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New Cort basses


danbowskill

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I never really looked at Cort basses before, assumed most were cheap budget types..... but these look awesome for the price. I'd have one over a sire Any day I think. Hipshot ultralights, barts , markbass pre Plus.....a roasted maple neck( lush ) all just over £500

Think I'll be trying one after rebate

 

Edited by danbowskill
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Cort make Lakland Skylines, G&L Tributes, Some Squiers, Some Fenders, Some Ibanez models. In fact if it says Made in Indonesea, it's likely to come out of the Cort factory so chances are you HAVE played a Cort. Because of this they have the skinny on all the clever "tweaks" employed by the marques they build for and some of these creep into their models.

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What had been missing until fairly recently was a decent sound. That is until the introduction of the Markbass pre which came in, I believe, with the 2018 C series and were fitted to more recent B’s too. This change to lighter weight and baked maple plus the Markbass pre and licensed Hipshots make for a very compelling package at this price point. Well done Cort!

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i have one of the new cort gb 74 jj basses also a gb 74 jh and till last week an A4   i dont know why they are refered to in some circles as budget  as with hipshot tunners and solid bridge not a million miles away from some named bridges the finish is a lot better than i have seen on more respected basses, yep as mentioned before cort have been clever and used some of the good bits from lots of the other named basses they make and produced a cracking bass. cant fault it any more than i could some of the other expensive basses i have had. i still believe that to some  the name on the headstock is what matters , having said that we all have our opinions and we dont all agree what is better than something else, if we did it would be very boring  lol what suits one does not suit another .   

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15 minutes ago, Moos3h said:

Mine's on order! I'm told that these have hit the UK Distributors and mine should be with the shop in the next few working days.  Can't wait to try it - NBD thread will follow!

Cool. Where did you buy it from?? And what colour? ....... think I'll be getting the black. Please let us know your thoughts when it lands 🙂

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On 26/03/2019 at 09:33, Iacopo San said:

The Corts I have tried all had an amazing feel and they seemed built really well. The problem is that I always find the sound very sterile and uninteresting, often quite empty and canny.

I think I just don't get along with Bartolini pickups.

They look good, but this, on both counts...

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I've got the Cort GB5 Custom and love it to bits - just wish i had an opportunity to use it a bit more.  Seymour QP pickups and I put a John East in mine and it really sings, brilliant B string on a 34"scale and a truly lovely neck...so much so i sold the Lakland 5 which has always been my goto 5. Most Corts are top notch IMO.

 

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On 26/03/2019 at 09:33, Iacopo San said:

The Corts I have tried all had an amazing feel and they seemed built really well. The problem is that I always find the sound very sterile and uninteresting, often quite empty and canny.

I think I just don't get along with Bartolini pickups.

Same. Had the Jeff Berlin 4 String. Very well made (albeit £800), great hardware - babibcz bridge, hipshot ultras, and a really fabulous neck. 

But - totally anemic Bart pups.. I play a lot of jazz so I didn’t feel I was asking something they weren’t designed for, but found them so bland and lacking in character.. 

Did eventually sell it on but do remember the neck as one of the best I’ve ever played - part of me has regretted not just swapping the Barts out.

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I saw this video on my YT suggestions and loved the look of it. Ive had a few basses made by Cort, but never a Cort bass.

Alas i have to agree about the tone and those pups. These pups were in  my Lakland and even after a pre amp upgrade I found the bass to sound very bland and generic. Not un usable by any means, but just not something i found appealing when compared to a P or Jazz bass. Wont be bothering with the Cort now, which is a shame. 

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I'm not surprised to hear these getting good reviews, Basstheworld.de have made no secret of the fact that they like Cort basses and I think it's great that Cort are not only on the up, but these 'budget' level instruments are now very serious and worthwhile propositions. Between Cort and Sire, players shopping for £500 basses have some really great options. As mentioned earlier, Cort have long been a massive ghostbuilder for big brand names and over the past few years they've really started building their own reputation. I can remember playing an early second generation Artisan 6 string and being really impressed  at what it offered for the price, and had kept my eye on Cort basses since then. The brand is also now getting the attention of some great players. Frank Gambale has a signature acoustic guitar with them that looks and sounds outrageous and Jeff Berlin is the leading light on the bass division. 

 

On the subject of the Cort Rithimic Jeff Berlin model, I have had one coming up two years now and I believe it's the best instrument I've ever owned or played. I regularly flip-flop between thinking which bass in my collection I like the most and that seems to change from day to day but the Rithimic is the one that I consistently come back to and it feels like home. The fittings are all top-spec, with the Babicz bridge being an absolute work of art and the matched topwoods being gorgeous to look at. Interestingly, it has a true, accurate recreation of the original pickups that Bill Bartolini wound for Jeff that ended up in the parts bass he was usually seen playing in the 80's. The original specification for those pickups had been thought lost and though Jeff had subsequently continued to use Bartolini pickups, they were not to that original specification. Fortuitously, the original diagram was recovered (IIRC from the back of a drawer, as it happens) and so the Cort Rithimic is fitted with 'Jeff Berlin signature' Barts. I absolute love the sound of these pickups though I rarely need to use anything other than just the bridge with the tone rolled off ever so slightly from open. There is something special in the midrange on these pickups that just makes them sing and punch through. 

Jeff used his Rithimic to record 'Joe Frazier Round 3' and I think it sounds tremendous. 

 

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I suspect most of us have a cort-made bass or three, perhaps even without realising it.

The serial number on the pickup in my Squier Jag comes up as being Cort, and I understand both my Hohners were made by them, and possibly my Ibanez '335' as well!

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13 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

What did they do?

Since 1997 controversy has surrounded Korean factories of Cort and Cor-Tek due to its alleged mistreatment of factory workers. Grievances include the closing of its Daejon factory with no advance warning on April 9, 2007, mass redundancies of all staff from its Incheon plant on April 12, 2007, and the firing and mistreatment of union officials and members.On July 12, 2007 a Cort worker set himself on fire in protest, and on October 15, 2008 workers conducted a 30-day hunger strike and sit-in occupation on a 40-meter electricity tower. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian - both partners in the Axis Of Justice - joined representatives of the Cort workers in a protest concert against Cort and Cor-tek on January 13, 2010 at the Nanum Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Morello said "I fully support the Korean workers' demands for justice in the workplace. All American guitar manufacturers and the people that play them should hold Cort accountable for the awful way they have treated their workers."This controversy went through various legal stages in Korea from 2007 through 2012. Ultimately, Cort received favorable decisions from the Supreme Court in Korea that ended any further liability on Cort's part to the terminated employees. The court recognized that the closure of the plant in 2008 and subsequent layoff were justified.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 27/03/2019 at 20:18, Moos3h said:

Mine's on order! I'm told that these have hit the UK Distributors and mine should be with the shop in the next few working days.  Can't wait to try it - NBD thread will follow!

Have you got your hands on it yet?

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