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

2005 Ibanez SRX505 Bass

This gorgeous made-in-Korea bass came in for a clean and polish, hardware and electronics servicing, string change; and setup. According to Guitar Insite, it was manufactured in 2005. Not bad for a 16-year-old, I should say. Based on various online resources and personal observation, I've managed to determine a couple specs; as detailed in the next paragraph.

Model Name: SRX505-TK

Finish: TK (Transparent Black)

Neck: Bolt-on, three-piece maple

Body: Basswood, flamed maple top

Fretboard: Rosewood, 34" scale, 14" radius, 24 medium frets, pearl dot inlays

Bridge: Accu-Cast B205

Pickups: Passive Full Range (PFR). PFR-N5 (neck), PFR-B5 (bridge)

Preamp: EQB-IIDX two-band EQ

Controls: Master Volume, Pickup Blend, Bass Cut/Boost, Treble Cut/Boost

Shielding: Conductive shielding paint (pickup and control cavities)

2000 American Deluxe Jazz Bass V

Based on the serial number, GuitarDater Project affirms that this instrument "is from the American Deluxe Series made at the Corona Plant (Fender) in 2000." Amongst its most prominent features are an alder body finished in "Crimson Transparent," five-in-line tuners, a bone nut, straplock-ready strap buttons, active electronics, "Noiseless" pickups, through-body stringing; and a maple fretboard with genuine abalone dot inlays. Controls for the active electronics comprise a Master Volume, Pan Pot for pickup blending, concentric boost/cut controls for Bass [lower] and Treble [upper]; and a Mid control. 

The bass was sent in because the Mid control was really noisy and scratchy; even after being sprayed with contact cleaner. Popping the control plate revealed some rather gnarly wiring and soldering, indicating that someone had been messing around beforehand. Long story short, the troublesome Mid control pot was replaced; and the taped-up wire splices cut, stripped, resoldered, and insulated with black heat-shrink tubing. Yes, that's about it for this 2000 American Deluxe Jazz Bass V. Thanks for dropping by, and God bless :)

Ibanez SR605 Five-String Bass

Among the outstanding features of this ash-bodied Indonesian Ibanez SR605 include a 24-fret rosewood fretboard with genuine abalone oval inlays, a sturdy five-piece jotoba/bubinga neck; and bolt-on extended neck joint with a "tongue." This "tongue" not only looks cool but enhances upper fret access. And let's not forget the beautifully-carved headstock volute. You can read more about volutes at Haze Guitars, Sweetwater and Guitar Skills Planet.    

As the story goes, the three-band active electronics on this bass gave up the ghost several years ago. Yours truly was called upon to turn it into a passive instrument. And so the EQ module was removed and the holes plugged. Following this, the Bartolini MK1 humbuckers were each assigned a volume control; both tied in to a master tone pot. Sound familiar?

Well, it came back recently for some TLC. The A-string tuner post had somehow broken off and all the tuners were missing their nylon washers. The whole bass was also cruddy; and the passive electronics barely functioning.

I somehow managed to find four compatible tuners and cannibalized them for their nylon washers. The A-string tuner had to be totally replaced, of course. That left one tuner without a washer. A makeshift washer was fashioned out of a thin slice of pickup tubing; and seemed to do its job adequately. You can see it if you look closely at the pictures below.

The whole bass was given a good clean and polish, and the hardware taken apart for servicing. I really like the Accu-Cast B25 bridge a lot. It's solid, and the single saddle height adjustment screw makes setup so much easier. Speaking of setup, I was expecting the fretboard radius to be at least 14 inches. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was just 12!

Electronics-wise, the MK1-5F (neck) and MK1-5R (bridge) humbuckers were still going strong. It was just the pots that needed to be replaced. Once rewiring and circuit testing had been taken care of; the SR605 was strung with Ernie Balls, set up; and plugged into my Laney RB2 for a final sound check. What did it sound like? Ahem, do pop over to SoundCloud for a listen.

Well, guess that's it for this post. For more information on the SR605, do check out Reverb, Music Bliss and Andertons. Thanks for dropping by. Till we meet again, stay home, stay safe; and God bless :)