lemmywinks

Cort haven't built basses in Korea for years now, the singlecut will be Indonesian. TBh I've had a ton of Cort built basses and they've never been anything other than excellent, even the ones with the licensed Bart MkI electronics were very well put together and just needed a decent preamp. Plenty of people bought the guitar guitar clearance basses early on (they've been on sale for a while now) and had no issues, I think the basses I've had are the dregs of their stock and are mainly customer returns. So basically you're getting the basses which other people haven't found to be acceptable. Couple that with a shop that don't really care about what they send out and you'll get some duds.

I want the fancy top, specced out hardware and the Nordstrands really so will just wait for a used GB Modern. Was tempted to wait it out until the end of January and get a new one instead of a refund but I'd most likely just end up with another lemon! Was going to put an ad in the wanted section but you need to pay for that now.

Right so apparently my refund is processing now so the other issue with that 3rd bass was the truss rod being completely maxed out and the bass having a little too much relief for my liking, more than the first bass which PinkMowhawk now has (the best of the three IMO). You can back off tension but it's at its limit so basically a goosed neck for all intents and purposes, playable (and giggable) as it is but if you need to make an adjustment in the future you're out of luck. All attempts at adjusting it were made with the strings slackened way off and no tension on the neck so it's definitely not a happy bass and one to avoid. I didn't reveal this earlier as I am always a little wary of shops knowing you've made (or in this case tried to make) a truss rod adjustment even though it's just a normal part of a setup, it's also why I asked for a straight refund instead of a repair/discount. I was planning on putting an Uni Pre in one of these anyway but not one I where I can't get the neck as flat as I'd like that might be a ticking timebomb in the future. Wish I'd just grabbed one of these when they first went on sale really as it looks like I've ended up with the dregs, all three of 'em!

If they're a direct retrofit then they'll just drop in and the screw holes will line up. If you want to use the new bushings then you'll need to tap out the old ones which may be very snug, I use an appropriately sized socket bit and gently tap that from behind. Make sure the headstock is resting on a towel or something. If they aren't drop in then you'd need to fill and redrill the screw holes, can do this with cocktail sticks and wood glue then carefully level with a chisel. Res-o-lites will likely cover the old screw holes. Worst case scenario is the post diameter is different which will involve either plugging and redrilling or reaming. The Sire V5 should come with the adjustable Grover clones so unless it's for weight saving there's no real need to upgrade them, I actually stuck a set on my Aria STB-DX and have no issues with tuning stability.

Well the third bass is now up for sale, no mention of the preamp fault (just a random "there's a ding on the neck" line, there isn't btw) so maybe they've fixed this: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/230420404129008-14542343--cort-gb-modern-5-open-pore-charcoal-grey-ex-demo-ie221 No sign of my refund yet so I've messaged them, weird how they can get the bass back up for sale. I still wouldn't buy this bass btw, I'll wait until I get my full refund to tell you why.

Shameless plug:

I would just message East, their support is pretty good.

Yep, there's definitely some unscrupulous practices going on. Unfortunately everywhere else the GB Modern 5 is over a grand.

A used Cort GB35 (or a GB54 if you get lucky) can often be had for a similar price as well. This is an absolute steal if you're local: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3808653296123817/

Ebay sold listings suggest £40-£100 so probably a bit overpriced. Stagg were a budget brand from years back, I'd be looking at a new Harley Benton or something like that.

Will be your standard cheap copy I would imagine, brand is irrelevant. You'll get hit with import fees from Canada as well. There's a Squier CV 60s Mustang for under £300 in the classifieds

Get a headless and leave your string ends like this

If you want a regular scale bass in its lightest possible form the Sinsonido is probably the one to go for, still feels like a full size bass but is made of helium.

As well as overall weight there's neck dive to consider, a lot of lighter basses will pull on your shoulder as most of the weight is reduced at the body end. This is no good if you have back or shoulder issues. As mentioned previously the Ibanez EHB are headless (no dive!) and chambered, mine is 7lb/3.3kg. Get the one with Nordstrands in it, will be paying around £700-£800 used or about £1.3k new, they also do a short scale option.

