Considering PRS West Street Limited Edition...

PRSexy

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Hello! I was getting ready to purchase my first PRS, a custom 24, when I came across a local PRS West Street Limited Edition model for sale. I have never seen one of these before and I couldn't find much information online about them. All I know is that it looks incredible and it's in my budget. Where can I find more information about these guitars and whats the fair market price for a used one these days? Also, any owners want to enlighten me on how it compares to a custom 24? Thanks!
 
Also, any owners want to enlighten me on how it compares to a custom 24?

Aside from the fact that both instruments have a tremolo bridge, humbuckers, and 24 frets, these are two very different instruments. Besides the obvious differences in body/headstock shape, body depth, the 'littlest dragon' inlay, and tone/vol pot locations, they are also a different scale-length. The Westy (24.5" scale) is a limited production instrument with a unique 'dragon' carve that is deeper than other Santana-shaped instruments. Westys have Brazilian Rosewood fretboards with hidden fret-tangs like the Santana 2 (a very cool feature). Westys have non-plated brass tremolo bridges which hearken back to the West Street days, this model's namesake. Finally, Sapele is in the Mahogany family and helps every Westy maintain that magic (in my opinion) combination of woods.

But it ain't all sunshine and lollipops. Assuming you are good with short-scale guitars and all that goes with them (like looser string tension and tonal differences), there is the possibility that your new Westy might be neck-heavy due to the delightfully thick neck carve and shorter upper horn. Each instrument is different and the one you buy might not have this issue but mine required some mitigation. After changing the metal tuning knobs for ebony and stacking two traditional PRS strap buttons on the upper-horn (with a longer screw), I'm good-to-go.

As a final thought, there are two versions of this guitar that I am aware of; the proper '1980 West Street Limited' with Dragon inlay and a much smaller run without the dragon inlay. I think the smaller run (seems like 10 or less made, Sergio prolly knows) also eschewed the BRW fretboard and hidden fret tangs. Be careful... there are sellers out there who love to call the later run '1980 West Street Limited' guitars. They are not. Is the smaller run cool? Yes. Is it limited? More so than the big dog. Is it worthy of the name Westy? Probably. But is it a true-blue 1980 West Street LTD? Not a chance.

Buy one while they're cheap. Try to find one with a 1-piece top. There are a few unicorns like Sergio's White Westy and Veinbuster's charcoal Westy. Most seem to be Vintage Orange or Vintage Cherry (my favorite).
 
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This is everything you need to know.
I strongly endorse getting one.
I also have a Custom 24 and rarely play it - maybe 5% of the playtime the Westie gets.

By the way: welcome to the forum.
Aside from the fact that both instruments have a tremolo bridge, humbuckers, and 24 frets, these are two very different instruments. Besides the obvious differences in body/headstock shape, body depth, the 'littlest dragon' inlay, and tone/vol pot locations, they are also a different scale-length. The Westy (24.5" scale) is a limited production instrument with a unique 'dragon' carve that is deeper than other Santana-shaped instruments. Westys have Brazilian Rosewood fretboards with hidden fret-tangs like the Santana 2 (a very cool feature). Westys have non-plated brass tremolo bridges which hearken back to the West Street days, this model's namesake. Finally, Sapele is in the Mahogany family and helps every Westy maintain that magic (in my opinion) combination of woods.

But it ain't all sunshine and lollipops. Assuming you are good with short-scale guitars and all that goes with them (like looser string tension and tonal differences), there is the possibility that your new Westy might be neck-heavy due to the delightfully thick neck carve and shorter upper horn. Each instrument is different and the one you buy might not have this issue but mine required some mitigation. After changing the metal tuning knobs for ebony and stacking two traditional PRS strap buttons on the upper-horn (with a longer screw), I'm good-to-go.

As a final thought, there are two versions of this guitar that I am aware of; the proper '1980 West Street Limited' with Dragon inlay and a much smaller run without the dragon inlay. I think the smaller run (seems like 10 or less made, Sergio prolly knows) also eschewed the BRW fretboard and hidden fret tangs. Be careful... there are sellers out there who love to call the later run '1980 West Street Limited' guitars. They are not. Is the smaller run cool? Yes. Is it limited? More so than the big dog. Is it worthy of the name Westy? Probably. But is it a true-blue 1980 West Street LTD? Not a chance.

