Charles Cote 5-String

Charles Cote Late 90's Bass with 24 frets.
5 string with a wide fingerboard and offset clay dots.
This bass has a push/pull passive active volume control
a pickup blend knob for the two Kent Armstrong Soapbar
pickups and a stacked treble/bass tone control.
The neck on this bass is Morado and the body is made
of a beautiful see-thru swamp ash.
Bridge is a badass and it is black as are the tuners
in a three-two staggered combo.
The body is an exaggerated P bass style and the neck is
very comforable and extremely fast playing. This bass
can be strung thru-body or thru-bridge. This bass is custom
made, and is not a "kit" bass; think Mike Tobias high end.
This bass has a 34" scale, which to me is much more "user
friendly" than a 35" scale.

What is cool about this bass is that with a slight turn of the pickup
blend knob and/or treble/bass control you can effect from very subtle
changes to very profound changes in tone. I can get an upright sound,
a great P bass sound and with the back pickup on full and the treble
all the way up and the bass up about one third a great Chris Squire
treble tone. The Kent Armstrong pickups have the best personality of
both EMG's and Bartolini's. They have the "punch" of the EMG's and the
articulation of the Bartolini's. To me the tone is better than either
and it boggles my mind why these are not the industry standard.
The pickups are dead quiet and if your battery dies (not likely, I have played this bass for two years constantly and am still on the
same 9 volt) you simply pull up on the volume and the bass goes into
passive mode with a slight reduction in volume but no decrease in tone. This bass is being used with a Trace Elliot BLX-80,talk about
a sweet tone!!!

The Cote has a perfect fret job, with small mandolin size frets.
These are the perfect size for this bass and the ends are perfectly
finished. The action is perfect and is adjustable, since this bass
strings thru body or bridge you can pick the "feel" which is right
for you. Thru body gives more sustain, thru bridge gives a more
"elastic" feel and a more traditional sound.
The wood on the body is very organic looking and feeling.
The neck has a wide spaced fingerboard with offset clay dots, they
are centered as if the bass were a four string (very cool-why hasn't
anyone else thought of this?)

This bass is extremely reliable and will take whatever you will
throw at it. I have never had to adjust the truss rod thru the
humid or dry seasons. There is no need for a backup for this bass.

I have been a guitar player for 30 years and have been playing bass
for 20 years. This bass is a very special artistic masterpiece.
Too bad the builder is no longer in business.
This bass is a "10" Playablity and "TONE" to the bone!