Don't know if someone else already made this observation yet...But I saw the John Popper project in Copper Mountain Yesterday and his bassist is using a 6 string Lobe Wishbass!!! All I could think was COOL!!
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Wishbass Club
- Thread starter BassDudeSA
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never seen so many up for sale at one time!
I kinda like that unfinished striped lobe. I asked wish and he'd put a KA in it for another $50.
Tempting, but I can't spend any more dough on basses for awhile.
never seen so many up for sale at one time!
I kinda like that unfinished striped lobe. I asked wish and he'd put a KA in it for another $50.
Tempting, but I can't spend any more dough on basses for awhile.
So I see on eBay this morning a couple of basses (Super Longhorn and Lobe) that have been hot-rodded for resale, with a 6-position tone control and a urethane finish. I'm cool with the tone control design - my last electric guitar (Gib L6-S) had the same 'feature'. I wonder how it really sounds?
These auctions sort of claim to be authorized by Wish. It looks like the beginning of an interesting 'aftermarket' for Wishbasses.
Now if the guy only made cover plates...
It looks like an original Wish plate but with two evenly-spaced holes.
These auctions sort of claim to be authorized by Wish. It looks like the beginning of an interesting 'aftermarket' for Wishbasses.
Now if the guy only made cover plates...
It looks like an original Wish plate but with two evenly-spaced holes.
Hey,
My machinist friend is making me some cover plates, based on the original tin-can teardrop. We're looking at polished stainless and polished aluminum Diamond-Plate, just for fun.
I'll post photos when they're ready, and offer what I don't use up here.
My machinist friend is making me some cover plates, based on the original tin-can teardrop. We're looking at polished stainless and polished aluminum Diamond-Plate, just for fun.
I'll post photos when they're ready, and offer what I don't use up here.
The 6 position switch on the L6-S is the pickup selector switch though...isn't it? A friend of mine still has an L6-S that he bought brand new way back when...
(from Wikipedia: "...Controls include a six position pickup selector, master volume, midrange and 'treble roll-off' controls.")
I was an early adopter of Wishbasses and posted some glowing feedback up here on TB when it was not in vogue to doe so. Long story short, I had three at once, and quickly paired them down to zero. Why? Quite literally, they were falling apart.
My first wish was a motley Sam, wish's symetrical dual cutaway SG style body. Total neck dive but sounded amazing. So much so in fact, that the engineers that recorded me (I used it for a film soundtrack project) STILL talk about how great it sounded. BUT-- the bass woods (glued together butcher block style) came apart AS I was going into the studio. I recorded anyway with the broken bass and the bass sounded great. I sent it back to wish shortly after and he glued it back together. And within a month, it fell apart agian. So I convinced him to return my money.
After that, I sold off my 4 string and 7 string peanuts at a loss.
In short, they sound great and look cool from a far but they are made like total crap. Wish could spend just a little more time finishing them and putting in truss rods, and he could still charge more, and they would be great deals. They sound amazing but they cannot be adjusted and they are built like firewood.
I took the money and rolled it into some 1980's japanese basses. Much better made and will hold their value longer I am sure. Was fun while it lasted but that was literally only a few months.
He might have gotten better but I highly doubt it.
My first wish was a motley Sam, wish's symetrical dual cutaway SG style body. Total neck dive but sounded amazing. So much so in fact, that the engineers that recorded me (I used it for a film soundtrack project) STILL talk about how great it sounded. BUT-- the bass woods (glued together butcher block style) came apart AS I was going into the studio. I recorded anyway with the broken bass and the bass sounded great. I sent it back to wish shortly after and he glued it back together. And within a month, it fell apart agian. So I convinced him to return my money.
After that, I sold off my 4 string and 7 string peanuts at a loss.
In short, they sound great and look cool from a far but they are made like total crap. Wish could spend just a little more time finishing them and putting in truss rods, and he could still charge more, and they would be great deals. They sound amazing but they cannot be adjusted and they are built like firewood.
I took the money and rolled it into some 1980's japanese basses. Much better made and will hold their value longer I am sure. Was fun while it lasted but that was literally only a few months.
He might have gotten better but I highly doubt it.
True, the Gibson 6-way switch combined pickup selection with some phase and tone modification (there were some capacitors involved). I've seen the passive 6-way BBox filter over on birdsongguitars.com, which seem sort of Wish-inspired in their wooden way
, but they're obviously different, being a single-input device. I guess these modded Wishes on eBay were similar to the Birdsong approach, except that the electronics didn't work 
That's what's kept me from buying a Striped or a Motley when they come on the market. I'm just not sure about the joinery. My guess is that there aren't biscuits holding together the wood segments, or the body to the necks. They _are_ fun to look at, though. My Wish, like most of the more recent eBay models, is sandwich construction, so at least the front should stay glued to the back.
I only have three Wishes left, but I've owned ten. Most of them just sat around the house without cases being picked up and dragged around (although cared for) and I gigged with a few. They sure seem solid to me. They have not been exposed to other climates so maybe that can have an effect on the glue. But I never received any damaged and I have never seen a problem with construction or durability on any. My oldest is a bit over a year old.