Buy one while they're cheap. Try to find one with a 1-piece top. There are a few unicorns like Sergio's White Westy and Veinbuster's charcoal Westy. Most seem to be Vintage Orange or Vintage Cherry (my favorite).
 
Finally, Sapele is in the Mahogany family and helps every Westy maintain that magic (in my opinion) combination of woods.


“Sapele (also known as Entandrophragma cylindricum) shares thesame botanical family as the famed American and African Mahogany, making it a very close match in both visual appeal, wood processing, and working characteristics . While sapele is not directly a cousin of Mahogany, like Swietenia and Khaya trees are, it is still a part of the Entandrophragma genus of Meliaceae family that all these trees are part of. Because of this, the claims that Sapele is a close cousin of Mahogany are somewhat valid.“

It is a denser/harder/heavier wood than Honduran Mahogany.
 
The Westie is a fabulous guitar. Of my herd, it would be the last to go, if I were selling them all. There are 5 on Reverb right now. One is close to what I paid for mine. The other 4 are considerably more. Hans laid out all you need to know. If you're good with his info, grab it while you can!

Required blurry pic of mine.


YkOT63S.jpg
 
HAAANNNNSSSSS...(like when John McClain walked around the corner and found Hans with a gun to Holly!!!… Some will get it, others won't)
"Stacking 2 traditional PRS strap buttons to reduce neck dive..." Crap!!! Ingenious,...For real, Never thought of that...and it probably ain't too ugly, either.
There was an old/clunky extension they used to sell for neck heavy P and J style basses...looked like a big piece of brass crap.
Seriously...Thank you.
 
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The Westie is a fabulous guitar. Of my herd, it would be the last to go, if I were selling them all. There are 5 on Reverb right now. One is close to what I paid for mine. The other 4 are considerably more. Hans laid out all you need to know. If you're good with his info, grab it while you can!

Required blurry pic of mine.


YkOT63S.jpg


That and Sergio's are my two favorite Westies that I've ever seen
 
Aside from the fact that both instruments have a tremolo bridge, humbuckers, and 24 frets, these are two very different instruments. Besides the obvious differences in body/headstock shape, body depth, the 'littlest dragon' inlay, and tone/vol pot locations, they are also a different scale-length. The Westy (24.5" scale) is a limited production instrument with a unique 'dragon' carve that is deeper than other Santana-shaped instruments. Westys have Brazilian Rosewood fretboards with hidden fret-tangs like the Santana 2 (a very cool feature). Westys have non-plated brass tremolo bridges which hearken back to the West Street days, this model's namesake. Finally, Sapele is in the Mahogany family and helps every Westy maintain that magic (in my opinion) combination of woods.

But it ain't all sunshine and lollipops. Assuming you are good with short-scale guitars and all that goes with them (like looser string tension and tonal differences), there is the possibility that your new Westy might be neck-heavy due to the delightfully thick neck carve and shorter upper horn. Each instrument is different and the one you buy might not have this issue but mine required some mitigation. After changing the metal tuning knobs for ebony and stacking two traditional PRS strap buttons on the upper-horn (with a longer screw), I'm good-to-go.

As a final thought, there are two versions of this guitar that I am aware of; the proper '1980 West Street Limited' with Dragon inlay and a much smaller run without the dragon inlay. I think the smaller run (seems like 10 or less made, Sergio prolly knows) also eschewed the BRW fretboard and hidden fret tangs. Be careful... there are sellers out there who love to call the later run '1980 West Street Limited' guitars. They are not. Is the smaller run cool? Yes. Is it limited? More so than the big dog. Is it worthy of the name Westy? Probably. But is it a true-blue 1980 West Street LTD? Not a chance.

Buy one while they're cheap. Try to find one with a 1-piece top. There are a few unicorns like Sergio's White Westy and Veinbuster's charcoal Westy. Most seem to be Vintage Orange or Vintage Cherry (my favorite).
Wow, thank you so much for all the information. This is exactly what I was looking for. I'm pretty convinced to go with the Westy although I do have some concerns about the condition and price of the guitar. The seller is asking $2300 for it in "good" condition. I noticed that one of the bridge intonation screws were missing along with the backplate and whammy bar. Assuming that the top is one piece Sapele with the dragon inlay, do you think this is a fair price? Also, is there a way to get correct replacements for the missing parts?
 
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