I’m going to give this video its own thread. It deserves it. Any one of these would be an excellent first bass for a beginner to become a badass with.
Notes: There are obvious AI vocal pronunciation mistakes near the end (the fish, not the guitar), but I don’t think that delegitimizes the content. It also gets a little wordy near the end. You won’t miss anything by skipping the last few minutes of wrap-up.
What do you think, @howard ? Real or real B.S.?
Video sounds AI generated but content is reasonable. Lots of great Korean makers, many make basses for other brands (including Fender). Cort (“Cor-Tek”), Samick and Sire are the most famous but there are others. The Korea-built Warwicks are sought after.
Am I missing something? This seems like full blown AI slop that is not helpful at all for someone new trying to get into bass. The prices are waaaay off unless maybe they meant to use Euro instead of Dollars or maybe buying used but it’s not specified. And “Swing Bass” and “World Bass” are these actual brands?
The footage they use barely shows the brand/guitar they are actually trying to promote, it’s mostly Fender or six string electric/acoustic guitar or something that doesn’t fit at all what they are talking about. Even the Sire V7 which should have no shortage of photos available is mostly showing Fender stock footage/photos
Nah like I said, factually correct that there are MIK guitars that land higher overall quality than Fender, but overall clearly an AI generated video for the reasons you mentioned and more (I could tell in the first seconds just from the voice)
Yeah, the video’s “production” is AI-assembled bullshit.
There are so many of these junky things polluting the webs, about any number of products. They come off like they were made by Jian-Yang from “Silicon Valley.”
I have seen content where everything is curated by the creator and only the voice over is AI. I don’t like it as much as a true voice over but if the content is good I’ll still watch. This is slop all the way through
Also, Sire is owned by a Korean bassist/CEO. He works closely with Marcus Miller to design all models. That said, Sires are built in the company’s dedicated factory in Indonesia.
It’s getting to the point where if it’s not a person talking, I skip it totally.
Almost all Corts and Samicks are too, only the high end models are made in Korea now.
oh totally
I’d be really surprised if any of them are better than my Indonesian G&L’s, and even my Clearance Store G&L’s cost less than a Squire on sale at GC.
You can always tell who the King of the Hill is; the brand most attacked. 
Didn’t G&L shut down?
Probably not because the Indonesian G&L’s are made in Cort’s factory in Indonesia 
Cor-Tek makes guitars for lots of companies, so don’t feel bad - but you’re playing one now. They make excellent instruments in Indonesia and even better ones in Korea. On the other hand, they kind of sound like assholes in their domestic Korean factories.
I owned a Cort-branded PRS SE clone and it was quite good. Not as good as one that they make for PRS but it was also a lower priced model.
Well just because it has part of Leo’s name, it not a guarantee that it would be poorly made like Fender 
. Plus, every imports were inspected in Fullerton.
Technically yeah, it’s the last piece of Leo Fender desperately needed, his name. Everything that G&L had were better designed and better qualities than Fender, so one would think that Fender would immediately release MFD version of P bass or the best version of the Strats, the G&L Comanche.
Sadly, Fender is not about innovation or quality products, it’s about “Fender”.
Yep. Plus Cort makes great stuff to begin with, their own lines are really good.
It always does strike me as funny when people look down on companies like Cort in favor of the big US companies, though. There’s nothing remotely American about a G&L Tribute, PRS SE, or basically any Epiphone or Squier; they are all instruments manufactured by a Korean company in Indonesia or China.
And the dirty little secret is that many of them are better than a lot of domestic USA production. A PRS SE is an outstanding instrument and by all reports the G&L Tributes are awesome.
Indonesia is just killing it - very high quality and reasonable prices. Cort and Samick make instruments there for many many companies; Yamaha and Sire have their own corporate complexes there. I would stand many of the Indonesian Yamahas I have owned - six guitars and four basses -up against any mass production model USA Fender I have seen. The only ones where the Fenders would clearly win are the absolute cheapest $100 Pacificas - which were still fine. The TRBX 304 would come in under USA Fenders too but not by much, and not really for quality per se. The Revstar Element would be kind of a toss up. The rest are easily contenders compared to Fender USA.
That’s a fact, Jack! There is nothing cheap about my 1 of 70 worldwide Thomann 70th Anniversary PRS SE Custom 24. I had to have one, but just wish I could play it properly.
Well, I’ve inspected quite a few myself, but again, back to price point VS quality. I stand by my original statement. 
I have several very nice ones, and have returned several 2024-2025 Tributes. Your product is only as good as your QA system.
Gotta say, I really dig the style of these.
