Wishbass Lobe

I just purchased my first Wishbass, #899, the Lobe 4-string fretless model. It was offered on Ebay by Steve for $300. I had done my homework on these guitars so when it arrived, it was pretty much what I expected. With only the volume control, it is not a bass designed to have many features, per se. My bass is a combination of a curly maple front on a mahogany back with the usual multi-wood neck, mostly mahogany. Fingerboard is Bubinga @ 34". Pickup is a jazz style EMG passive. If it has other "features", it would be more towards the woods he uses, the construction design and just the general funkiness of the thing. It's pretty wild.

I am actually a drummer for many years whoh as always wanted to play bass. I am not too far along yet, so my discernment about sound is undeveloped. I own a P-bass, a Hofner and a longhorn Tokai, but the Lobe is distinct, even to my ears. It definitly has that "woody" quality that everyone talks about and also that fretless "giant whale crying" sound. I dig it! Since I just got it and can't play well enough to be in a group, I can't comment on application too much. Right now I am noticing a hum in the volume control which seems to get less the more I tweak the thing. I think shielding the cavity is a must. I am also thinking about making my own tone control cover out of heavy copper sheet (hammered for effect) and creating a shape more pleasing than the teardrop. I make jewelry as a hobby so that is no sweat for me and will be fun.

The bass showed up with some action difficulties. I found the low E string too high in relationship to the others so I spent some time carving out the nut with my jeweler's files. It got better immediately! I may do the same thing to the bridge since it seems too high to me as well. Still, it plays easily enough, but I want it lower, so I will just take care of it. I also think the pickup could be raised up to bring it closer to the strings. Again, I am not afraid to tinker on the thing - in fact, I welcome it! You can't screw these up very easily. Fit is okay, although where the lower horn meets the neck, it is miscut. This will be hard to blend out and is my only serious complaint. I can make it better though, and will at some point. The lacquer finish is awful, but I knew that it would be, right? There are sanding marks in the wood, some glue smears and even pencil marks at the fret markers - all classic Wishbass trademarks. Don't complain if you can't deal with them! With some shaping, sanding, and oiling, this is going to be a stunning piece of art. I can't wait to get started.

This bass is rock solid and can stand up to about anything, is my guess. Hardware is great - no complaints there. Lacquer job is awful, but makes the guitar affordable. Strap button are just fine. Haven't had it long enough to comment on the other things.

Steve answers emails very, very quickly. Makes me wonder how he finds time to build the things. I have a lifetime warranty since I bought it new. It's too new to need repair or adjustments.

When I get another one of these I will order it directly from Wishbass and have the tone control plate put on the back. I will also get the hotter Kent pickup and run flat wounds. Right now I am playing thru a Hartke 350 head with the paper-coned 4x10 cab. It shakes the pictures off the walls - really! I am actually looking forward to all the finish work since I am good at that and have restored things all my life. I also love that I don't feel hesitant to change up things with these basses. They sort of beg for customizing, kind of like an old car; so there is a unique freedom in owning one. I definitly think these will become more valuable after he retires and may acquire a kind of cult status. I have already bought another one (Hyper) on Ebay and hope to special order a Fantasy 5 string this summer. Not for everyone though, that is for sure - but at $300-$500, how can you lose? I love mine ...

Made in USA in 2007, fretless. Maple/purpleheart neck-thru, with figured walnut wings. The fretboard is jatoba, which is a hardwood from the tropics. It has a very attractive reddish-orange hue, which contrasts nicely with the dark walnust. Totally solid wood is used throughout this bass, and very lettle metal components.

The Lobe model is the least radical looking model that Wishbass makes. The left half is shaped like a cello, the right half has a deep cutaway, giving you access to the very bottom end of the fretboard. The horn flares outward, so that the bass rests nicely on your knee should you play sitting down.

Single Kent Armstrong pickup, with a volume knob as the only control. Bought it used. Normally Wishbass comes unfinished; the previous owner put on a hand-rubbed satin finish that is quite nice. The bridge is a nonadjustable ceramic-like material. The strings are through the body. Height adjustment is by shimming or by filing down the material -- it should not be necessary, as the adjustment is done at the factory before shipping. Tuners are Grovers. The scale is 34 inch and the neck is very fat, like an upright. It is not an issue for me. Because of the heftiness of the neck, no truss rod is necesary.

This is a very basic bass, with no frills, nothing that is not needed. Some might say it lacks features. Therefore, it is hard to give a rating for this category. No opinion.

This fretless bass has only one sound -- that of a fretless bass. It could sound like an upright if you play around with the amp's controls. For jazz players who don't want to lug around an upright, this could be the answer. I use the bass for jazz, soft pop/rock, and r&b. Definitely not suitable for hardrock or metal.

The bass is very resonant and the sound is very deep and full.

Again, you either like the sound or hate it. The sound works for me for what I play.

