I bought this Wishbass for a friend who was going to customize it as a 4 string fretless precision jazz bass. Very small area for pickups, so the plan was to carve enough room for two lipstick pickups. Due to an accident that left the friend with a traumatic brain injury, he no longer plays. Coordination left his fingers and he cannot find chords he used to know. Very sad, because he was an excellent bass player and had played for 30+ years.
This explained, I am at the end of emptying my place to relocate. This Wishbass is one of the few remaining items. The body is goncalo alves, which gets prettier every day. When sanded it appears light, yet as resin comes to the surface, the wood darkens. Fret board is rosewood. I think the neck is hard maple. I priced it at $100 on craiglist, which should be a good price for the wood alone. No response. I can give it away on craigslist, but asking here first.
A few possible reasons include:
not much room for pickups
rather unique design ^.^ not for everyone
wood for the body is goncalo alves which is loaded with resin, not easy to make shiny or finish though I understand it is possible if done a certain way
a little on the heavy side because goncalo alves is quite dense, though excellent for instruments
because the neck is so solid, there is no rod to adjust
hand sanding would be a labor of love to be sure
if not a bass, what else might created with it?
in raw condition without a single piece of hardware
no ferrules
back of the neck is a bit thick and needs a little shaping and sanding, which may be a good thing because whomever receives it can shape it to suit them
the top of the neck is rather narrow because the friend had small hands
there are a few places where whomever built it did not put sufficient glue, fortunately with sanding goncalo alves wood dust was saved to make a wood glue with to fill those spaces
the fret board near the tail / top of the body is slanted opposite of how it should be
Today it occurred maybe someone in these forums might have some ideas. If you do and are interested, let me know. I will gladly ship it to you rather than throw it away. I don't know anyone to give it to. It may well be that only a luthier would interested, but there's been no response from the messages left for the few I found in this area.
Wow, what a beautiful piece of art! I play guitar mainly, but also play bass in a country music setting. I also do know luthiers who could add the necessary parts to compete such a project. If you are interest in this, let me know by pm. Thank you for sharing.
It is indeed. The guy behind Wishbass is not known for providing more than cheap hardware, so that was removed immediately. However he is known for choosing good woods and every design is unique. Each piece is numbered. When my friend put it down and said he wasn't interested in it anymore, I decided to smooth it out with sanding. Partly because hand sanding is cathartic and partly because I wanted to see the shape less raw. Unless you order one finished, they all come very raw to say the least :) The wood is amazing.
Ed Belote wrote:Wow, what a beautiful piece of art! I play guitar mainly, but also play bass in a country music setting. I also do know luthiers who could add the necessary parts to compete such a project. If you are interest in this, let me know by pm. Thank you for sharing.
Please keep in mind, I am not wanting this for my own personal satisfaction, but rather helping to finish this dream to its intended fruition.
All it needs is love and passion. Sent you a purple moosage :.)
It is actually much nicer looking than in the photos. I don't take the best photos and not particularly skilled with editing images for lighting and such.
I remember that luthier! He made some sweet tenor guitars, too. If I recall, he used antique woods, often from old pianos. That is a quality, hand made instrument, even though it is "no frills".
"Them that don't know him don't like him and them that do sometimes don't know how to take him, he ain't wrong he's just different and his pride won't let him do the things to make you think he's right" - Ed Bruce (via Waylon and WIllie)
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