Westone prices

is it me or have the prices for Westones skyrocketed lately ?

there are around 9 average Westones (Thunders, Spectrums) on ebay UK at the moment with buy it nows ranging from £150 to £325..... a sign of these guitars going up in value or is it just dealers taking the P**s?

Yeah, a few of us here and on the Mats forum lately have made similar observations about eBay. Seems to be everywhere, not just the UK.
Even on Craigslist and Kijiji where you generally get a better deal, it's bloody near impossible to even find Westones (or other Mats) at least around these parts. And even there, the prices are climbing.
Love and hold on to the Westies you have boys and girls, it's getting harder to find more!

As a subversive manoeuvre the only recommendation I can offer is to try and source out "white label" Mats guitars. There seem to be quite a few around and the labels vary quite a bit, but if you don't mind something odd on the headstock, it can be rewarding to find them. Not likely to find a Spectrum or Prestige though.

Westones are rare in my hood to begin with... This is not good ... I wanted to get a t3 bass before they get to out of reach price wise...

A local shop has a Thunder II for £139. Is this a good price? Been eyeing them up for a long while but never really been in a position to grab one. Put a deposit down to buy myself some time. What do folk reckon? Its in good nick and everything works fine, had a little play in the shop and it felt good. Opinions?

Lowliver wrote:A local shop has a Thunder II for £139. Is this a good price? Been eyeing them up for a long while but never really been in a position to grab one. Put a deposit down to buy myself some time. What do folk reckon? Its in good nick and everything works fine, had a little play in the shop and it felt good. Opinions?

IF it is a later Thunder II with the heel-less set neck, and it's in good shape, then I think that's a really good buy. They go for $350+ in the states.

colt933 wrote:

Lowliver wrote:A local shop has a Thunder II for £139. Is this a good price? Been eyeing them up for a long while but never really been in a position to grab one. Put a deposit down to buy myself some time. What do folk reckon? Its in good nick and everything works fine, had a little play in the shop and it felt good. Opinions?

IF it is a later Thunder II with the heel-less set neck, and it's in good shape, then I think that's a really good buy. They go for $350+ in the states.

Its the 81 through neck model I do believe. Pretty excited about this now. I reckon I will be paying it off tommorow.

I have A thunder 1a, 2, and 2a. Fine weapons and well built. You wont find a better guitar for your 140 quid. What colour did you get ?

Its about time a took another tour of the Midlands finest guitar repositories to find any hidden gems amongst the second hand Squires and Epi's.!

Steve777 wrote:I have A thunder 1a, 2, and 2a. Fine weapons and well built. You wont find a better guitar for your 140 quid. What colour did you get ?

Its about time a took another tour of the Midlands finest guitar repositories to find any hidden gems amongst the second hand Squires and Epi's.!

Its light oak I do believe. Always liked the way they looked and heard good things about them. It is mine. Just need to go into the shop and pay off the rest. Thats todays mission.
There seem to be quite a few more second hand shops springing up in these financially challenged times. We have 3 seperate Skag Convertors in one town near me. The best one I would recommend for anyone in the Norwich area is the musical instrument only branch of Cash Convertors. They have 3 seperate shops and one just deals in musical instruments/equipment and is staffed and run by musicians. Well worth a look.

The Norwich Cash-Con is always on my to-do list when I am in the city. Most of their stock is recent Ibanez/ Squier + loads of little practice amps. I've valued a couple of MIJ 80s guitars for them, one of which is now with me.

Worth a visit if you're in Norwich but like most Cash-Cons, you'll need to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince

Westone prices have dropped over the last 6 months. Top of the range have stayed more or less. Even they are down a bit.
Considering 10/12 years ago you'd pay £125/150 for a decent Thunder 1/1A or bass.
Believe you me I keep a good eye on these things.
Of course there's always a bargain to be had.
Folks are just starting off at higher prices,(on Evilbay) probably due to comments on here. Shhh! To late.

I just got a Concord 1 off ebay for £70. I'll post pics when it arrives.

Sometimes its funny, you see something go for a silly high price, see others priced "optimistically" then other times you see good condition Westones go for a reasonable of even low sum.

Ive been after a Westone of some description for some time now, seeing as I regret not keeping the two I had years ago. I just played the waiting game.

