two-and-a-half grand for a Westone Thunder 2 ?????

[muttley]

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230844766813&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123#vi-desc"]on eBay[/url].

[quote]I have seen similar models in far worse condition selling for over £2,000 so please bear in mind when bidding, I promise you will not be disappointed.[/quote]

Yeah, right

[derrenleepoole]

The words 'taking' and 'p***' come to mind

[Hobbayne]

It would be cheaper to get one of these, and covert it yourself and still save a grand.
Incedently, this fwas the first 'proper' bass I had. I got it from my mates mums Littlewoods catalogue.
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-1-Electric-Bass-Guitar-Made-In-Japan-1981-/271014835533?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3f19be354d#ht_6425wt_1086"]http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_6425wt_1086[/url]

Edited August 30, 2012 by Hobbayne

[EssentialTension]

[quote]I have seen similar models in far worse condition selling for over £2,000 so please bear in mind when bidding, I promise you will not be disappointed.[/quote]

You wouldn't be disappointed except for the price you paid.

[throwoff]

lol.

[spinynorman]

Maybe he got it mixed up with an Alembic. It's easily done. :-)

[jezzaboy]

Flippin heck! A couple of years ago I bough the passive one for 50 quid from the local crack converters! Granted it wasn`t in as good a nick as this one and had only 1 pickup. And it was ugly.

Some people really are dreamers..........

[noelk27]

Just how delusional do you have to be to list a Thunder II with an opening price of £1,000 and a BIN of £2,500? The mind boggles!

The other week a beautiful APII SB-R150 sold on eBay for a little over £400. One of Aria/Matsumoku's finest bass models, which would have been a bargain at twice the price. Seriously, I want to get access to the world where people are paying £2,000 for Thunders, because I've got a rack full of basses I'd sell at that money!

[TransistorBassMan]

A bit more realistic
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-II-Bass-Guitar-Matsumoku-Japan-inc-Hardcase-/150888121076?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2321a202f4"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-II-Bass-Guitar-Matsumoku-Japan-inc-Hardcase-/150888121076?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2321a202f4[/url]

[Lozz196]

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1346325571' post='1787844']
Just how delusional do you have to be to list a Thunder II with an opening price of £1,000 and a BIN of £2,500? The mind boggles!
[/quote]

Probably less delusional than the person who ends up buying it (though I sincerely hope nobody does, as that price is taking the p*ss).

[AndyTravis]

Pure invention.

Either a really dishonest sale, or someone who really hasn't got a foggy f***ing clue.

[BottomE]

If someone buys it around that price i'd say they deserve it

[tommorichards]

[quote name='TransistorBassMan' timestamp='1346337485' post='1788021']
A bit more realistic
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-II-Bass-Guitar-Matsumoku-Japan-inc-Hardcase-/150888121076?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2321a202f4"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2321a202f4[/url]
[/quote]

I saw that pop up too. Looks fantastic condition too.

[JTUK]

ho hum... £80 tops.. not that I'd pay that.

[noelk27]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1346346682' post='1788152']Probably less delusional than the person who ends up buying it[/quote]
It won't sell at that price. If the BIN was £500, even in that condition, with case etc, it would struggle. Opening price of, say, £250 with a BIN of £400 and it would have a chance.

[gub]

Had one of those a longtime ago from Littlewoods cat a log

[Turk]

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1346370391' post='1788574']
It won't sell at that price. If the BIN was £500, even in that condition, with case etc, it would struggle. Opening price of, say, £250 with a BIN of £400 and it would have a chance.
[/quote]

Agreed.

