Old Cort bases, are they any good?

Gear
1

Hi,
I’m pondering and old 2005 Cort B5 I’ve found in a pawnbroker nearby and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these?
It’s cheapish but has the wood around the knobs broken (looks like one of the eq knobs has been hit, pushing it in) and it’s way out of tune etc. Difficult to try out as it’s got secutiry tags through the strings, but everything seems to work and there’s no apparent noise from the electronics. I think it’s repairable, but I can’t find much out about the old Corts, hence this post
Price, if you’re interested, is about $200AUD. It has Hipshot tuners and Bartolini pickups, from what I can see

So, has anyone here owned one of these? Is it worth taking a chance, or just avoid? Looks like new B5’s are quite nice, how different are the old ones?

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Here’s a pic I took of the damage

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Old Cort instruments are fine, sometimes great.

However that one is junk. I’d avoid.

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That’s quite a bit of work to repair the body. Cort are a great manufacturer. They ghost for other big brand names e.g Ibanez, ESP, Schecter and G&L.

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Here’s a used Cort at GC, $125. With shipping will be cheaper and is in much better shape than the one at the pawn shop.
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Cort/Electric-Bass-Electric-Bass-Guitar.gc

I’m a big fan of used instruments, not that one.

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I’d say it’s worth whatever you think the used pickups and tuners are plus a roll of wood grained duct tape :sweat_smile:

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Yeah - specifically, CorTek manufactures a third of the instruments made in Indonesia, and a lot of them made in Korea, for many other manufacturers.

I have a Cort guitar that is very similar to a Paul Reed Smith SE Custom 22. Cort manufactures the PRS guitars SE line. Do the math :rofl:

Cort’s great. That Cort isn’t. Hard pass.

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Almost, but I’m in Australia and our dollar is worth a bit less. $200 AUD is about $140 US inclusive of taxes

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All the same, you’re basically looking at a parts guitar.

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Looks like opinions here are pretty unanimous :slight_smile:
I think I’ll leave it for the moment. Might have a look back in the new year, see if it’s still there (I did kinda like it for some reason, might be just that I felt sorry for it)

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I’d offer them much less in that case, like $100

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I did offer them $150 but they said best they could do was $200 so I just left it there

Edit: I’m assuming you’re talking $US? I think prices in the US are ex tax, but not sure what the convention is. If you offer $100 for something in a store, is that the total price or would taxes then be added to that? Not directly related to bases, just curious

$150AUD is just over $100 USD

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My daughter just noticed, from one of the pics I took, that one of the tuners is bent. Not sure how long until it breaks, but this would push it firmly into the “No” category I guess

To clarify - It’s the shaft of the bit you hold to turn it that’s bent, not the post with the string on. Like someone’s dropped it swung it hard into something

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No, I meant I would offer them half what they are asking.

The value of that bass is basically the pickups, bridge, and other parts. I’d guess $50-100 US, tops

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Ah, that makes sense. Sorry for the confusion
I think I’ll pass on this one and just save a bit for a better one. Was just looking for a cheap 5 string to be able to play a few songs our band wants to do

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Howard, thanks for the time you’ve taken to respond to my queries here. I think I’ve got the info I need and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do :slight_smile:

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Keep an eye out on fb gumtree etc…corts come up quite often…i like them…

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Ack, that’s the bass I’m saving for! No one look at this ad! :sweat_smile:

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It’s kind of like asking Elon Musk if a McLaren F1 is a good car :joy:

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What does crashing an expensive car have to do with whether Cort is a good brand?