Then they all come at once.

As well as scoring this cheap Concord, I got myself a Classic Vibe Tele for £110, and an old Japanese Teisco type for £25.

Ebay is still a place for bargains, if you are prepared to wait.

Deals I got this year.

MIM Standard Tele £150

Left handed Squier Strat, pristine £30

MIM 50s Reissue Tele £250

Gibson Melody Maker £200

Squier '51 £41!!!!

Sollophonic wrote:...Then they all come at once...

Ain't it the truth? And welcome to the forum my man!
I got all my Westies within a very short period of time (except for the one I had originally from '85). As you say, they seemed to appear almost at once and I was scrambling at times to find some spare cash. But just as quickly as the opportunities appeared, they went away, and I haven't seen a Westone around these parts for the best part of 2 years now!! EBay is the only place I see them and the prices are beyond my budget when you consider exchange rates and shipping.

Love to see your Concord when you're able to post some pix. It also looks like you've got yourself a nice collection of Tele's and the Melody Maker has to be a fun git to play, eh?

£70 Ebay BIN arrived today.

A black 1984 Concord 1 in superb condition, no fretwear, a bit of buckle rash, a couple of dings, a quick tune up after delivery as it even had a newish set of strings on it, and a very pleasany 3/4 of an hour disappeared this evening



Just to illustrate how ebay can still turn up bargains

Melody Maker £200


50s ReIssue Tele £250


And this was £41!



This weekend gone was a feast for bargain axes, cleared out my PayPal account.

Squier Classic Vibe Tele £130, old Teisco type guitar £30, plus this little Concord.

Where to put them all now......... :?:

Hi Sollophonic.

you scored some great bargains there mate, good work.

It's getting harder to find a Squier '51 these days, they've gained a huge cult following over the last few years and some sellers are trying to get £200+ for them! I bought a blonde one when they were new because that maple neck felt so right.

I keep checking my local Crap Converters in the vain hope I'll find another one for silly money, just so I could have a bit of fun modding it!

Anyway, welcome to the funny farm forum, hope the Westone addiction doesn't take hold to badly!

DAN.

Sollophonic wrote: Squier Classic Vibe Tele £130

I have a friend who swears by the Squier classic vibe series, he's been playing since he was 5 years old and over the years has owned Strats, Les pauls, SG's, A '82 Yamaha sg?? and countless others that he has used & sold, he's not a collector just a player but knows his guitars and how to make one sound good.....all he owns now is 2 Squier classic vibe strats and a self built Tele so they must be pretty good guitars!

bowenjaybee wrote:...I have a friend who swears by the Squier classic vibe series...

Same here. Except it's my local guitar tech who swears by the latest reissues as being extraordinarily good...and he's a very experienced player. Half the time I drop in to the shop he's playing one through a thumpin' great Marshall! Sounded good to me.

I absolutely loved the Classic Vibe 51 P-bass, if I had the spare cash for one I'd have happily purchased it as my first ever Fender product.

bowenjaybee wrote:

Sollophonic wrote: Squier Classic Vibe Tele £130

I have a friend who swears by the Squier classic vibe series, he's been playing since he was 5 years old and over the years has owned Strats, Les pauls, SG's, A '82 Yamaha sg?? and countless others that he has used & sold, he's not a collector just a player but knows his guitars and how to make one sound good.....all he owns now is 2 Squier classic vibe strats and a self built Tele so they must be pretty good guitars!

It arrived yesterday, pretty poorly packaged, but hey its a Tele, it'll survive anything.

New set of strings and replaced the pickguard with a white one, and its really nice.



Playing it as it is at the moment, but I feel some mods a'coming.

4-way switch? Neck Humbucker? Esquire even?!

Joins my other three Fender Teles.

These Classic vibe fenders are very good. Decent pickups and a good all round finish.
Picked up 2 50's sunburst and a 60's candy apple recently.
Will take one of the 50's to S. Africa with a couple of others, Hopefully bring back some Mats guitars purchased from the change.

Westbone wrote:These Classic vibe fenders are very good. Decent pickups and a good all round finish

Yep very good..I really like the Tele custom with the binding it looks great...rumour is that the pickups are the same as Tonerider which sound very nice