Cort Headless

The only feature worth talking about is the famous Steinberger headless bridge. The wood is cheap, the electronics are garbage. However, a real Steinberger costs a whole heck of a lot more, and headless basses are cool for a whole lot reasons.

Like so many others, I swapped in the EMG active pickups to make this closer to the Steinberger I wished it was. Doing so gets you very close to the Steinberger sound.

As long as you don't forget to replace the battery for the active pickups (a 9-volt lasts about a year, give or take), it sounds absolutely fantastic with a set of EMGs dropped in. You might not think a cheap Cort bass is worth what is essentially a $250 mod, but even after the mod your total cost is still way less for a bass with the same hardware as the classic 80s Steinberger headless... only made of cheap, soft wood.

My rating is based on the assumption that you drop EMGs into it. Without the mod, I don't think I'd rate the sound any higher than a 6 or so.

Okay, here's where the bloom comes off the rose a little bit.

A one-piece body made of cheap Korean materials is a formula for major neck warpage. The way to avoid this problem is to use either light or ultra-light strings.

But it gets worse. The fret-board is also made of rather soft wood, so round-wound strings will chew the hell out of it. (This problem becomes even worse if you yank the cheap frets out and fill them in to turn it into a fretless, as I did with mine.)

Now, go to your local music store and tell them you need "ultra-light, double-ball, flat-wound or pressure-wound strings" and you will see the problem with this axe. Plan on buying most of your strings through Internet mail-order for as long as you own a Cort.

The good news is that the bridge & tiny "headless" headstock are the real deal. The Steinberger label is even stamped right on it. If only there was a cheap way to buy a headless graphite body, you could cannibalize the Cort and have a sweet set-up. As it is, you get the iconic 80's headless look for way less money than it would otherwise take, but there's a reason why they are so darn cheap.

In addition to the worry about the neck and the fretboard, I found out the hard way that you should treat this bass as though it were made of egg shells and gossamer wings.

When mine fell off an amp it was laying on, the corner where all the knobs are housed SHATTERED like a popsicle-stick house in a vice. Thankfully it was in the gig bag at the time so I could epoxy all those little pieces back together, as I was a poor college kid at the time and could not just run out and buy another bass.

If you do the EMG mod (and you should), use a tuner that runs on a 9-Volt, so when the day comes that you're gigging and forgot to replace the battery (and that day WILL come), you can just steal the one out of your tuner and get by for the night.

I bought it used, so I have no idea what sort of warranty there might be.

I rarely play mine anymore, preferring both the sound and feel of my Peavy Foundation 5-string, but I do pull it out on occasion when I specifically want to take advantage of the fretless mod I gave it, and I ***love*** having it as a back-up stage bass, because it takes up hardly any space backstage to have it on hand, and with the headless tuning nuts it stays in tune while stowed in the gig bag, allowing me to whip it out and resume playing right away in an emergency.

-Made in Korea
-it would have 24 frets but someone physically pulled out all the frets
-Has jazz and Precision pickups but the "j" sounds horible and just randomly cuts out
-The knobs have alot of crackle
-It is mahogany i believe but its hard to tell with about an inch of black finish on it
-Tunes at the bottom which is the best part of the bass which is licened by steinberger
-Thick neck
-Came with a fited gig bag and a strap atached to it

-it is frettless and works well for jazz and blues
-I usually dont plug it in but it sounds decent on the p pick-up
-The knobs have alot of crackle
-It was cheep and is very small and usefull in compisition of songs and alot of the time i end up with it hanging on me righ above my strat

-It is built solid it is hard to put a ding in it
-The fretts didnt last someone took them out
-I cant adjust the truss rod it is froze up but i can ajust the action with the saddles
-Very solid except the pickups

-great travel bass but on for recording and giging
-i love the lack of fretts i try no to play fretted basses anymore
-not a great sounding instrument next to my Gibson Thunderbird and upright german made bass

Update to my last review. I have replaced the el-cheapo 500k pots with better 250k pots. Another major improvement in tone. Before replacing the pots the bass was too trebly for my purposes. After replacement, the bass toned down a bit and is more in line with my style of playing.

