Unidentified bass

Hi everyone,

let me introduce myself, since I'm new here. My name is Dragan and i'm from Serbia. A couple of weeks ago I was wasting my time browsing around, and that's when I stumbled over this amazing site! What a bless!!! I have to tell you my story, hope it might be interresting  

Well, back in 1980 i was 12 and living in Germany. I bought a no-name SG bass, just to find out a few months later, that it was a  piece of   !!!
So I went into a guitar shop to trade it in for something better, and there it was... A WESTONE BASS!!! The name Westone was strange to me, but I fell in love with the piece... Natural finish, neck thru body, 24 frets, two P-style picks, and switches, switches, switches.... Yes, it was a model of the "unidentified basses"! It retailed at 990 DM (case included), that was Ibanez Blazer money back then. I took it home (with the help of a generous donation from my parents, of course), and it was an amazing instrument to me ( I was still a greenhorn, so it was easy to impress me). However, since I started playing basketball about the same time I picked up the bass (I'm 205 cm tall),pretty soon it became impossible to do both. And then came an offer to become a pro basketball player   !!! So,brokenhearted, I chose the ball, sold the Westone and the rest of my gear and returned to Serbia (then Yugoslawia) in '82. Why am I boring you with this story  ?

Well, since I'm at the gentle age of 45  , and long time retired from sports (I palyed 25 years, 18 as a pro), I got myself a bass a few months ago and started picking again! And above all I wish I could find a nice Westone bass, a Matsumoku-made, of course! And if I could find one of the UNIDENTIFIED ....

So, if anybody think's he could help me, feel free... Or, if you own one of these basses, just share what you think of it .

Sorry if i bored the hell out of you   ,and sorry if my English isn't the best !

By, and have a lot of fun palying your Westones!!!

Hi Mr.Gagi and welcome!

Good story, also a bit sad you sold it! So your bass was like this? http://www.westoneguitars.net/basses/unknown-bass/ It seems it was modeled after the Aria Pro II Thorsound or TS- series imho, maybe a prototype, but was never as such taken in production as an Aria Pro bass. No idea what all the switches do.
Here's a catalogue scan of the TS-series guitars on Matsumoku.org : http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/ts/ts.html It will probably be very difficult to find the Westone bass you had. But there must be very fine other Westone basses to be had.

Good luck!

Hi there and welcome. I am sure that you will find a suitable replacement for your old bass if your are patient.

You won't get the same model but you will find another quality Matsumoku axe that suits you.

And then you will buy another ....and another.....and another!

Hoax

Hi Jim and Hoax,

thank you for your quick response!

I am fully aware of the fact that it's almost impossible to find a model like I had back then, maybe it was only a limited number made? But I'm sure I'll be able to find a nice bass among the various Thunder models. My bass was exactly like the one on the pics, even the case with the blue materials... I'm overwhelmed with memories even as I type this... And the elctronics are exact the ones as described on the TS 600 (AA 636) guitar model, with all the same features, as I can remember, it was so long ago. And since I played it for a relatively short time, I'm shure that I didn't even know how to use all these features ! But one thing I remember like it was yesterday: the sound of this bass was amazing!!! Some bass players with much more experience, and some very expensive instruments,were pretty amazed with this bass!

Dragan, I was looking at a unidentified nr.1 guitar that must have been produced about the same time. A French forum had some pictures up of one I remembered and as I look at them again I can understand why your bass didn't come cheap!
here and here and here again.

That bass must have looked huge on you as a 12 year old! How tall were you at that age? Any pics of you with the bass? Here is Pipoquinha at 14 years old working out on a 5 string. I had to think of it, I was still sort of playing with toys at that age!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ3u5ryGZ5s

Westone Thunder Basses often pop up on dutch auction sites here by the way for fair prices. I have a Bosnian neighbour called Zoran who visits his mother there every summer, only trouble, he travels by bus public transport...

Hi Jim,

as a matter of fact, at the age of 12, when I started palying, I was a pretty tall guy, at 190 cm. So the Westone looked sort of taylor-made on me! My first bass, the SG, was a short scaler and kind of tiny compared to my huge body.

As of pictures, I had quite a lot made with both basses (the SG was crap, but it also looked pretty nice) and some with the band (if a bunch of kids with instruments diserves to be called a band). Unfortunately, my parents moved quite often, and those pictures got lost in one of their movements. I'll try to get in touch with some of my "bandmembers", maybe one of them still has some pictures.

And thank you for the tip with the dutch auction sites, I'll look into it.

I had to add this: The price of 990 DM was,imho, pretty fair. I compared it to the Ibanez Blazer, and that was a simple P-bass. Back then (1980/81), Yamaha's BB series was brand new and the prices started at 800 DM, and they were also P-basses. And Ibanez's Musician basses, who had all the features of my Westone (neck-thru, active electronics etc.) started at around 1500 DM. And no case included!!! And 1000 DM was 280-300 GBP back then.