WishBass
Built in North Carolina by Steve Wishnevsky. Steve’s motto is “Paintbrushes for Musicians” and I quote “ (the) basses are designed to maximize the acoustic coupling between the strings and the neck/body wood. This produces a fine woody tone and lots of sustain. Our basses minimize the metal and electronics in between your hands and the amplifier, letting you control your tones instinctively, instantly, organically.”
Wishbasses are very low cost when compared to other custom built guitars and they end up about $100 per string. However, to get them to this price bracket there are a few things left out, one of these being complete finishing, which would double if not triple the time taken to build the basses. Steve is able to turn out a bass in about a couple of days and that means there might still be a few rough edges, but in my opinion that makes them even more interesting and even in this basic state the basses are playable and sound great.
You now have a choice: leave them as is or refinish them to your likening. I’m afraid I couldn’t leave them, there were just too many things that I wanted to attack! Now, I am no luthier or carpenter, but I do have what I’d call ‘commonsense’ carpentry in that I can use a drill, a sander, a file, a routing tool and a screwdriver; add some sandpaper and you have a Wishbass finishing kit!
These basses do not usually come with a truss rod, although one can be fitted as an option. To quote Steve: “Let's get the standard questions out of the way. Yes the neck is kind of fat. No, there is no truss rod. There is one reason for both of these quirks. I am convinced that putting metal in a guitar neck hurts the sound. If you think i am wrong, buy something else”!
For more info: www.wishbass.com
