Buying a wish that you have not seen in person, or that has not been certified for you by an honest owner, can certainly be a risky proposition. His basses sound great but they do have construction issues.
I've owned 3 of them-- 2 4's and a 7, all fretless. 2 of them- my Peanuts 4 and 7-- were almost perfect in terms of construction but the third, a "motley" Sam design of various melded woods, did not do so well. The body woods literally came apart on me minutes before I had to lay down some tracks for a film (I was in the studio when I noticed the separation) and the only thing holding the bass together was the thru-neck!
Wish fixed the bass for me but he must have done it quick and dirty, because it happened again just a week after I got it back. Needless to say I asked for my money back. I was fully refunded but I did lose lots of $$$ on shipping back and forth.
Still, I think Wishbasses sound amazing-- like no other bass I have ever owned and I do own some good stuff. I tracked 4 songs for a film using only my Sam and my Peanut 7, and the engineers still comment on how amazing they sounded.
I think the key to buying a wish is to get one pre-owned where the owner can give an accurate description so you know what you are getting into. The folks I sold my good Wishes to can certainly attest to that.
If you buy from Wish directly, insist on close-up pics so you can at least be sure that there are no rough edges, crooked parts, etc. Still, unless you are lucky as I was and get some good ones, you should be prepared to do some finishing on your wish. Wish sells these on the cheap because he admittedly spends a minimal amount of time on finishing and he uses lower grade woods. The former is not a problem if you don't mind doing the work, but if the woods are too flawed, too new, etc, you can have the problems I had with my Sam.
