Anyone used a Cort Curbow? "Luthite" body and "ebonite" fretboard!

Hertz32 · February 2014

In my local shop the other day and spotted a Cort Curbow for £199. long story short: played it, fell in love with it, saving up to buy it.
Thing that interests me though, is the "Luthite" body it's made of. There's no info on what it's actually made of, or how it ages :P
Anyone had any experience with these instruments?

ICBM · February 2014

I played a couple when they were new-ish, but not seen one for a few years.

As far as I know the body is some sort of composite wood fibre/resin material - which means it should be very consistent in the long term. The 'ebonite' fingerboard is probably similar or identical to 'Richlite' which is the same sort of thing… it's often disparagingly referred to as "glue impregnated paper", and in terms of being made from wood fibre and resin is sort-of true but that doesn't explain it properly. Modern composite materials are very strong and stable - it's not going to 'age' in the way wood does, but it won't have any of the problems associated with that either.

If you like the feel and the sound of it, buy it...

Kebabkid · February 2014

Here's one for sale (cheaper) and there's a little info/demo -
http://basschat.co.uk/topic/221586-cort-curbow/page__p__2331658__hl__cort curbow__fromsearch__1#entry2331658

Hertz32 · February 2014

OK, Cheers guys

Fingers crossed I'll have a NBD sometime soon!

chrispy108 · February 2014

They're ok, I think they're similar to the Ibanez Egrodyne series.

I've played a few Corts in shops when they came out, and preferred the ergonomics of the Ibanez.

I don't think £200 is a great price, they weren't that expensive new (£300 rings a bell?), and didn't sell that well.

Hertz32 · February 2014

Found an identical one, but fretless for 300. Gawd, I wish I had enough money for both...

How hard would it be to learn to slap on fretless?

ThePrettyDamned · February 2014

Hertz32 said:

Found an identical one, but fretless for 300. Gawd, I wish I had enough money for both...
How hard would it be to learn to slap on fretless?

I found it more difficult, but that's because my genuinely tiny hands struggle for hammers at the low end of things and frets give you a bit of leeway in falling slightly short of perfect!

You need to learn to hit where the fret is, rather than just behind it.

ICBM · February 2014

I just sold my fretless today. I'm not good enough at it to risk playing live with it! I need my close enough for rock 'n' roll frets

.

I thought I was doing OK when I was jamming along to records and stuff, but it's deceptive - I took it to work on some songs with my singer who is learning to play acoustic guitar last week, and it was painfully obvious how bad my intonation was in that exposed format. I know, it's a cop-out not learning to be a better musician...

... but now I have only one bass again and order is restored to the world

.

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Anyone used a Cort Curbow? "Luthite" body and "ebonite" fretboard!

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