Cort (and Samick) make the majority of instruments coming out of Asia. A Cort instrument is usually 70% the price of it's name brand counterparts and built to a higher standard. These aren't my thing, but if they were, I wouldn't hesitate.
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Cort is going hard in the paint these days
- Thread starter getBAK
- Start date
Aren't several of the Ibanez models made by Cort as well?
Cort is not cutting corners in my opinion. Remember they make the Lakland Skylines among other brands. I just bought a GB75JJ. Has USA Hipshot tuners. Omega Bass bridge. The electronics are decent, but I upgraded the pickups and preamp anyway. They've been at it a long time.
I would imagine that the only thing that they're going cheap on is worker pay.
Wow...a Cort for 1000 - 1500 bucks (beautiful bass, btw).................but it reminded me that I bought an Alembic Series I in 1987 for 1500 bucks (long gone)
Excuse me while I find a cloud to go yell at
Excuse me while I find a cloud to go yell at
So, you've got nothing.
Cort is building in a location with cheap labor but are keeping their standards high. It can be done with the proper management and philosophy.
Hah... I bought a 1968 Oldsmobile 442 in 1987 for 1500 bucks.
I'm yelling at the whole sky.
I really like that except for the poxy PG. And don't say just take it off as there'll be screw holes.
Same here with an A6 Ultra Ash. I nearly got an A5 UA a few months back but I snoozed and it was sold to someone else.
Yes.
Most likely MII where labour costs are low but according to some Indos I know, the pay is good for locals and jobs there are sought after and the pay and conditions good. I have several MII basses that are excellent that I would not pay a price premium for them being made in another country.
Edit: Cort have a great AG I like and want but am having trouble justifying it to myself right now, but the one I tried is superb and I'd need to pay several times more for another made in a 1st world country like the other I tried at the same time.
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Cort makes instruments for a LOT of companies. They’re one of the biggest guitar manufacturers in the world. Not sure about Ibanez - they’re a contract manufacturer; they don’t publicly disclose their customers, but there are quite a few.
When you make guitars and basses for a lot of companies, you end up with a lot of manufacturing expertise - you have to make tons of models and meet everyone’s expectations. The fact that Cort can make great instruments for reasonable prices shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that knows a thing or two about guitar manufacturing - if you’ve bought guitars or basses from Korea, China, or Indonesia, there’s a good chance you have a Cort built instrument, no matter what it says on the headstock.
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Some of the following may need to be fact checked or at least updated if things changed)
Samick makes the most instruments and the most for other companies.
Cort is #2.
And a Chinese company called WMI(?) Is #3.
Ibanez doesn't even have a manufacturing facility. They have Cort build all their instruments.
Cort was located in Korea, workers started demanding higher wages, so, they picked up and moved to Indonesia. Yes, that sucks, but that's what every manufacturer does and eventually, companies will run out of cheaper places to move to and pretty much everything will be moved to China.
So, the move to Indonesia is a big reason why they are able to keep costs down.
Another reason is: many of the name brand parts start to get pricey. Let's say they want to use Grover tuners, for example, but don't want to pay the premium,....Grover will outsource that run of tuners (which will be made with cheap labor, lower quality materials, lower QC and just lower quality in general) and the builder will get cheap tuners, but still have the Grover name on them.
That's another way to keep costs down.
And yes, every manufacturer does this. Even the beloved Fender and Gibson.
So, I think it's perfectly okay to pay a few hundred for a mass produced bass and then replace the hardware and electronics with the good stuff. I also think it's okay to spend $1000-1500 on a mass produced bass that already has the good stuff.
I think it's nuts to pay much more than that unless it's a one-off custom being hand made by an individual builder.
All these mass production builders are all using the same tooling, processes, same level of skilled workers, etc and the build quality on the basses themselves is all comparable. Point? Fender doesn't use higher quality ash or maple than Cort. Their CNC machines aren't more accurate. Their fret presses press the frets in the same way they press frets in Korea and Indonesia. You get the point. The differences are mainly where they're being built and what they pay for labor and on their cheaper models, how many times the hardware and electronics are being outsourced to get them cheaper, while still legally being able to stamp the brand name on it.
As far as the bass itself, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase something made by Cort (heck, they probably made your bass even if it has a different name on it). It would just be a matter of, do I want to to pay $400 and replace all the fake hardware and electronics, or pay $1000 and get one with all authentic hardware, or pay $1500 and get one with the real hardware and a groovy top and headstock veneer
I have a Laguna ocean 5 string. It was a GC "house brand". But GC didn't build it, Cort did. Very nice bass. Build quality is/was as good as any bass made in a factory. Bart pups and pre, Hipshot diecast knockoff bridge and Hipshot "licensed" tuners.
Paid $450 for it new. Real Hipshot hardware and it's suddenly an $800 bass. But the wood used and construction was top notch and the same, whether it was made in Mexico, Korea, California, Antarctica, Pennsyltucky, the moon,......whether it was the $400 bass or the $1500 bass, whether it said Samick, Cort, G&L, Sterling, Fender, on and on and on.
Samick makes the most instruments and the most for other companies.
Cort is #2.
And a Chinese company called WMI(?) Is #3.
Ibanez doesn't even have a manufacturing facility. They have Cort build all their instruments.
