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