Bought this bass used on eBay. Unsure of year of manufacture, but I would guess it's at least 15 years old. 4 string, 24 fret, PJ passive pickup configuration with 2 volume and 1 tone control.the neck is 3 piece MAHOGANY laminate and the body wings are maple (I know because I refinished the guitar from the original black to fire engine red.) The neck is a bit thick but still really fast. Balance is perfect once the rear strap button was relocated to the end of the horn instead of under it (I relocated it when I refinished the guitar.) I give it an 8 because of the original location of the strap button, very difficult to access, throws the balance forward, and would be unreliable without straplocks.

Replaced the crappy stock pups with EMG selects. Major improvement in tonality. However, I did have to route out the bridge pickup cavity to fit the EMG. Being used there was a lot of fret wear, so I also leveled and recrowned the frets during the refinishing process. After set-up it plays very nicely. I play classic rock and country covers and works fairly well for my style. Playing clean through a Fender 400 head with Fender 1-15 and 2-10 cabs. The only issue I have with the bass now is the tone control. The stock pot is either all or nothing. I will probably replace all the pots with better ones in the near future. One thing to note, if you have one of these or are getting one, add some RFI/EMI shielding to the pickup and electronics cavities either in the form of paint or aluminum tape. The bass doesn't have any shielding at all.

I cannot comment on factory adjustment as I bought this bass used. However, the fit and finish of the wood and hardware is excellent. Very solid. The stock pups of course were crap and the pots are cheap. But how many people keep stock pups in a cheap guitar?

This bass definitely holds up to gigging. Hardware is well made and easy to adjust. See my previous comments about strap buttons. The original finish was excellent (took me days to get it sanded off). Very dependable and once set up properly will not need any more adjustment. Can you use it without a backup? Once the stock pups and electronics are replaced with higher quality hardware, I would say yes, but I wouldn't recommend ever playing without a backup.

Never used it as I do all my own work.

I've been playing bass guitar for 26 years. Also guitar for 31. I own a Yamaha RBX270 in addition to this bass. The RBX is my main axe, but I like to play the Cort on ocassion just for the impact a headless has on stage. If it were stolen I'd buy another used one.
The greatest thing about this bass is that it's feather light. You hardly know it's on your shoulder. The only thing I wish I could find for it is a hardshell case. Can't seem to find one anywhere, so I bought a Hohner gig bag for it. I did look at Steinbergers when I was looking at this one, for the money, go with the Cort and do a little replacing/set-up yourself. I bought the EMG pickups from Stewart-McDonald for about $50. I've got less than $200 bucks in this bass...and that includes the pups, gig bag, and refinish job!!!

Not sure of the year but the guy I bought it from said it was sitting in his closet for aprox. 15 years!! Gasp! His mom bought it for him hoping he'd be interested in playing a musical instrument. It an EMG P/J setup. It is also 'active' but not in the traditional way(bass,mid,treble knobs). When the switch is turned on, all it will do is add a little volume boost. It has 2 Volume and 1 Tone knob. Not sure what the body is made of but it is a neck through design.

The sound of this bass is extremely clean. You can do all the eq'ing on your amp and get any sound you want. It has a nice rich/full sound. This bass will work equally as well on stage and in the studio.

The action is kinda high on my bass. I tried to adjust the neck but I think I may have stripped the truss slightly. This bass was in suprisingly decent shape for sitting in a closet for 15 years! I did have to clean her up, install a top strap lock button and put on new strings and put in a new battery. No flaws that I can detect other than the action.

I think this is a highly durable bass. It is well made and solid and I could probably drop it many times and have no damage other than maybe finish dings. The neck and truss/action really needs to be adjusted so I can play it on a regular basis.

