Happy Thanksgiving to all, and especially you, Bob. Your thinking has always been clear and concise on these matters. Differences of tastes and opinions make us who we are, and are the prime reason Alembic makes as many models of basses and guitars as they do. They are the only company I can think of where making products for the individual is as common as their making them for the mass market (as if any are made to really compete in the Fender/Gibson realm - Actually, I suppose they are). There is always a chance the eight-string bass in question could sell for $5K if someone out there who thinks it is just what they need sees it. eBay is always a matter of who is around to bid on an item that week, to how high it will go at the end of auction. We have all seen ridiculously high and low prices paid for great basses, and not as great basses, simply by who showed up at the end of auction to bid. Note that I would not think the person who bought the bass for $5K was a fool if it did sell for that price. I would just think, Wow, they really wanted that bass! Pretty much anything else to say on this subject would be redundant (Which I know I am being now) or get into politics which nobody wants to get into. I'm just thinking the bass will probably hang around the Bay for a while until it goes down in price to where it more closely matches the going rates most of us have seen Distillate basses selling for, plus a reasonable bump for the added spiffy top, knobby headstock, and eight strings ($500?, maybe $1K if the 'right' person is around to see it?). OK, I've posted for the holidays, so I'll shut up now.