Cort was located in Korea, workers started demanding higher wages, so, they picked up and moved to Indonesia. Yes, that sucks, but that's what every manufacturer does and eventually, companies will run out of cheaper places to move to and pretty much everything will be moved to China.
So, the move to Indonesia is a big reason why they are able to keep costs down.
Another reason is: many of the name brand parts start to get pricey. Let's say they want to use Grover tuners, for example, but don't want to pay the premium,....Grover will outsource that run of tuners (which will be made with cheap labor, lower quality materials, lower QC and just lower quality in general) and the builder will get cheap tuners, but still have the Grover name on them.
That's another way to keep costs down.
And yes, every manufacturer does this. Even the beloved Fender and Gibson.
So, I think it's perfectly okay to pay a few hundred for a mass produced bass and then replace the hardware and electronics with the good stuff. I also think it's okay to spend $1000-1500 on a mass produced bass that already has the good stuff.
I think it's nuts to pay much more than that unless it's a one-off custom being hand made by an individual builder.
All these mass production builders are all using the same tooling, processes, same level of skilled workers, etc and the build quality on the basses themselves is all comparable. Point? Fender doesn't use higher quality ash or maple than Cort. Their CNC machines aren't more accurate. Their fret presses press the frets in the same way they press frets in Korea and Indonesia. You get the point. The differences are mainly where they're being built and what they pay for labor and on their cheaper models, how many times the hardware and electronics are being outsourced to get them cheaper, while still legally being able to stamp the brand name on it.
As far as the bass itself, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase something made by Cort (heck, they probably made your bass even if it has a different name on it). It would just be a matter of, do I want to to pay $400 and replace all the fake hardware and electronics, or pay $1000 and get one with all authentic hardware, or pay $1500 and get one with the real hardware and a groovy top and headstock veneer
I have a Laguna ocean 5 string. It was a GC "house brand". But GC didn't build it, Cort did. Very nice bass. Build quality is/was as good as any bass made in a factory. Bart pups and pre, Hipshot diecast knockoff bridge and Hipshot "licensed" tuners.
Paid $450 for it new. Real Hipshot hardware and it's suddenly an $800 bass. But the wood used and construction was top notch and the same, whether it was made in Mexico, Korea, California, Antarctica, Pennsyltucky, the moon,......whether it was the $400 bass or the $1500 bass, whether it said Samick, Cort, G&L, Sterling, Fender, on and on and on.
This one always baffles me.
Sooooo, you drilled a bunch of holes in your bass,.....to protect it....
That's like having a beautiful solid wood front door on your house and then screwing plywood to the bottom half to protect it.
I dunno.
Sorry, I should clarify.
I'm talking about when the controls are rear mounted and the pup holes are a perfect fit and you don't need a PG to hide all the front mount cavities. Seems silly to drill holes in the front of a beautiful top to use a clear PG that's completely unnecessary.
I'm talking about when the controls are rear mounted and the pup holes are a perfect fit and you don't need a PG to hide all the front mount cavities. Seems silly to drill holes in the front of a beautiful top to use a clear PG that's completely unnecessary.
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
Cort is large enough to enjoy economies of scale not available to small makers; their size and buying power gives them advantages and abilities that are out of reach for smaller companies with proportionately higher overhead and operating cost.
And so many peeps have no clue they make basses for so many other manufacturers
ignorance is bliss
I get what you are saying, but at the same time, that pickguard is actually going to protect the beautiful top. If it wasn't there your plucking hand is going to wear through the finish eventually. I feel like this is especially more common with satin or oil finishes like this bass compared to a thick gloss poly finish. I've seen a good number of ibanez basses with the body all worn where the player rests their plucking hand.
It is. And I love people that don't care, don't wanna know, don't have anything crappy to say about what anyone else is doing, they're just happy and a bass is a bass and they just play it. I envy them because I need to know what makes everything tick and analyze everything to death. The last thing I would do is kill their joy.
But when someone is being judgy or arrogant, I have to confess,....I get a weird enjoyment out of popping their balloon.
Like telling "made in 'murica" blowhards that their product is 85% Chinese parts and assembled in Mexico. I love people that get judgy about hunting as they're shoving a burger in their hole. I love telling them how beef cattle live and how mother cows cry and moan for their babies for days when they're taken away to be hacked into veal. I love telling people like that what's in their hotdog after they've eaten half of it.
Same with people that conflate overpaying for a cookie cutter bass with being "high quality" and then looking down their nose at anything less expensive or made overseas from another brand.
They can cover their ears and go NA NA NA NA all they want. I'm still peeing in their soup.
Yeah, I thought about that. I'm conflicted about the whole thing. It's a tough call.
Looking at the bass in question, I think they did a pretty good job of making it pretty invisible. I definitely don't think many people in an audience would even be able to tell it was there (unless it is reflecting light in a weird way). You may notice in my display pic that I don't mind a clear guard, but in the case of that bass, it came with a black one and I bought a clear one just to show more of the colour shifting finish on the bass.
If it didn't come with a PG, would you have put a clear one on to protect it? Or would you have been conflicted about drilling holes?
No, I probably wouldn't but I do prefer the look of a pickguard on a stingray than without one. On that particular bass I did revert back to the black one just because I like how it looks on it. I do have a bongo that was made without a pickguard and I won't be putting one on it.
