Cort Masterpiece ABMP1 V

2005 or 2006 model, not sure. No inscription on the bass about the country of origin, probably made in Korea. 24 frets, 5-string. Controls are: volume (with a/p push/pull switch) , pu balance, 3-band equ., 2-way mini toggle switch for mid-frequency selection. Seymour Duncan Basslines single coil JB style pu at the neck, MM type humbucker at the bridge, both passive with open polepieces (check the Seymour Duncan site for a detailed description of the pickups). 18 V Aguilar OPB3 circuit which can be switched off with the push/pull volume knob (detailed infos about the circuit on the Aguilar website).
Neck-through-body construction. 5-piece maple/wenge neck. Soft maple body wings with laminated burl poplar top and black accent stripe. Burl poplar headstock with abalone Cort logo. Truss rod cavity is on the headstock. Very beatifully shaped truss rod cover made of wenge with golden "MP" inscription. Transparent matt finish. The body style is similar to the Artisan A5, but the Masterpiece has a wider neck (45 mm at the nut, 73 mm at XXIV). Rosewood fingerboard with abalone position markers and white side dots.
Gotoh bridge with 18,5 mm string spacing, adjustable for string height and intonation. The bridge itself has holes for string-through-body mounting, but there are no holes and ferrules in the body, so the bridge is only top-loaded with quick release system. Hipshot licensed tuners, which look and work EXACTLY like the originals. Push-on dome knobs. Quite big and solid strap holders. No need for straplocks here. All hardware is metallic black. The bass has a 34' scale neck and medium jumbo frets.
No accessories included, not even allen wrenches. I had to pay extra for the flight case. A little weird for a bass at this price. That's why it's only a "nine".

Well, this a bass that you will either love or hate. It's definitely not suitable for Heavy Metal or Hard Rock. It will love funk, blues, pop, Jazz or advanced slap styles. It's made for people with a gentle technique who like low action with no string buzz. If your in a Death Metal band, don't even consider buying this bass! Also hard thumping is an absolute taboo. The sound loses weight if you play too hard. But with a light right hand it sounds very sweet.
Due to the mighty Humbucker directly at the bridge the sound is very, very, very midfocused. The bass sings in every register of the fingerboard, very clean and natural. I like the neck pickup more than the bridge pickup. The single coil is very balanced and predictable, while the humbucker has to be handled with a little care. I think the pu is just too strong, too hot. Probably a single coil at the bridge would have worked better.
I played this bass through various amps, mixers and PA's. Surprisingly it sounds best when put directly into the PA with absolute flat settings on the channel. I use a Tech21 Landmark 300 with 8X10 speakers, another Landmark 300 with a 4X10 speaker, a Laney Richter 180 with 1X15 speaker and a Behringer Ultrabass BX1200 with 1X12 aluminium speaker. I got the best result with the Behringer, maybe due to the aluminium cone speaker. The Ultrabass responds very nice to the Corts natural sound, either passive or active. With the Tech21 the bass sounds lifeless and harsh and I don't even want to mention the sound of the Laney!
The bass has a quite advanced electronic system, but the Aguilar preamp is really a matter of taste. I use it only to add a little treble and cut the mids half-way with the mid frequ. selector switch at 400Hz. The bass boost is practically useless, it's too strong, drowns the treble and mid. With the balance pot at center and the mentioned equ. settings I like the sound of the bass very much when played directly through the mixer. I can't understand why I don't get a satisfying sound out of my Landmark, which works great with all my other basses. If anyone has an idea or suggestions, feel free to contact me.
All in all the bass CAN sound great, but doesn't do it all the time. It's not the kind of bass that you can just plug in and spontaneously get a great sound of. You have to tweek the knobs here and there, but if you find the right spot, it's really heaven. Easy and comfortable to play, very nice, woody and modern sound. Lightweight body, sustain for eternity.

I can't tell anything about the factory setup because this bass stood in the store for a long time (probably more than a year) before I bought it. When I got it the neck was concave, the strings were dead, intonation and string action was disastrous. I changed the strings immediately (DR Low Riders, 0.45), tightened the truss rod, set the string action (less than 2mm at XXIV, G string) and went over to the intonation adjustment...when I had to discover the only major fault of this instrument. The intonation screws of the A and E string were too short (20mm), I could not set the intonation right, both strings are slightly out of tune at XII, the screws have to be changed and I am still trying to find them...I really can't understand why they put such short screws into the saddles, it's absolutely silly!!!
Pickup adjustment is not so easy. When I bought the bass, the string balance was not good. The neck pu is ok, but the bridge pu had a dead G-string. I raised the treble side of the pu, but...well, interestingly the polepieces of the pu are set at different heights. D and E magnets are higher than G and B, and A is higher than all. I don't know if this is the factory setup of the pu, or if they changed it at Cort to fit the bass. Anyway, it does not work! The A string is much stronger than all the other strings, it took me quite a while and a lot of nerve to get the strings balanced and still the G-string is slightly weaker than the other 4 strings. Anyone out there who knows how to adjust the magnets of the Basslines MM pu? I have to get that A magnet down...
Other than that (if it's not enough!) the bass had no flaws. Some scratches and minor dents here and there, totally normal for a longtime musicstore resident.

The ABMP1 is an instrument you have to handle with care. I would not dare to carry this bass in a gig bag. The matt finish is very soft, and the wood beneath it is soft, too. You can scratch the wood even with your fingernail. The hardware is ok on the quality side, appears very solid. The strap buttons are very good. I depend on them without straplocks. The neck tends to move with slight changes in temperature and humidity. I finally took off the beautiful wooden truss rod cover, it doesn't make any sense to install it, as I readjusted the truss rod at least 6 or 7 times in one month.
Good side is the expected life of the 18 V circuit: 320 Hours claims Aguilar on the website. Well, I'm using it for more than one month now at a daily basis and the batteries are still good.
I would use it without a backup as it has an a/p switch and the bass sounds passive as good as active.

No idea.

I have been playing for 20 years. I own a Yamaha TRB6II (review at this site), a highly modified TRB1005 and a very new RBX270F (review at this site). If this bass was stolen, I would probably buy another one. Because if you can handle all the problems that come along with this instrument, you have a very beautiful, good sounding, high quality bass guitar with great features at a moderate price. Cort claims that these basses are made by one master luthier. Well, I don't know if that's true, but when you look at it you can see that the instrument was made with love to detail. Of course it's far from being perfect, but I think that gives the instrument a unique character. Once it is adjusted well it can give you a lot of joy, which is for me the main thing: making music and having fun. The good thing is: there's nothing here that can't be fixed, but this bass is definitely not an instrument for beginners. It requires some skills in general adjustment works. It is sensitive and gentle, not a bass you would like to drop or smash against the wall.
The day I bought this bass I tried a G&L L2000 and a Lakland Skyline Hollow Body. I chose the Cort mainly because it was neck-through and because of the great woods and equipment it features. It doesn't feel or sound like anything I've played before, very hard to compare. At least it's far away from any Yamaha I've played. It has a character, is unique. Like a 74 Fender Jazz Bass it can drive you crazy, but it can make you very happy, too. So if you're looking for something different, try one of these. If you're looking for a perfect bass and don't want to tweek screws: stay away!