Since I bought this bass used, the previous owner had set it up near perfectly. Cosmetically there are some issues. In order to keep the cost down, Wishbass uses wood that are top grade; nor does Wishbass spend a lot of time finishing the wood. The end result is that there are numerous imperfections, such as little dings, unsanded areas, gouges filled it with wood filler, etc. It looks like a bass that has been around the block. The nut is massive and clumsy looking; because the company does not take the time to cut it down to a smaller size. Again, all in the interest of keeping costs down.

I spent a few hours sanding the wood, filling in the wood's imperfections, reducing the size of the nut, and now it looks fabulous.

This bass is indestructible. It is one big hunk of solid wood, and if you spend some time touching up the finish, you could have one gorgeous instrument. It is built so sturdy that you will not need a backup.

I foresee no reason whatsoever to ever need to deal with the company. This bass will outlive you and me.

This is a handmade, USA bass, made with solid wood, for under $400 new. You cannot beat the price. However, the catch is that everything is simple, and the company does not spend a lot of time on finishing. You will have to turn it into a beauty yourself if you so choose. If you choose not to, at least put a coat of wax on it the protect the wood, and everything else is still functional.

I wanted a no-nonsense simple, electric fretless bass that is sturdy and reliable, and I got it.

The only metal parts are the tuners. The rest of the bass is solid wood. No laminations, no plywood, no veneer. Honest, solid wood. And as such, it feels very organic to the touch. The music you make come all from you. No flavoring from fancy electronics. Your fingers interacting with the strings, amplified by the pickup. That's it.

2006 Lobe style Wishbass, striped, made of strips of about 5 different kinds of wood, purpleheart fretboard, mahogany neck. Fretless, short, Wishbass basic 4-string, one J pick up. Look, you can't really get the picture from words, these basses are unique and unusual, they are both minimalist in terms of guitar parts, but true works of art in terms of the wood craftsmanship. Find Wishbass.com galleries and take a look. Nothing came with the barebones $300 price, but there is nothing even remotely close or comparable in this price range on the market.

It's not the usual rock n roll electric bass, this bass is all wood, and not much else. It's a great warm whumping bass sound more like an upright double bass, especially with flatwounds. Each one of these Wishbasses is truly unique, and mine has kind of limited action way in and high on the G string, but I've learned to compensate. I got a fretless because as a horn player learning a second instrument, I found that my ear could guide me to the right positions better without the frets, but now that I'm getting my fingers more coordinated I find that I love the sounds you can make with a fretless for jazz and blues. I can't make this bass sound like anything else, so for rock n roll covers, I switch to a vintage bass.

The overall craftsmanship is quite good for the price. I can't put a price on the fact that it is utterly unique, I like being different. The finish is minimal, and there are some slight irregularities in the wood here and there. There isn't much to ever rust, this is a practical and durable design. No, the bass wasn't "set up" before being sent, and without truss rods, an adjustable bridge and all the rest of the usual metal parts, setting up this bass isn't easy. Instead, I've just gotten used to its idiosyncracies. I'm amazed at how well this bass stays in tune.

I have a lot of trouble changing strings, and I'm even clumsier under pressure, so no, I wouldn't play this or any other bass without a backup at any serious gig. But this bass is durable like no other, it just doesn't have the parts that regular electric basses have, and the body and neck are solid hunks of hardwood. This is the only musical instrument I own that would have a chance of survival if it were tossed out my apartment window (I live on the second floor).

Company? It's just the dude, Steve Wishnewski and his wife. He gives the kind of high quality customer service you'd expect from a professional carpenter-cabinet maker who made his living by community reputation. Actually some of the customer service support comes from the wife, but you just can't beat this kind of small operation for personal customer attention.

You just can't compare this bass to other basses. It's unique, hand made, a conversation starter, a piece of art, it was only $300. I'd recommend this to just about any bass player, if you don't like it, you can use it to decorate your wall. I'd especially recommend it if you like to get noticed (so different), if you want to try fretless (the other fretless low cost basses are really cheaply made, the other custom fretless basses cost 10 times this one, there isn't much in between), if you play jazz (almost a stand up sound), or the blues, if you need to play anything sliding up and down a lot (like "these boots are made for walking") or honky-tonk country. Buy it again? Hell, I'm thinking about buying another Wishbass and I just got this one a couple of months ago. Check them out, no two are alike, like snowflakes.

Made 2005 fretless "lobe" model of wishbass. Pretty standard for wishabass (one EMG pickup, volume knob, rear routing). The body is poplar sandwiched between two slabs of Jatoba (Brazilian rosewood)fingerboard is also Jatoba. Neck is maple wih one huge hoss of purpleheart going down the middle. Kind-of like like a mutant Les Paul body. My band calls it the tree-bass because they say it looks like it was ripped out of the center of a tree. It needs one of those old amn faces carved in it or something. Really raw look, has he knots and all. FAT ASS neck.

Well, sounds like an upright. Really "woody" sound. Not surprising seing that the whole damn thing is wood except the routing cover, strings and tuning machines. I'm using it with either an Ampeg combo amp or a huge fender bassman stack w/ 2 15s and no horn. It sounds pretty good through the Ampeg, but awesome through the Fender. That Fender is the best amp I've ever owned, but coupled with the bass it is up in your face big time. Not a Jaco-like calm fretless sound, like most fretless basses (my main beef with fretless is it sounds wussy.) This bass has the most threatening growl I've ever heard, and you can't change it. Definately makes an impression. You can almost get a Les Claypool-ish sound out of it. My oly beef is that there must be a couple dips or something in the fretboard, because it buzzes pretty bad in a couple of places. Plugged in at a decent volume they are unnoticable.

