NBD (but it's going back) - Cort GB Modern 5 - ** Now with bonus added GuitarGuitar buffoonery **

[lemmywinks]

Always fancied one of these, nice and light with crazy spec. Ordered yesterday from Guitar Guitar at the sale price of £749 and it arrived this morning, excitedly opened the box and immediately noticed some extremely dodgy binding. The most noticeable when playing is where it joins the fingerboard on the 5th fret here:

 

However far worse is this on the fingerboard at the 11th fret, treble side:

 

 

Ugh, very disappointing, how did this one get through QC? Had a ton of Cort built basses before and never seen anything like this. Aside from that the bass is beautiful to look at and play, no doubt it sounds killer.

 

Booked it in for a return, hopefully they can source another to swap it for. What a pretty bass though

 

Edited September 17 by lemmywinks

[Chienmortbb]

Dissapointing.

[ezbass]

45 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

 

However far worse is this on the fingerboard at the 11th fret, treble side:

 

 

Whoa, that’s ugly finishing. Shame.

[lemmywinks]

The annoying thing is apart from the binding it's extremely well put together. I'm not even a fan of bound necks really but the binding on these is quite subtle.

 

Hopefully they can swap it for a good one.

[PinkMohawk]

Damn, I'm looking to pick up one of these in the charcoal colour soon, from GuitarGuitar too, hopefully I manage to dodge the QC issues you ran into. 

[lemmywinks]

33 minutes ago, PinkMohawk said:

Damn, I'm looking to pick up one of these in the charcoal colour soon, from GuitarGuitar too, hopefully I manage to dodge the QC issues you ran into. 

 

Had a quick play plugged into my mini mixing desk (take it to work on NBD!) and it does genuinely sound brilliant, if you want a modern super Jazz thing with a really solid low B it's right up there with anything I've played and pretty astonishing for £749. I've put mine back in the box now, it did need the intonation sorting on the E but that's the shop's problem! Also worth noting that the 3 eq controls are the wrong way round - treble is bridge end and bass is neck end which is confusing, will swap them round if/when I get my replacement.

 

If you get one without any issues you'll be delighted I think, hearing how it sounds definitely convinced me to go for a replacement over a refund. Mine was 8.6lb/3.9kg which seems fairly typical for these.

 

You would think with basses that are around a grand (well outside of the sale anyway) they'd at least open the box and give them a cursory glance, the binding was one of the first things I spotted!

Edited September 10 by lemmywinks

[lemmywinks]

Oh and the gigbag is decent too, not TGI Extreme good (and they're almost twice the price of the TGI) but still good.

[PinkMohawk]

1 minute ago, lemmywinks said:

 

Had a quick play plugged into my mini mixing desk (take it to work on NBD!) and it does genuinely sound brilliant, if you want a modern super Jazz thing with a really solid low B it's right up there with anything I've played and pretty astonishing for £749. I've put mine back in the box now, it did need the intonation sorting on the E but that's the shop's problem! Also worth noting that the 3 eq controls are the wrong way round - treble is bridge end and bass is neck end which is confusing, will swap them round if/when I get my replacement.

 

If you get one without any issues you'll be delighted I think, hearing how it sounds definitely convinced me to go for a replacement over a refund. Mine was 8.6lb/3.9kg which seems fairly typical for these.

 

You would think with basses that are around a grand (weel outside of the sale anyway) they'd at least open the box and give them a cursory glance, the binding was one of the first things I spotted!

Yeah, it sounds great on all the demos I've heard of it, and I've been wanting something like it for a while, especially with a good low B that doesn't sound like farts. Not worried about the basic setup stuff, I've got my own tools for that kind of thing, and I'd be dialling it in how I like it regardless. I think I actually prefer it that way, treble being towards the bridge makes more sense in my head than towards the neck, in a 'bridge has more treble' kind of way? 

 

I agree, for what they're asking pre-discount, I'd expect better from either the shop or the QC, but from what I've seen, that seems to be the outlier, not a typical thing. 

[lemmywinks]

Just had an email and apparently there's still one on stock so they've put it to one side and will give it the once over before sending it out, mine is being picked up on Thursday so hopefully I'll have the replacement next week.

[spacecowboy]

How weird! I’m also sending a Cort bass back to Guitar Guitar, it’ll be with them tomorrow. Mine was the Artisan A5 but similarly I wasn’t totally happy with it for various reasons! QC slipping? My experience with Cort has always been positive, hopefully it’s just a blip!

[lemmywinks]

Got my replacement bass just now, ugh again.

 

It ain't new, looks like a customer return at least if not just a used instrument. Scuffing on the back of the neck and headstock, can actually feel it as you move your hands over the neck. Weird cluster of iron filings on the neck pickup magnets. Small ding on the end of the headstock although this may have happened in shipping as the gigbag wasn't properly zipped up. At first I thought the scuffs were just dirt but tried wiping them off and no joy, all over the binding as well.

 

Strings are also old with pitting and rough spots. Perhaps worse is there's something loose in what seems to be the rear pickup, when I rock the bass back and forth you can hear it so who knows if that even works.

 

There's loads more small and hard to photograph (but noticeable) marks which make it clear that this is not a new bass.

 

 

 

So don't buy from Guitar Guitar at the moment, they'll send you any old 5h1t3.

