This is not a toy and never was.
These were serious instruments, with a fairly hefty price.
Back in 1986, these were listed at $529, which in
today's money,
is over $1000, at today's $ to £ rate, is just over
£640!!
Medium scale, well balanced, with a great range of
tones.
When you go to pick it up, it is quite a surprise -
it is almost as heavy
as a standard bass, having a maple neck and
body.
Matsumoku built, so pretty much ticks all of the
boxes.
It has a cut-away, so if you wander into a bit of
80's Slappin' and Poppin',
you can easily get your fingers under the G and D
string.
This was also a feature on the Super Headless,
which is the one that
has escaped me, so far - would love to have a go on
one.
The stringing set up is as per the Westone Rails I
had, so there is no
need for double ball strings - any string will do,
so if you have a favourite,
stick 'em on and get playing.
This one has it's original silver carry bag and I
believe the original strap,
as one of my Rail basses, also came with the same
strap.
It is in very good condition, aside from the marks
on the pick-ups, which
is common on this type.
As you can see, got some shots at last - I think it's time for some lemon
Now I have done this one, I think I will carry on
the headless theme and do
my Yamaha BX1, which is lurking somewhere and
I may also do my Hohner
B2A, which is also probably lurking in the same
area as the Yamaha!!
Cheers. :)
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Hi Eric, nice bass. I have one too! Please check out my headless Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/329486003810785/
ReplyDeleteHi. Had a look at the page - Look, no heads!!
ReplyDeleteI still have several headless - Gordy, B2A, Yamaha BX1 and the Quantum - all great to play.
Hello Eric, at the risk of sounding desperate, my Quantum was stolen a few years back and I haven't been able to make do with any other bass I've tried. Do you or anyone else here have a Quantum for sale or know of one for sale? I can repair if necessary.
ReplyDeleteBrian, Hi.To find a good one like mine, would take some time. A great bass, so I know that if it was a favourite you must miss it. If you scroll down my blog, you will see an email address - drop me a line and I'll see if I can help. Cheers. :)
ReplyDeleteI had that bass in the early 80s. Bought in a local store that also had a Rail, and I spent days going back in to play them both. I liked the look of the Rail better but liked the sound of the Quantum. It was the easiest-to-play bass I've ever had. I wanted a Fender P, was talked into trading it in by a bandmate, always regretted.
ReplyDeleteHi. Quite a few readers have emailed about this bass, a few with the same experience you had. They were in fashion and then after a few years, went out of fashion, so were sold, swapped, moved on. All of them wish they had kept it. I haven't played mine in a while, so this is a good excuse to dig the old fella out. Cheers. :)
ReplyDeleteAfter playing my fretless Warwick for a while, I decided to bring my Westone Quantum back into use. Immaculate condition and most people think it is a new cool instrument. Then I tell them I’ve had it for 30 years! After I bought it I added a 4" black metal strap extension to the body to improve the balance, and resigned the controls to Treble cut, Mix, and Master volume. Having separate PU volume controls seemed a daft idea.
ReplyDeleteHi. I've just tracked one of these down at what appears to be a reasonable price.
ReplyDeleteThe current rate seems to be between £650 & £850 which is not only a bit OTT but beyond my wife's temper threshold.
Its due to arrive next week at some point.
I can't wait to see how it compares with my Hohner B2A but, if it's anything like my other Westones, I think it will blow it away.
Did you ever get to play a Westone Super Headless?
IIRC when this post first went up you hadn't got your hands on one.
Guess who has one?? ����
Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Nick
Nick, Hi. Not got my hands on a "Super", to date but there is still plenty of time!!
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you. Cheers. : )
Hi Eric, I got blown out by the shop that I was buying the Quantum from. Cancelled my payment with no further information. I presume that it had been sold a fair while back and they hadn't marked it as sold or taken the ad down.
DeleteI've just picked up a fairly tatty one on Reverb so watch this space.
The Super Headless plays like a dream. I've also just picked up an old Vantage VA900b. Very much like the Westone Thunder 3 unsurprisingly. Very well put together and extremely playable once you get used to the headstock seeming a fair way away due to the short top horn.
If your ever anywhere near Great Yarmouth, give me a shout and I'll get the Super headless out for you.
Just scored an immaculate left hand version here in Oz...straight out of the bag beautiful.
ReplyDeleteVery impressed, the neck is glorious!
Such a cool weapon...looks like a rifle in the car!
Top Job - Another satisfied Westone player! Cheers. : )
ReplyDelete