[merello]

[color=#333333][font=Arial][size=1][b]£1,000.00[/b][/size][/font][/color]
[ [size=6][url="http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p4340.l2565&rt=nc&item=230844766813"][color=#0000CC]0[/color][color="#0000cc"][color=#0000CC] [/color][/color][color=#0000CC]bids[/color][/url] [/size]]

[Dingus]

I suppose there is no law against asking for two and a half grand for one of these, but if the seller manages to achieve anything near that price I would like to see him placed in charge of Britains' economic recovery.
In terms of real value, I would actually rate it even lower than other folks on here; you could knock a zero off the price for me, meaning that this fellow is asking ten times what it is actually worth. What's more, I am willing to bet you that you could actually find one of these for £250 or much less without much problem . I can remember when these came out and even though they were a good budget bass with some high-end features at an affordable price, they were never the apogee of any serious players bass-buying ambition. I know Henry Thomas played one of these Westones on the first series of Rockschool, but I always suspected that he had been set a miserly bass budget -limit by right- on lefty BBC television producers who were keen not to alienate dissaffected unemployed youth in recession-stricken Thatchers' Britain in the early 1980s.

[bigash]

[i]Well i think ill put up my lefty thunder 3, must be worth £3000[/i]

[spinynorman]

[i][Please note that this item is being sold on behalf of a professional friend from the music industry. The full content of this listing has been given by the bass owner, and has simply been 'pasted' here on his behalf.[/i]
[i]Please do not get in contact with your views about the listing price. The valuation is the choice of the owner, not the seller.][/i]

And now it's been withdrawn. But, like a phoenix from the ashes, the [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-II-Bass-guitar-/251143684328?_trksid=p4340.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D1762251278946893876%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D4%26"]same photo turns up here[/url].

[muttley]

[quote name='spinynorman' timestamp='1346594936' post='1790942']
And now it's been withdrawn. But, like a phoenix from the ashes, the [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-II-Bass-guitar-/251143684328?_trksid=p4340.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D1762251278946893876%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D4%26"]same photo turns up here[/url].
[/quote]

That ad actually appeared before the initial BIN one was withdrawn (someone on the Westone forum linked to it). Not only same photo but same serial no.

More sensible price though.

[ezbass]

I had one of those back in the mid 80s, took some pliers and plastic wood to it to make it fretless, not a bad job as it turned out.

[Krysbass]

As an owner of a rather nice 1984 Thunder 3, (and occasionally wrestling with the idea of selling it), this is the kind of news that my day-dreams are made of.

I guess it may have been priced so high because of typical current prices for Japanese-made basses - for example; Ibanez or Yamaha?

I hardly ever play my Thunder 3 now, so if I thought I could get that for it I'd sell without hesitation. I wish the seller the best of luck, but I'll be very pleasantly surprised if it sells at anywhere near the asking price.

[noelk27]

[quote name='Krysbass' timestamp='1346674203' post='1791736']I guess it may have been priced so high because of typical current prices for Japanese-made basses - for example; Ibanez or Yamaha?[/quote]

It was priced so high because the vendor was telling tall tales the Brothers Grimm would have been proud of. Thunder basses routinely sell for £2,000, he said. Where ask all of us, in Neverland? True, the buying power of the Pound against the Yen has dropped substantially since 2007. For that reason the distributor/reseller pricing of goods from Japan has certainly gone up, which has certainly pulled up some used guitars/basses prices, but not by the 700 to 800 per cent suggested in the listing for this Thunder. The real world situation would be closer to 40 or 50 per cent, for desirable models, based on the increased used goods importation costs. This Thunder listing also ignores that it is certain ranges (more so, certain models or periods within ranges) that attract the best prices. But so many eBay sellers always want to ignore the little things, like facts and reality, never mind condition and originality. Of course, this also all ignores fashion, which has the likes of Westone and Vantage (Matsumoku designs) consigned to the "nice in their day", "used to have one of those", "my first bass was" categories. If you're looking at Westone, collectors are in search of Electra models (the originals), not the also-rans, which is certainly where most Westone models exist (with one or two exceptions, such as certain Prestige models), with the smallest market being the purchaser looking to acquire (reacquire) their first. But no one, except the most delusional, would think about paying £2,000 for a Thunder.