Set up on the bass was all sorts of wrong for me. I HATE a high action and boy, this had it bad. Easy fix though. Sanded down the bridge and nut-slots and I had it way low. Too low at first actually, it made those dead spots in the neck really dead. So i raised it a little, and they weren't too awfully bad. They weren't there at all in the beginning, but my forearm couldn't take the super-high action. Much better now. One thing I need to mention is i am extremely pleased with the placement of the side-dots. They are in the middle of the fret, where the dots on a fretted are, NOT like other fretlesses where the dots are on the fret wire. F

Finish isn't as bad as eeyone says. A little rough but over the years It'll smooth itself out when it sinks in the wood. I still think I'll strip it raw sand it a little more (I can see glue a little in spots) and cover it in gunstock oil. That will make it unreal in looks.

Big nasty piece of wood. No worries about it really. I even considered just dragging it around Jaco style without a case. But gig bags do fit it. No truss rod, but I can put almost all my power into the neck and it barely, I mean barely, moves. I suppose I'd gig it without a backup if I was plaing locally. Just beacuse I'm lazy.

Could also double as crowd control device. Like Ian the manager of Spinal Tap says "In the business of rock n' roll you never know when a good solid piece of wood in your hands comes in handy."

Wish is a great guy. You can count on him for whatever.

Been playing bass for 10 years. Owned a Hamer, Fender Mustang, and a whole buch of others. I currently downsized to the Fender Geddy Lee and this Wishbass. These are really the only two that I've been satisfied with so far. I play mainly blues with some rock and occasionally jazz (like when I was in high school). These two basses are me all the way. both very unique and noticed. If you're thinking about a Wishbass, just get one. For $300 it's a steal for the fun you'll have with it. If it were stolen and I found it on the guy, I'd beat him with it and then keep playing the same one, just so when I go to gigs I can tell people that the chips and blood stains are from when I beat down a guy with my bass. It would probably stay in tune through the whole fight too.

Made in 2004, serial #406 Handbuilt in the good 'ol U S of A. Fretless, with 26+ frets worth of board. All solid wood construction. Volume control only. EMG Select Jazz bass type pickup. Neck-thru instrument with maple body, maple neck with ipe and maple stringers for stiffness, ipe fretboard. Finish is a brushed on clear laquer. Body style is an elongated Les-Paul on acid type thing with the bass bout meeting the neck at the 12th fret, or so. Bridge and nut are made of corian. Bridge is non adjustable, except for sliding it around for intonation. Grover tuners. Gigantic upright sized neck. No accessories. Unlike a lot of WISHbasses, this one fits into a Fender type gig bag. Weight about 12-15 pounds. 34" scale. Not a ton of featrues, but it's not supposed to have any.

To see some hotos go to, http://community.webtv.net/retro_6/wishlobe

Tone is amazing!!! Sort of Alembic meets Rickenbacker with fretless mwah to boot. Lots of sustain. Adjusting volume control adds texture and boost. Moving hand position and adjusting degree of attack changes tone.

I play a mix of improvised jazz/jam/blues. I mainly play it straight thru a Kustom KBA-16. I sometimes use an Ibanez AW-5 Autowah for some funk flavor. I plan on upgrading the amp to something more worthy and adding other effects in the future.

Zero complaints. Incredible sound for the price!!!

Action seemed high at first, but after paying it a while the combination of the action and gigantic neck prove to be comfortable and easy to play. Steve Wishnevsky builds these with hand tools, so finish and construction flaws are common. There are some finish drips, spots that could have been sanded better and 2 gaps in the wood. But I expected flaws like this. The worst thing was his placement of aluminum fret marker dots on the side of the neck. They wre ok in relation to each other, but the first one was 3/4" too far down the neck. Thus, they were all in the wrong place. I re-measured and put my own dots on in white paint. I Also added fretmarkers on the side of the neck to. This would have sucked badly if I didn't know how to measure out fret spaces.

This bas is built like a tank and will stand up to most everything, except getting run over by a Mack truck. All parts seem like they will last forever. Strap buttons solid and well placed, balances very well. Comfortable to play standing or seated and seated with it on either knee. I would use it without a backup.

My one concern is the lack of the truss rod. I seriously doubt that it will ever warp, since the neck is a monster, like that of an upright, but if it were to warp........

Steve answered all my emails. If there was a problem with it, I'm sure he would help me out.

I have returned to bass and have gone fretless this time. I have been playing guitar for 30 years and bass off and on during that time. I would replace it with another If it were stolen. I love the sound, playability and "soul" of this instrument. Beats some generic computer cut mass produced bass anyday. For the price, unbeatable!!! A handbuilt, made in the States, neck-thru, solidbody bass that sounds incredible--FOR $300!!!!!