Corto is Italian for short. I've always been a bit on the small side... that got me to wondering why even bigger players wrestled with basses that were longer and heavier than they had to be. Sure we all put on brave faces and loved our old basses, while our shoulders gradually returned to the same level after the gig. And sure, we listened to the know-it-alls who preached to "Just buy a Fender and be done with it."  Great. Thanks, grandpa Ray.

Obviously there's no "one size fits all" when you're talking musical instruments. But this has been an amazing 13 year journey since I devoted my life to building primarily short scale basses. I like to think of the 2004 Birdsong Cortobass as "A great bass that just happened to be smaller, lighter and easier to play." The design refined into a whole that worked as a fully professional, great sounding bass; not just "a short scale." Cortobass here in 2011 has a few little improvements but has the same basic design & material specs as when it all came together.

And come together it did! We built Birdsong around the Cortobass, and the Cortobass built Birdsong. Hundreds of happy players of all styles & sizes play them world wide now (no small feat for a little workshop like ours), and all of our other designs & offerings are based off of it. It's our vision in the simplest, purest form. I love it; for me it was a revelation. 

Keeping in mind bits that worked in other shorter scale basses of the past, a new combination came together WITHOUT everything that had sucked about them, right down to complete copper shielding of the electronics cavity & star grounding to minimize hum. Why are guitars still wired like it's the '60s with no microwaves, cell phone towers, and computer monitors? It's not hard to fix, it just takes time and money. We put quite a bit of both in every instrument we make...

"Short scale" isn't just a side offering for more market share to us; it's our main devotion.



As a player since my early teens, through time doing repairs & modifications, buying & selling, shop ownership, teaching lessons, playing gigs, working in the studio... by default over time I had played thousands of guitars & basses, and worked on hundreds of them. I went inside every one I could; I not only took note of the failings & shortcomings, I logged what worked and how, the differences in tone & response vs. materials & parts, and it mapped out over time to me what to expect with every change (materials, specs, parts, component values) and how they combined into what I call a "tonal personality."

I want an instrument to speak of the wood it's made of. I'm not much on active electronics, even the good ones take the voice and response places I don't prefer; I feel artificial boosts & cuts are best made with the  knobs on your amplifier rather than batteries, circuit boards and space shuttle wiring inside the bass. I wanted it to look, feel and sound like something made of wood. Wood is an amazing gift and deserves to be more than a glossy pickup & strap button holder! Wood is more than an easily shaped material to attach stuff to. Wood is the life in the tone of a musical instrument... even an electric one!



Mahogany by this time was a favorite wood. Casual observers may think of Mahogany as dark sounding & heavy because "That's how Les Pauls are and they're Mahogany." Hey, 13 pounds of anything is 13 pounds. You don't have to use that much! A Mahogany Cortobass is around 7.5 lbs. Spanish Cedar? Tonally very similar, looks almost the same, and it'll weigh under 7!

And a bunch of what becomes an instrument's voice comes from the overall recipe... it's like cooking. In a lightweight small bodied instrument like ours, Mahogany puts a beautiful woody midrange in. Short scale basses already have a good midrange generally, and a nice round low end that's more upright bass than low-end piano, which helps them sit in a live or recorded mix nicely. Mahogany adds that something special; that seasoning in a dish that "makes it." it's a joy to work and I love its voice.



The pickups were chosen in more "outside the lines" thought. I had used the neck pickup in the first short scale I made back in 1998 because it seemed like it would give a pure tone without being big enough to get muddy; it was everything to my ears a neck pickup should be. This truth transcended what it was or what it was designed for... so many are so boxed in by convention. I didn't care. I wanted the sound I wanted to hear and that's what did it in the little bass. It sounds like an electric & an acoustic upright got together.


Where it all began...
The first short scale bass I built, 1998. 
Owned by Eric Dewey.

The humbucker in the bridge position was selected after much experimentation to (again) get me the sound I wanted. Again I didn't care what it was or what name was on it; I built the bass by sound. It has strength and punch; not overdone like a Music Man or thin like a Jazz, and different than a P. Dig in with the fingers and it takes on a horn-like quality. Combined, these tones work together for a full-range mid-scoop "J bass family" type of sound, the kind of tone nobody believes is coming out of such a small bass. (click to see a Cortobass rocking the world!)

Everything on a Cortobass has been thought out; nothing is there by chance, by accident, or because "that's what Leo Fender did." I was a professional player for years, never comfortable on my full-size Fender-styles or satisfied with the short scales that were available. I didn't see why a small bass had to be a cheap student import or an imbalanced old design, and I sold ALL my other basses once my 3rd short scale was made in 2000. It was funky but the laughs stopped when it plugged in. The sound of wood; not graphite, not circuit boards, not thick plastic lamination, no big piano-like boioioing. Wood. What a concept.


Original Birdsong shop, Sawdust Gnome, and an early Cortobass... 2005

  
We offer many options but truthfully the basic Cortobass as shown was THE vision that started this all. As we've grown other models based on this bass have come into the Birdsong lineup and traveled the world themselves... build times on other models & fancier special orders average roughly 6 to 9 months; 9 to 12 for outrageous, intricate and laminated "Artist" builds. But a Mahogany Cortobass can often be had in as little as 90 to 120 days; sometimes they're even in inventory ready or almost ready to fly the nest.

No builder can say "Our guitar will make you a better player!" Only YOU can do that. But a runner can only perform so well in shoes that don't fit. I know what went into the design and I know what goes into each Cortobass, and I can tell you VERY few people take advantage of our 7-day return policy! They're not inexpensive, but they're not CHEAP. They are built up to an ideal - to be a GREAT bass that just happens to be compact and lightweight.

The Standard Cortobass has a 1 piece Mahogany body, Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard, 31" scale, 24 frets, all USA Hipshot hardware in chrome, all USA pickups by Lace, two volumes & a varitone in a swoopy matte black control plate, plays great, sounds fantastic, is barely longer than a Strat and weighs around 7 pounds complete. They start at $1850 and that includes the hardshell case AND shipping to your door in the Continental USA!

If you get it and you don't absolutely love it, send it back for a refund.

I invite you to call me anytime ~ try me, I work odd hours, call anytime ~ and I'll be happy to personally answer any questions you have.
I encourage you to look around online for the words of people who have actually played & own Birdsongs and have been our clients.
400 instruments later, I know I have an answer in the Cortobass. If it sounds like it fits your needs in an instrument, please get in touch.



Thank you!


Scott Beckwith
Designer & Owner of The Birdsong Guitar Co.
512.392.4400