I contacted Cort once to inquire about the age and why no strap button was installed in the top position. Got answers with no problem. No other problems to report since I've owned it (since 2001).

I've been playing for 30 years now and own several other basses and always wanted a headless. I like the fact that it is small and compact and I can take it on a plane or on a retreat to practice.

same as the other guys for features. Bought it used for $200, learned a lot about it from this site. Pickups do seem cheap.

works well for rock and heavy metal...good for jumping around. stock pickups sound decent.

good low action, but it's low to the body making it hard to funk pluck. mine has big dings, but that's because it was used. There is fret buzz on some open notes and on the lower frets.

it has dealt with me playing live and jumping violently. it's very sturdy. screws are stripped on the control cavity which will make it difficult to upgrade, but it's a nice little bass.

never dealt with them

3 years, i run carvin 100 watt amps. 2003 fender mexican p-bass, '94 warwick fortress one 5 string w/ high b, ibanez gsr 200 fretless, various overdrives and stompbox distortions.
i'm now a fan of headless basses because of this bass. it's a fun bass to play. weird getting used to the scale which seems long. you have to reach for the lower notes.

I was so fortunated that my girlfriend bought me this superb bass when I finished High School. After my last exam I arrived home and found it waiting for me on my bed. The weird side of it is that I didn't know how to play it. I felt very happy anyway.
Now she left me two years ago, and my Cort is still hanging on the wall. I play it sometimes and I feel very proud of it. I think is a pretty good instrument. She were so generous with me.

Steinberger Headless copy. 24 fret maple neck-through constuction instead of graphite. Like the previous reviewer said, the stock pickups are no-name crapola. The "newer" ones have EMG Selects in them. They may be better. I replaced them with DiMarzio 126 P+J setup and it transformed the sound of this bass. Had to order strings on internet as no one has them in town. Musicians Friend doesn't have them either.

As bought, the "P" pickup sounded OK and the "J", well I never turned it on as it sounded so bad. New DiMarzio's warmed the sound of this bass right up. It's solid maple, neck-through so it's a real bright bass, anyway. Probally will be able to play anything but smooth R&B. If I could "Pop" worth a flip this bass would be perfect for it.

24 frets. Straight neck. Low action. Body has a couple of nicks and whatnot but, that's kinda like a little personality to me.

You could play baseball with it and play a show afterwards.

Never will deal with company.

Most under rated bass for the money you will find anywhere. A Mexican Fender, for the same amount of money, wouldn't touch this bass. I'm a 35yr old guitarist with a small home studio, and I wanted a good bass but, didn't want to pay through the nose for one. This bass is perfect for my needs. It's small, stows anywhere with a flat surface, and souds fantastic. I'm gonna subtract one point from a perfect ten because I had to route out the "J" pickup area because the new pickup was sooo much deeper, but it sounded sooo much better.

Bought new in 1983.This is a hardmaple 3 piece laminated neck thru bass, with maple wings. Very light and comfortable to play, has perfect balance,no neck diving. Rosewood fingerboard. Licensed by Steingberger, made in Taiwan. Only drawback are the electronics. I replaced the stock pus with bartolinis, an incredible improvement in tone was obtained. I consider these basses a real find, made under other brand names and now Steinberger is finally putting their own name on them. If your bass is starting to hurt because of weight issues, this is the answer.

The Barts really warmed up this bass!

Bass is well made, but pots and electronics are cheap.

Only problem I've had, the jack became unglued, easy fix. It is dependable, but I would never gig without a backup bass or amp.

Cort did email me with the details of what wood it is made of. My only dealing with them. It did take 2 e-mails before I got a response.

Started playing bass in 1965. I also own a hotroded Gibson EB 3, Carvin LB75, Yamaha BB200, and a Spector 2002B. One of the big advantages is safety on small stages, no big headstock to smack someone accidently with. Its appearance also attracts attention. I tried the real graphite steinbergers and thought the tone was sterile and they were much heavier, besides being 4 times more expensive.