Optimistic sellers

There seem to be quite a few rather optimistic Westone sellers at the moment. E.g. this one. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WESTONE-THUNDER-MATSUMOKO-VINTAGE-GUITAR-/161185936967?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item25876e3647

Yeah, just a tad pricey for an opening bid and what yer gettin'.

Goodness me.... Don just bought a T1-T in what looks to be OK nick here for pennies....

Theres a Prestige here, too - a 117 - but the wank*r seller must have had some interest 'cause the starting price went from A$200 to A$600...

Was it Damian was saying that the 117/227 weren't quite the guitar than the 150/250 s are??

Having said that, this white Thunder 1a achieved £288. Despite there being a big rant in the listing.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHITE-WESTONE-THUNDER-1a-ACTIVE-BASS-GUITAR-1985-CLASSIC-80s-BASS-/221313339658?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item33874d910a

Annoying Twit wrote:There seem to be quite a few rather optimistic Westone sellers at the moment.

However I personally think the asking price is always subjective and in any transaction both the buyer and the seller need to feel comfortable with the final price.

I also think we should not under value the Westone make, from my relatively limited experience to date of the range, these guitars are quality instruments and stand up to most if not better what is available to buy new at higher prices  

But it's not us that values the Westone brand, it's 'the market'. The instruments are worth what people will pay for them. And for a standard Westone Thunder 1a bass, that appears to be about £130 +/- quite a large standard deviation.

If the instrument in the OP sells for £250 or more, then that's what it was worth on the day. But I predict that it will fail to get any bids at that price.

That the market - such as it is - sets the price is dead on, and the market for Matsumoku guitars probably doesn't even rate a mention when talking about second hand guitars that sell for big bucks. Yes, the Matt guitars are exceptionally consistent quality guitars that will play hard and still come up trumps, but then so do Hoshino builds, and others I can't recall readily.

The sad fact is that guitarists are - by and large - a very conservative mob,and if it doesn't say 'Fenson' on the headstock, then rightly or wrongly the market for the Japanese guitars will remain soft, and subject to buyer ignorance.

A guitarist of my acquaintance who sang and played in my last band bought herself a very nice indeed MIJ Ibanez while playing in the band and seemed happy enough with it. Now, she is mixing with a new mob with conservative taste in guitars - the guitarist plays Fender - and he gently pushed her to get an LP, which she did. Now, I reckon the Ibanez did everything the Gibson does, and a few things besides, and would have been easier on the shoulder but peer pressure is alive and well!! Not to mention,the LP was a huge bump in purchase price, eh...

\rant over

I think it's also a matter of supply. There are quite a few sources of quite good guitars and basses. E.g. Indonesian made Yamahas and Squiers can be quite nice. If I compare my Yamaha Pacifica 112v to my Westone Thunder IIA, then they are very different guitars with different sounds. I think that the Westone is a bit better, but I don't think it's a night and day difference. 

With large numbers of quality guitars and basses entering the market every year, and quality guitars and basses from the 80s still being around, e.g. the cheaper USA made Peaveys, then supply and demand keeps the prices from being too high.

Annoying Twit wrote:...If I compare my Yamaha Pacifica 112v to my Westone Thunder IIA...I think that the Westone is a bit better, but I don't think it's a night and day difference...

Apples and oranges. Completely different configurations.

Barry wrote:

Annoying Twit wrote:...If I compare my Yamaha Pacifica 112v to my Westone Thunder IIA...I think that the Westone is a bit better, but I don't think it's a night and day difference...

Apples and oranges. Completely different configurations.

Very much so,  and I mentioned this. But quality is quality, and iMHO can be evaluated independently of the configuration.

I certainly would have thought that £320 for a Thunder IIA guitar would be considerably optimistic. However, this one sold for that. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-IIA-/181294757060?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a360274c4

For a second it made me wonder if I could get that much for mine

Just goes to show how wrong one can  be Mr. Twit.... 

There's no denying quality.

Over on basschat, people are complaining how depressed the market for second hand basses are, and how sometimes it's difficulty to sell things even for silly low prices. E.g. I'm still tempted by this Korean or Chinese Aria fretless with a foam case for £110 delivered. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/220888-aria-sb-40-fretless-bass-in-black-with-lightweight-hard-foam-case-now-l110/page__p__2333560__hl__aria%20fretless__fromsearch__1#entry2333560

There's a Westone Spectrum near to me that failed to sell on ebay for £80, then sold for £75. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Spectrum-bass-/321296669917?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4acec61cdd

But it looks as if the market for Thunders is very healthy right now.

The market for cases isn't too bad, either.  Is this one empty or am I missing something?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251424854357?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

that belonged to a board member here, I bet he's a happy chappy tonight.

a lot of money for a below average case, seems there IS some denying of quality eh ?

 

Now I'm tempted to put my case up on ebay to see what happens

This thing goes both ways though. One function I wanted a bass for was a cheap bass to keep at work for occasional dead minutes where I could fit in 5mins practice. I put in what I thought was far too low a bid on a Fujigen made Ibanez - and won it!