 

 

Edited September 17 by lemmywinks

[lemmywinks]

Oh and the serial number on this bass starts with IE21 so it would be 3 years old AFAIK. The first bass was IE23.

 

Edited September 17 by lemmywinks

[lemmywinks]

Some more pics of what is apparently a new bass.

[neepheid]

That's rough.  How stupid do they think you are?  What's the logic behind replacing a returned bass with one which is worse than the one being returned?

[lemmywinks]

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

That's rough.  How stupid do they think you are?  What's the logic behind replacing a returned bass with one which is worse than the one being returned?

 

Exactly and this is where their reputation has nosedived for me.

 

The first one I wasn't bothered about as it was a new bass (or a customer return with zero use) that had factory QC issues, if it was new they couldn't have known about it but if it was a return then that's slightly more dodgy, there's no way anybody could miss the binding and that's why it would have been sent back. Either way you just accept those things happen and get a replacement, no bother.

 

The second is 100% in scam territory as it was supposed to have been checked over and is obviously a well used 3yr old bass being sold as new. No QC issues like my previous one and the A5 spacecowboy mentioned, just a shop doing dodgy stuff at the expense of the customer.

 

 

What seemed like a good deal at first is actually me being ripped off, these go for £550-£600 used and I've just paid £749.

[eude]

12 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

Exactly and this is where their reputation has nosedived for me.

 

The first one I wasn't bothered about as it was a new bass (or a customer return with zero use) that had factory QC issues, if it was new they couldn't have known about it but if it was a return then that's slightly more dodgy, there's no way anybody could miss the binding and that's why it would have been sent back. Either way you just accept those things happen and get a replacement, no bother.

 

The second is 100% in scam territory as it was supposed to have been checked over and is obviously a well used 3yr old bass being sold as new. No QC issues like my previous one and the A5 spacecowboy mentioned, just a shop doing dodgy stuff at the expense of the customer.

 

 

What seemed like a good deal at first is actually me being ripped off, these go for £550-£600 used and I've just paid £749.

I take it that one is going back too?!

[lemmywinks]

Just now, eude said:

I take it that one is going back too?!

 

100%, the first one was better!

[BassAdder60]

I’ve been disappointed with Guitar Guitar too sending out B stock looking guitars or “ old” stock 

 

My chosen place now will be Peach Guitars where I visit, see, try it and purchase 

For that very reason they got my last two PBass business and I’m pleased with both 

There really is an advantage of seeing and trying a bass in a store.

My last and final purchase Player Series II PBass in White sounded amazing yet the green coloured one with maple fretboard sounded ok but not as defined and punchy as the one I walked out with ! 

 

Edited September 17 by BassAdder60

[neepheid]

What makes this worse is that the duffer you got sent as a replacement has got the binding sorted by the looks of the photos you've put up.  Gah!

[lemmywinks]

8 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

I’ve been disappointed with Guitar Guitar too sending out B stock looking guitars or “ old” stock 

 

My chosen place now will be Peach Guitars where I visit, see, try it and purchase 

For that very reason they got my last two PBass business and I’m pleased with both 

There really is an advantage of seeing and trying a bass in a store.

My last and final purchase Player Series II PBass in White sounded amazing yet the green coloured one with maple fretboard sounded ok but not as defined and punchy as the one I walked out with ! 

 

 

 

My only local good shop is Promenade Music who are ace but have a limited selection, unfortunately GuitarGuitar were the only place selling the 5 string version of these off at clearance prices. other places had discounted them by the same amount but only had the 4.

 

As I don't need another bass the reduced price was what pushed me over the edge!

[lemmywinks]

2 minutes ago, neepheid said:

What makes this worse is that the duffer you got sent as a replacement has got the binding sorted by the looks of the photos you've put up.  Gah!

 

Yeah there's no QC issues with it. It's just a well used 3yr old bass sold as new.

 

With the strings being older it sounds pretty lifeless unplugged, the other one sounded great which is always a good first impression. Starting to pine for that dodgy binding now!

[BassAgent]

Ah bummer that is a big downer. I might have taken the sloppy binding for granted if the bass was brilliant otherwise and the shop would give me a big discount on the rest of the bass, but I can also see how you expect better from QC from both Cort and Guitar Guitar. They do look amazing... 

[spacecowboy]

Yeah I’ve noticed that the A5 I sent back to Guitar Guitar (which was their last one, went to sold out after I bought it) is now back up in stock and for sale as a new item not marked as a return. (Can’t prove it’s the one I returned but the timing is perfect)

 

My issues weren’t as bad as the ones on this thread and I boxed it up to be returned on the same day I got it, but I still don’t know if it’s right for them to be selling it as a new bass again… 

 

Theres some very distinct marks on the timber and some very slight scuffing, so if anyone here does buy it I’d be very keen to see if it’s the same bass! 

[Kev]

That's appalling.  Its an exchange for a bass with rubbish finishing, and they send that out?

 

What is the point in dealing with shops like this anymore, avoiding this kinda thing is what they're there for, other than just turning a profit. Better off by used from Bassbros, you know its been checked out thoroughly then.

[lemmywinks]

Had a phone call from what I assume to be the Newcastle store, very apologetic and seemed pretty shocked that it went out, especially after the replacement was supposed to be checked over. Said he will try and find me a boxed new item and has been ringing around which is a positive response I think so hopefully it will be third time lucky!

 

The 2nd bass is being picked up tomorrow.