Lets not descend into the frothing gammon bait nonsense of "going to prison for Facebook posts", obviously you can't incite violence, murder, call for a building with people in it to be set ablaze etc on any platform. This has been law in this country for a long time so the "these days" stuff doesn't work either. Although our police are an absolute joke and are unwilling to pursue anything that will take them longer than half an hour (unless it's a personal vendetta, in which case they'll direct all public resources to it) the other issue here is that Facebook refuse to work with the police in most cases. A friend of mine I was in a band with (he's on here) with was ripped off by Mick, our guitarist at the time was a DI (now retired) and he said unless it's a public post FB won't co-operate at all, so screenshotting FB messages is going to give the police the out they need when it comes to doing a bit of work. The worst thing about all of this is that Mick isn't even a good scammer, he's just repeating the most basic routine every time and getting away with it. The best thing to do is just compile all the evidence of scams and forward it to every venue he gigs at, every company he works with and everyone commenting on his posts. Maybe set up a "Ripped off by Mick Mason" FB group and target him on the same platform he uses to target others, cut him off at the source.

I think quite a few shops go by that "we haven't sold it so it's still new, right?" mantra tbh!

Yeah that first one (and the third one when it worked) was exactly what I expected these to sound like, they're incredible instruments. I didn't notice any tint on the pickguard, just looked clear to me. I'd be careful with taking the pickguard off though as those tops are quite soft and are prone to dings. The MB preamp (while decent enough and better than the old Bart Mk) is the weak link IMO and isn't quite up the standard of the rest of the bass, switch it into passive mode and it sounds just as good with the same output, Big Singles are just immense. Quite liked the bass control on the preamp (think it's around 80hz from memory) but wasn't keen on the mid and treble, on my Uni Pre I like to boost quite a wide range of treble then tame the excessive highs with the passive tone control but on this one it's like an ice pick to the ears whatever I did so I just cut a fair bit. I also like to boost a tiny bit of lower mids which the MB doesn't do so just left that centred. I just asked for a refund tbh as that seems to be their policy, tbh I would have probably taken a discount and used the bass in passive mode if offered but in the end I thought it best to just get a full refund and wait for a used one. I don't need another bass and just bought it because I wanted one! I did get an email from them assuring me these are all new basses but I'm not so sure really, that second one had definitely been around the block.

I think Cort might be a bit concerned tbh as it's their own brand, something they've always struggled with in terms of getting that upper mid tier recognition. I've always recommended them to others thinking they'll get a great bass for the money but now I'm sat here 0/3, 100% failure rate and that's due to a shop selling dodgy goods as new, so now I can't tell people that a Cort is a good bass anymore. A shame really as these are beautiful basses which sound killer.

Had a quick look earlier (was the first thing I checked as it's an easy fix) and there's nothing shorting, possibly an issue on the board.

I'm probably just going to contact Cort about it tbh. I've had a ton of Cort branded (and Cort built) basses over the years going back to the Korean factory and always had confidence in them due to consistent quality, my current main gigging bass and my fretless are both made by them. This is just poor though and has made me wary of the brand. Seeing as Spacecowboy has also sent his A5 back I think their sale is just customer returns, at least at this stage when stocks are low. I still want one as they sound brilliant, at some point I'll score a good one and stick a Uni Pre in it!

So just gone to play this bass now and the new battery is dead, same low output in active mode so it looks like it's draining the battery when not in use. I think these basses at GuitarGuitar are all customer returns with issues. If anybody has a fully functional GB5 Modern in either colour for sale let me know please!

Just Google "USA Musicman Sterling". The actual Sterling model is discontinued now, that "new ones coming soon" thing has been there a couple of years IIRC. I think they still take one off orders, not that there's much point when they've hiked their prices into oblivion and you can get a used one for a little over £1k.

Played it for about 40 minutes and not had that issue again so hopefully all is well, I'll most likely be playing it a fair bit over the weekend as I'm struggling to put it down at the moment! Btw @PinkMohawk if they have the 2nd bass I received when you go to demo yours hold it up to your ear and see if you can hear the pickup rattling! I have no idea if that one even works as it just went straight back in the box.

Just got home and plugged it in, active levels were very quiet (passive fine) so guessed the battery was dead and changed it for a new one. Played through a few songs with it and a couple of times the sound from the preamp went quiet for a second then came back up to full volume. After engaging/disengaging the push/pull pot a few times it seemed ok. Will give it a bit more time later to see if the issue repeats itself and it isnt just a bit of flux or coating somewhere, the passive option works fine and output is about the same.

In the pictures I thought the other finish had the slight edge but in person they both look equally beautiful I think. Now I have a suitable lightweight alternative to my blue EHB I'm considering sanding that bass back to a natural finish, just need to pluck up the courage!