impact at the jack) that were stabilized and a black ring glued around the jack. I checked inside the control cavity and there doesn't appear to be any wood breakage but I bet there's more paint chipped off under that ring. Doesn't look too bad though. I didn't even realize the ring wasn't original until I saw the finish cracks and looked at some pictures online.

Hard to show in the pic, but it has cool large inverted control knobs.

Check out this interesting bridge.

Quite a heavy chunk of metal and it's not string-through body, but it has a cavity under the bridge so you can string it for a hard break angle if you prefer. Odd choice, IMHO, but I get happy anytime I see something other than the usual Fender/BAII/Gotoh/Hipshot clones.

Sounds very good, though the pups are incredibly hot. I have to use the buffered input on my amp. It has a push-pull on the first volume. Kind of like a T-40 it turns out to be a phase switch. Only works when both pups are on, gives it a similar weird spanky/funky tone. The Spectrum plays well and there's less neck dive than you'd expect for a smaller body with shorter horns like this. A few dings and some spots on the black neck with odd discoloration, but not bad for a 30+ year old instrument.

I knew it would be a flipper when I saw it on Craigslist, but it illustrates why I still occasionally pick up interesting basses. Not just to make a couple bucks (sometimes I don't...), but it's just good fun to spend some time with something different from time to time. Just seeing interesting designs and hardware and trying out unique pickups can be worth it. I like this one enough that I might keep it through the weekend and take it on my Friday gig just to see how it performs. I'll probably do a TB Gear Review as well.

So yeah, I'm a happy boy today!

EDIT 6/15. For sale here: For Sale - Westone Spectrum GT Bass (MIJ, P/MM, Matsumoku)

 

Thanks folks, I'm glad to have found it. The pickups are what got me interested in Matsumoku's years ago.

Thanks!
The similarities with Arias are common throughout the brands as they all came from the same factory in Japan. There's quite a bit of cross pollination of features and sometimes even near-identical instruments that came out under Vantage, Aria, Westone and a couple other brands. You can get alot of info about them here:
Models Specifications and Info

 

Dang, think you're right. There aren't quick-release grooves for the holes in the back of the bridge, only in the base.
Thanks for the heads up!

I get a chuckle out of these kind of charming features that represent a sort of intermediate evolutionary iteration. Rather than just putting quick-release grooves in the back of the bridge, they put them in the bottom, necessitating routing a special cavity in the body. It's zany. Kind of the same kind of not-quite-complete development that lead to the massive-but-hollow T-40 bridge with a tiny inset "tone block" of metal that also requires a special routed cavity.

 

@JIO
Very cool! From what I understand, the version with extra neck and special case is one of the rarest of the Westone basses.