Cort T35 Five-String Bass

Here's a brand-new Indonesian-made Cort T35 in gloss black. It belongs to an ex-student of mine, who's been active on the local indie circuit for a few years now. The bass was unplayable and buzzing badly in the lower frets. Seriously, the strings were virtually laying flat on the fretboard. He'd just changed strings, and they were of a much lighter gauge than the ones that the bass was originally set up with. I reckon the B string was a flimsy 125. 

So now, the tension of these strings wasn't enough to counteract the tension of the truss rod, and the neck was back-bowed. The solution then, was to loosen the truss rod gradually until the fretboard had enough relief; and then only proceed with string height and intonation adjustments. 

One very interesting feature about the T35 is that it sports a 35" scale. Yes, I measured and it's exactly that. In effect, using the same tuning and same gauge of strings, you'd be able to set string action lower sans buzzing on a 35-inch scale as opposed to the standard 34 inches. 

Now, as the bass was already in the shop, I couldn't resist taking a peek at the innards. I also did some research on the web, and coupled with my own observations; have been able to come up with the following specs:

Body: Agathis

Neck: Bolt-on, Canadian Hard Maple, heel-end truss rod access

Fretboard: Rosewood, 16" radius, 35" scale, 24 jumbo frets, White dot inlays

Bridge: EB7(5)

Pickups: PDX-5/F and PDX-5/R passive humbuckers

Electronics: 2-band active EQ

Power Source: 9V Battery

Controls: Master Volume, Pickup Pan Pot, Bass Boost/Cut, Treble Boost/Cut

Spear Bass Gets a Little Love

I've got to admit that until the day it came into the shop, I'd never seen nor heard of a "Spear" bass. But here it was, all rusty and grimy; and begging for some TLC. A little research on the web revealed that "Spear" refers to "SPEAR Gitarren Händler Deutschland." Yes, that means it's a German company. This bass was not manufactured in Germany, though; as it says "Made in Indonesia" on the back of the headstock. 

Let's take a quick look at this four-string bass' features, then. The body seems to be solid wood, and sports a Fender-style bridge and P/J pickup configuration. Electronics are pretty straightforward, two volumes and a master tone; and a barrel output jack. All three pots are full-sized (24mm), kudos to Spear. There appears to conductive shielding paint in the pickup and control cavities. 

The maple neck is bolted to the body via four recessed screws, so there's no need for a neck plate. Truss rod access is at the headstock end. The fretboard is rosewood with a 34" scale, 14" radius, 24 frets; and whitish dot markers. Meanwhile, the headstock is angled and fitted with four proprietary "Spear" sealed tuners in a 2+2 configuration.

As received, the bass was dusty, grimy, and totally unplayable (corroded strings being the main culprit). The electronics didn't work either, and the cause was traced to shorted wiring. The fretboard and frets? Well, let's just say that not wiping down your strings and fretboard after playing has its disadvantages.

Everything was taken apart and serviced. The electronics worked fine after lots of contact cleaner and a full rewire. The fretboard was scrubbed clean and conditioned with lemon oil, and the dull frets introduced to good old Autosol. After reassembling the bass and setting it up with Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys, I put it through its paces using my little Joyo MA-10B practice amp. The fonky tones that emanated from the Joyo's 5" speaker had me grinning from ear to ear. Don't believe me? Well, do hop over to SoundCloud and judge for yourself.

Vintage Aria 1820 Restoration: Part Four

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

This is the fourth and final post on a vintage Aria 1820 short-scale bass restoration job. The bass has been refinished in Flat Black, rewired, reassembled, set up with Ernie Ball 2852 Short Scale Regular Slinkys; and tested with the help of my trusty Laney RB2 bass amp [Gain: 3, Volume: 5, Bass/Mid/Treble: Flat, Compression: On]. 

Both pickups are working, but their output is definitely much lower than typical modern-day bass pickups. One other thing I've noticed is that the amplified volume of the A string is considerably weaker than that of the G, D and E strings. Tell you what. I've uploaded an audio file to SoundCloud, so do give it a listen :)

Vintage Aria 1820 Restoration: Part Three

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

This post is the third of an ongoing series on a vintage Aria 1820 short-scale bass restoration job. At this point in time, the body had been separated from the neck, a couple holes plugged; and the headstock refinished in Tru-Oil. The existing tuner peg holes had also been reamed to accommodate new tuners; and they fit nicely.

Now it was time to deal with the badly delaminated body. First of all, as much of the existing finish, sealer and grey autobody filler was scraped off with the aid of a heat gun. Following this, the delaminated edges of the maple top and bottom were glued and clamped to the ash center layer. Once the glue had dried, a sanding we did go; right up to 240 grit.

Having sanded off the dried glue, remnants of the old paint and sealer, as well as the most of the autobody filler; specific areas of the body that needed to be repaired were clearly visible. These areas were repaired with glued-in slivers of wood, and also wood dust mixed with super glue. Once sufficient time had elapsed, the clamps and tape used were removed; and the whole body sanded once again.

The next step was sealing, filling, and strengthening the body before anything else was done to it. Several coats of super glue were used for this purpose, with a lot of sanding done in between coats. After the last coat of super glue had been sanded, a generous layer of Elmer's Wood Filler was applied. Once the filler had dried, the body was sanded yet again; creating a sufficiently even and smooth surface.

Meanwhile, the pickups needed some work. They were functioning, for sure; but it was the leads and magnets that needed attention badly. The frayed ground/shield braid and cracked insulation meant that a short could occur unexpectedly. Also worrying was the fact that the pickup magnets could move around as they were not properly secured to the bottom of the pickups. That being said, the best remedy was to replace the pickup leads; and attach the magnets securely with a little hot glue.

As for the filthy and discolored pickguard, it was given a good scrubbing and hung up to dry. The underside was then shielded with aluminium foil. Cheap, yes, but it does the job. Following this, the new three-way toggle switch, Alpha pots, tone cap and Neutrik NYS229 output jack were installed. 

Getting back to the body, new holes had to be drilled for the neck plate and screws, and the neck reattached in preparation for the next task; locating the correct position for the new bridge. After taking lots of measurements and drawing the necessary guide lines, new bridge-mounting holes were drilled. The bridge was then installed temporarily to check for proper string/neck alignment.

At this point, most of the holes that needed to be drilled had been drilled; save for the pickguard. So the pickguard was laid on the body, aligned with the edges of the body and neck pocket; and taped in place. The holes for the pickguard screws were then drilled using my trusty Cremel [Chinese Dremel knock-off]; and countersunk 1/2" screws installed. A new tug bar was also test-fitted, as the original one had long been lost in the mists of time. 

Once the positioning of all components had been finalized, the neck was separated from the body once again, and the pickguard removed. As one can guess, this was done in preparation for the next step of this Aria 1820 Bass Restoration; namely refinishing. Refinishing should be covered in an upcoming post, so do stay tuned for updates. Thanks for checking in, and God bless :)