Tanglewood/Cort Curbow 5

[HowieBass]

The Tanglewood Curbow 5 is a Luthite bodied bass identical in every respect to the better known Cort model of the same era, the only visible difference being a curlicue 'T' denoting Tanglewood on the headstock. This particular instrument dates from 2000 and was made in Cort's Korean factory. The 5 string versions have the same scale length (34") as the other Curbows which are found as 4, 5 and 6 string fretted and and fretless instruments; all have Ebonol fingerboards. Luthite and Ebonol are man-made materials and the only piece of wood in this bass is the bolt-on Canadian hard maple neck (unusually, the neck pocket extends all the way up to the pickup cavity). The bass has volume, and treble, mid and bass tone controls (tone knobs have a centre detente). Early Curbows, such as this, have a Mighty Mite soapbar pickup and a Bartolini Mk-1 EQ circuit that remains fully active when the slap switch is engaged. Later Curbows have Bartolini pickups and a preset EQ when the slap switch is on (the tone controls are defeated). The slap switch, for those unfamiliar with the idea, is intended to change the overall EQ, mids are cut and bass and treble are boosted (my Squier Deluxe Jazz Active also employs a slap switch but I find the EQ shift better implemented on the Tanglewood). The Curbow features two micro potentiometers that are accessible via small holes in the rear control cavity cover. One micro pot controls slap depth (amount of cut/boost applied), the other controls gain (which has only a minor effect with my bass). This is an active instrument and a separate cover hides the 9v battery compartment.

I've read that the reason for the two micro pots is a result of a misunderstanding between instrument designer Greg Curbow and Cort. A prototype Curbow had been put together and Greg was using micro pots to experiment with settings for the EQ's slap mode. Curbow had intended the micro pots to be replaced with fixed resistors but Cort technicians replicated his configuration exactly and that's why the production instrument appears the way it does.

As might be expected from the choice of materials and electronics this is a modern sounding bass. The pickup is in near enough the same place as a Stingray (at 30.3" or 77cm from the nut to the middle of the pickup) so I imagine it presents a similar tone... but only a Stingray sounds like a Stingray, right? It's a slim neck for a 5 string, the width at nut and bridge are 44mm and 68mm respectively giving a 17mm string spacing at the bridge but I've had no problem swapping over to it from playing a conventional 4 string bass; in fact a tighter string spacing can help when muting adjacent strings with your fretting hand and though I've not bothered developing much of a slap technique I've found it's no problem with this width neck. The fingerboard's also fairly flat with a radius of 15.75".

So, why did I get this bass? I bought it secondhand off eBay and it needed a decent clean and setting up properly; the 'platinum' finish hardware was quite badly corroded in places but I've managed to remove most of that leaving some minor residual pitting. I'll admit this Tanglewood is nothing like a proper Greg Curbow bass (and since Greg's no longer with us and his long-time lutherie partner Doug Somervell stopped making them there's a limited supply of those superbly assembled instruments) but in shape it resembles an International Exotic Petite model and the Tanglewood/Cort version was developed and authorised by Greg so it carries his design DNA. The body shape isn't to everyone's taste with a long upper horn and deep lower cutaway but it does mean you can get full access to the double octave neck (in fact the low B has 27 frets, the E has 26 frets and there are 25 frets for the other strings). Some people have these basses strung as EADGC but mine's in a BEADG tuning. I found that I had to shim the neck and raise it by 1/16" in order to get the action where I wanted it (the B and G saddles were bottoming out and the action was still too high for my tastes). I've used two thicknesses of some plastic sheet material I had handy; cut exactly to the shape of the neck pocket and drilled with 5 holes for the neck screws. I also struggled to get the B string intonating properly. The chunky high mass bridge sits in a moulded recess and cannot be moved so I've simply shortened the intonation adjustment screw by a couple of millimetres and the B is fine now (intonation screws disappear into, not through the bridge saddles). I've read that some people have thought the Luthite body and/or early necks were unstable and have had problems with these basses but other than the two issues I've already mentioned there's really nothing else wrong with mine and I'm quite fond of it.

I've read that some people prefer the Mighty Mite over the Bartolini design pickups; they're reputed to be less trebly/clanky and I've no complaints with mine... the bass puts out plenty of low end grunt and all three tone controls have useful ranges... my tone setting preference is a 1/4 treble boost, mid cut of a 1/4 and bass set flat. I have instruments with maple, rosewood and Ebonol boards and I've no particular preference for one over another; the Curbow's fingerboard feels little different to me and on the plus side it doesn't suffer from wear under roundwounds (which is why it's sometimes used for fretless basses). The small body means that this is a reasonably light bass on the strap but the prominent sound and unusual look mean it won't be suited to every genre of music...

Photos available here on my Tumblr blog http://h4photos.tumblr.com/post/85025633895/my-tanglewood-cort-curbow-5-serial-number-dates

[kodiakblair]

Great bass. Toying with getting a Spalted Tanglewood to go with the Cort.
Like yourself I've never noticed any difference with the ebonol or the size,
shape. I like how though 34" they're so small, I've a Dean Evo short scale
that's bigger than the Curbow.

That's it next to a Mikro though an they're 28", Still dwarfed by the TeleBass.

[KingBollock]

I came really close to buying a Cort Curbow, but then the bass I had been gassing for for twenty years came up at a price I couldn't turn down. I would still love one, though, but it ain't gonna happen unfortunately.

I once saw a photo of a fretless one in piano white and it was gorgeous, I haven't been able to find the picture since though.

I do love that they are largely synthetic, the bass I ended up buying has an ebony fretboard and I sometimes feel a little guilty about that. When we were kids my brother had a Columbus guitar with an ebanol fretboard and it was lovely to play, so fast.

[HowieBass]

A Tanglewood Curbow available here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tanglewood-Curbow-Bass-Guitar-/131183698310?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item1e8b286186

[Annoying Twit]

Thanks very much for the in-depth review.