1985 Westone "The Rail" X800 Headless Bass – White w/ Original Gig Bag

This Westone "The Rail" is in good overall shape for a 40-year-old instrument, with honest wear that tells you it's been played but never abused. The white finish has yellowed to more of a cream tone over the decades — completely normal aging for white poly of this era, and it gives the bass some character. The body sections show scattered small dings and contact marks, but there are no cracks in the finish anywhere. The black-coated rails show some minor wear from the sliding pickup doing exactly what it was designed to do. All black chrome hardware is intact and functional. The neck is clean and plays well — playability has been tested and confirmed good. Everything appears completely original with no modifications or repairs.

Includes the original Westone silver and black gig bag — it's showing its age but fully functional with no rips or broken zippers.

Weight: 6 lbs 9 oz.

The Westone "The Rail" is one of the more genuinely inventive bass designs to come out of the 1980s headless craze. Built by the Matsumoku factory in Japan for St. Louis Music, The Rail took the minimalist headless concept and added a trick nobody else was doing: a single Magnaflux RB humbucker mounted on a sliding block that rides between two specially tuned stainless steel tubes. Loosen the tension knob, slide the pickup anywhere between the neck and bridge positions, lock it down, and you've got a continuously variable tonal range — from fat, deep P-bass territory near the neck to focused, punchy J-bass bite near the bridge, and everything in between. It's the equivalent of having three or four pickup positions without a switch.

The Rail was produced for only about two years (1985–1987) before the headless trend faded and Matsumoku closed its doors. The white version (X800SW) was introduced alongside the red in late 1985, joining the original black. That short production run and distinctive design have made these genuinely rare instruments — they don't come up often, and when they do, the collector interest is real.

The construction is straightforward and well-executed: three hard maple body sections bolted to a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard, 24 frets with distinctive small red dot inlays, and a fully adjustable Westone headless bridge with rotary fine tuners at the body end. Standard bass strings work — just cut the ends and lock them under the clamp at the headstock end. No special double-ball strings required.

Body: Hard Maple (3 sections)
Neck: Hard Maple, bolt-on
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Frets: 24
Inlays: Small red dot position markers
Scale Length: 32"
Nut Width: 1 9/16" (40mm)
Pickup: Magnaflux RB passive humbucker (sliding on dual stainless steel rails)
Controls: Master Volume
Bridge/Tuners: Westone headless bridge with rotary fine tuners
String Lock: Locking clamp at headstock end
Hardware: Black chrome
Rails: Black-coated stainless steel tuned tubes
Overall Length: 37 3/4"
Made in Japan by Matsumoku