We see a lot of interesting guitars around here, but it’s pretty rare that we see something we’ve truly never seen before. But a customer recently brought in two fretless basses that stopped us in our tracks. How can we describe them? -Unusual? Rough-hewn? Quirky? The woodworking is quite good at times and, um, hurried and homemade looking at others. They seem to be made from a combination of  exotic wood species like purple heart and odd driftwood-looking domestics.   Both instruments buzzed quite badly and required heavy fretboard leveling. But once that was done, it became evident that the builder had done something right. They actually sounded great and the owner was soon using the 5 string, which he nicknamed “Big Nasty,” in a recording session.

The pricetag for both of these USA handmade instuments? Less than $500 apice! The manufacturer? A North Carolina maker called Wishbass. Take a look at more photos below and see what you think.

A singe passive pickup is wired directly to a volume pot and output jack.

Here’s a second bass, this one a four string model.

The woodworking is again, hit and miss…

The finish has a drip or two… or three…

In an era where lots of instruments look the same and most are cranked out by the thousand, these one-of-a-kind basses were kind of refreshing to see. And  for the entry-level pricetag, they’re sure to appeal to some. The owner of these two just bought his third on eBay!  What do you think?

This online auction purchase made a layover at CFW for a body refin, before heading to its new home in France.

The buyer lives in France and the seller lives in Chicago. So before it shipped, the new owner of this vintage Guild Jetstar Bass asked that it be brought here so we could remove a clear refin, and restore its original 3-tone sunburst look.  The trick, was to make the new body finish blend in with the original burst finish still on the neck.

Here’s the untouched neck with its original sunburst finish.

Someone did a very good job of refinishing the body with clear lacquer and it aged nicely. But the new owner really wanted it to be a full sunburst like it was originally. So we got to work stripping back to the bare wood.

Before refinishing, Dan sands the body until all of the old finish is gone. The pickup rout still has the original base yellow color, so he’ll leave that alone and use it for a color reference.

Next, it’s into the booth for sealer coats and a base of vintage yellow.

Then the dark outer burst…

…and finally the red inner burst.

After amber top coats, we distress the finish to blend in with the years of heavy wear on the neck.

What a great looking and sounding bass.  We’ll pack it up carefully and ship it to its new home in Paris!

You’ll find a new page on our website starting today, titled “Guitar Recycling.” It marks the beginning of a new endeavor here at Chicago Fret Works. We’ll be accepting donated guitars, basses, or other musical equipment (in working or near-working condition please) for Chicago’s own Intonation Music Workshop. We’ll clean them up, restring them, and pass them on. When you think about it, every time you repair a guitar (or anything else,) you’re recycling and reusing.  But this is even more exciting; you can put your under- or un-used instrument back to work making music and help out some great kids at the same time.

To quote our own most recent blog post, guitars are meant to be played and enjoyed. And here’s another truth; not everyone can afford to take up our favorite past-time.  If you’ve got an instrument that you don’t use anymore, how about putting it back to use and donating it to the kids at

Intonation Music Workshop!

Click here for a nice video story about this project from Northwestern University/Medill News Service.

Here’s some of the guitars we’ve recycled and donated to IMW so far!

We had a couple of unusual projects recently that required some creative work with color. The owners of both this 70’s Fender Precision Bass and a modern Gibson SG knew they wanted to refinish their instruments, but wanted to do something a little more unique than just choosing a standard Fender or Gibson color.  Interestingly, both ended up with colors more reminiscent of  vehicles than other musical instruments.

The bass started out with a stripped body. It was a Precision Bass that had been routed at one time for an EMG Jazz pickup and a battery compartment on the back.  We filled both routs  and sanded them smooth to fit the texture of the rest of the body.

For our custom color, we improvised a sort of ‘Granny Smith’ flavored candy apple. It looked a little odd to the two of us on a color sample stick, but our customer loved it and said to use it. By the time it was put together with the original pickguard, pickups, and a new Leo Quann Badass 2 bridge, we were totally convinced he was right. It received a unanimous thumbs up from all parties. It matched perfectly with an owl strap from Chicago-based Souldier Straps.

After staring at this bass for a while, we figured out what it reminded us of:

A 1973 Honda CB500!

Next up is a late model Gibson SG that came in almost completely stripped of it’s original cherry finish.

The owner has a vast collection of green guitars and wanted this one to join that group. He asked us to match the color on a dark metallic-green pool cue and to inlay stars for the fretboard markers.  The new inlays required removing the frets so we could eventually smooth and level the entire fretboard.

Next we prepped the mahogany body for finishing by removing all the old paint and applying grain filler to the pores. This will insure that even a very porous wood like mahogany will have the smooth-as-glass surface look that we want.

After matching that green pool cue’s color and applying top coats of nitro, this SG is uniquely beautiful. Check it out.

So where did we find that killer racing green finish? From Porsche!

The owner of this bass had the Guild custom shop inlay his wife’s name on the fretboard several years ago.  And they did a great job. The bass sounds terrific. The only problem is that they are no longer married. It seemed like time to move on, so in a relatively pain-free procedure, we replaced the fretboard and inlaid some slightly less specific fretboard markers.

First, let’s get that old fretboard off of there. Using an electric heating blanket, we soften the glue that holds the ebony fretboard to the mahogany neck.

Next, we gently work a spatula between the pieces until the fretboard pops off.

At this point we’ll need to prepare the neck for a new fretboard by sanding the surface level. Then the new fretboard gets glued into place and trimmed to fit the neck. Between the heat, removing the old fretboard, and shaping the new one, the finish gets pretty  roughed up so we strip and refinish the entire neck.

Next it’s time to rout channels for the new pearl inlays and glue the new pieces into place. Then we level the whole fretboard to clean it up and get ready for fretting.

After leveling and cleaning the new fretboard, Dan hammers in the frets, making sure each one is seated perfectly.

A fresh set of strings and The Works setup later, this bass is ready to make some new music!