I ordered my wish (should get it in a couple weeks hopefully) with a truss rod and i supplied a nice bridge (but he offers that as an option too), so you can pay a little extra and get some adjustability...
You have me a little nervous on the glue part though
You have me a little nervous on the glue part though
I wouldn't spend too much energy on worry. There are plent of comment to the effect that Wish is doing better on the construction. I have 3 Wishbasses and note no problems with the glue on any of them. One of them is at least 4 years old, I bought it on eBay. The other two I ordered. I've been giging steady (50-60 gigs a year) with one for 2 years (fretted) and I got a fretless last fall.
The two I ordered were 'unfinished' but really they were pretty close and didn't all that much work to get ready for a finished. The only negative thing I would note, and it may be my fault for not understanding what 'unfinished' means, is that the fingerboard on the fretless was not as flat as I would have expected, very much playable, and in fact I did some recording with it, but there were two or three notes that buzzed neat the octave (12th 'fret'). I got one of those 'fingerboard levelers' and some 200 grit sandpaper from StewMac and with a few hours of work that neck is great.
Unstrung the necks on my Wishs are straight as an arrow. No bow or relief. When I get the strings on (I use flats) the necks are exactly the same.... the tension of the strings has no visable effect on the neck.
My machinist pal came through with the first plate - 1/16" polished stainless. Here's a pic:
He'll have one made from 1/16" polished aluminum DiamondPlate later in the week, and I'll post that as well.
I thought about having him cut just a circle, but then I'd have to wood-fill the hole at the point of the 'teardrop', which might be ugly.
He'll have one made from 1/16" polished aluminum DiamondPlate later in the week, and I'll post that as well.
I thought about having him cut just a circle, but then I'd have to wood-fill the hole at the point of the 'teardrop', which might be ugly.
Here's the DiamondPlate edition, as well as a shot of the stainless, DiamondPlate, and of course the 'brushed aluminum' original:
If there's some interest, I'll ask my pal how much he'd charge to make some more.
If there's some interest, I'll ask my pal how much he'd charge to make some more.
Those plates look cool, but I think I'll stick with my maple-veneer ones for now. I would really like a real wood one made, if anything.
BTW, I threw an old dimarzio model j on my lobe. Sounds much louder - but buzzes a bit. Any suggestions?
BTW, I threw an old dimarzio model j on my lobe. Sounds much louder - but buzzes a bit. Any suggestions?
I usually dont dig the wishbass
but I think hes getting real good at the finishes and the new control cavity in the back makes steve's basses look alot cooler IMHO
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bass-Fretless-F...oryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
but I think hes getting real good at the finishes and the new control cavity in the back makes steve's basses look alot cooler IMHO
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bass-Fretless-F...oryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Wishnevsky will do the rear mounted control cavity on custom basses. It's just rare that he puts them up on ebay. I would think it would make sense to do them all that way, but I guess it takes him more time - and thus a bit more expensive. I had him make me a custom one, and I requested the rear mounted cover plate. Much better.
As you can see with mine above, he might make a wood veneer covered plate if you ask for it.
Also, in regards to the finishes, I'm not sure that pics are going to show you how his finishes are (if that's what you are basing it on). From my experience on the ones that I have, if I were to have him build another, I would do the finish myself. And in the pics I saw of the basses before I paid for them, the imperfections of the finish was not evident.
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Boring the holes for rear-mount controls is a little trickier than front-mount. In the more common front-mounting, all he has to do is drill deep enough to accomodate the volume pot and the depth of the cable plug - it's not a high-precision operation, and it's only one drilling operation with a big honkin' Forstner bit.
By contrast, to bore from the back to the front for rear-mount, you have to be much more careful. It's also at least two more drillings - the big bore plus two 3/8" holes for the pot and jack. If the Forstner cut is too shallow, the pots/jack won't reach through to the front of the instrument through their (additional) mounting holes, and if it's done too deep, you could bore right out the front of the bass! With a drill press set to the proper max depth it could be done easily, but there's anecdotal evidence (string holes) that a drill press might not be found in Winston-Salem. Even if there were, you'd have to set it up for each operation, and since he's not in 'mass production', it adds time and cost.
Maybe the Holey bass started out as a control-cavity cut gone horribly wrong!
By contrast, to bore from the back to the front for rear-mount, you have to be much more careful. It's also at least two more drillings - the big bore plus two 3/8" holes for the pot and jack. If the Forstner cut is too shallow, the pots/jack won't reach through to the front of the instrument through their (additional) mounting holes, and if it's done too deep, you could bore right out the front of the bass! With a drill press set to the proper max depth it could be done easily, but there's anecdotal evidence (string holes) that a drill press might not be found in Winston-Salem. Even if there were, you'd have to set it up for each operation, and since he's not in 'mass production', it adds time and cost.
Maybe the Holey bass started out as a control-cavity cut gone horribly wrong!
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