Frequently Asked Questions
Things do change over 20-plus years - this is CURRENT INFORMATION as of early 2024.
QUICKIE COMMON ANSWERS:
Ordering info is on the Birdsong Models & Pricing page
Birdsong makes short scale basses of our own design and proprietary 31” scale.
Necks are J-width at the nut, though this can be changed on a special order.
String spacing at bridge is about 17.5mm on 4s and about 16.5mm on 5s.
Our necks are 5-bolt mounted, 24 frets, and ALL have dots on the SIDE.
If you want face dots, we can do those - but prefer a clean look and dots where you actually see them.
The carve is soft V to C to D by the heel - very comfortable and strong, with thick fretboard.
Fretlesses are available, lined or unlined.
Fretless unlined is side-dotted “at the fret position” while lined are dotted “between frets” like fretted.
We do not sell our necks without the basses.
Our finish is hand rubbed oil in several coats, natural only.
To preserve it, Howard Feed-n-Wax - or just wipe it after you sweat on it.
Hardware is Hipshot Style A bridge and Hipshot or Gotoh tuners.
We do not offer active electronics, preferring passive and our chosen pickups for the Birdsong tonal recipe.
Scott doesn’t mind your modifications, it’s how this all started. Play on. Live. Have fun!
LEFTY instruments are all special order, but no extra charge.
Cases were TKL until we switched to quality soft cases from Reunion Blues.
Most Birdsong 31” scale 4s and 5s fit into a “Universal rectangular GUITAR case.”
Currently we ship with the best softcase/bag we have on hand, as consistent supply is still an issue.
We do not currently offer consignment or resale services. Reverb.com is your best bet.
We don’t give away “endorsement” basses.
STRINGS as equipped are regular length Curt Mangan nickel would 45-105 or D’Addario ECB-82 flats.
MORE, alphabetically:
CARE OF THE FINISH - Birdsongs and Texas-era SD Curlees have a hand rubbed oil finish which feels great and will subtly age over time with you as you play it. It’s not a thick plastic lamination so do be conscious of how you bang or rub it against things, but it is protected from moisture. I still wouldn’t use it as a drink holder or spill stuff on it or use it as a writing desk. Wipe it off if you sweat on it, don’t let any spray cleaners you might try run and streak it, etc. An occasional rub of Howard Feed-N-Wax can help protect it (wipe on neatly, let sit a bit, wipe off thoroughly)… but you know, it’s a tool. If I ever see it again I want it looking like grandpa’s old hammer, not as if it were in a museum. It should spend itself and earn its scars, as should any of us.
CONSULTATION / DESIGN SERVICES - Absolutely. Whether you’re starting a company or looking for a model or line of basses, Birdsong founder and designer Scott Beckwith wound up with lots of unused instrument designs over 30 years, plus a pretty good overview of how things work from the instruments to the shop setup, building, business, marketing and retail store level. Get in touch at scott@birdsongguitars.com. (Inspiration, pep talks, and a little professional advice - no charge.)
CORTOBASS VS. CORTO2 - The Cortobass was designed as the most versatile, covering many different tones from warm, jazzy, almost-upright to punchy, aggressive bridge pickup. And “both on” is HUGE and full. The Corto2 is voiced more in the “Jazz bass” (referring to the model, not the music) family - but stronger and full-range with plenty of lows and highs and no hum. The neck-most pickup on the Corto2 can do a P-like thump with the volume back a hair, and the bridge pickup does the Jaco thing. The Corto2 is rear routed, Cortobass front routed with our great looking control plate. Otherwise, same basses and same control layout (volume, volume, tone).
“DESIGNED BY BIRDSONG” ON THE HEADSTOCK - So far as I know, Thin The Herd / “Custom Build” guitars out of Austin is the only one to publicly put that on the headstock, and that was by arrangement. As stated, we DESIGNED that bass to fit their line; we did not make it. It’s not a Birdsong. I get asked the same question every time one comes up for sale. It is what it is - a cool bass. But don’t try to flip it for Birdsong money, it’s not that. I spec’d a great bass but one that’s very different than a Birdsong (It was never designed to BE a Birdsong, it was designed BY Birdsong for them). The Tbasses they made to spec were great. We didn’t make or market them. It could have been big and gone much further as a collaboration, and they’re good guys. But it didn’t. What can I say, we toasted with single malt and it turned PBR in a hurry.
FINISH - Hand rubbed oil, proprietary blend. Satin lustre, not glossy. Several coats but you can feel the wood and over time it will wear. We haven’t offered thick plastic finishes or paint other than the occasional hot rod primer “Rat rod” build. To protect and give it a final coat, we sometimes use Howard Feed ‘n Wax; to give an actual new finish coat, neatly use “boiled linseed oil” and mix in some semi-gloss poly to get really close. Rub on/in with a soft cloth, and after about 15 mins. wipe off. Two thoughts on preserving the finish: first, prevention is the best - don’t spill stuff on it, wipe the sweat off, play with clean hands. Second… don’t worry about it. It’s a tool and a worn tool is even more beautiful. You may see painted basses - other than “Rat Rods” shot with primer and aged to look like an old hot rod (because ugly pieces of wood deserve to sing too), we DO NOT paint our basses. One infamous white 5 string did leave the shop that way, I swear to God it looked like a giant Marie Osmond tooth, but we didn’t paint it. Any stains we use are like mahogany or walnut or ebony - not colors. We just don’t do those kinds of finishes.
FUSION PICKUP - Not everything has an easy answer. What it begins as has little to do with how it sounds in your Fusion. So “What pickup is in the Fusion?” is a question I just choose to answer with “A specially wired pickup proprietary to the Fusion.” I’m not hiding anything, it’s not rocket science… but why and how that bass sounds like it does is something I worked up myself and I’m just going to consider it a family recipe.
HOW DO I TRY ONE? Our instruments are not sold new in stores; you deal with the makers before, during, and after the sale. You can find owners on message boards, there is talk out there and they’re generally VERY happy. So just about everyone world wide now enjoying their Birdsong took the same chance you're considering, to order from us. It's a pretty safe bet you'll like it! You take the chance based on what we build, our reputation, and the fact that if you don't like it we don't make you keep it. After 20 years, the reputation of our instruments for being "the one" when they show up and our customer service is all out there for the research. We cannot put you in touch with an owner in your area, but you can find them online (there are threads about us) and you can ask them for informed first-hand opinions (the only kind that matter) and about getting together.
MODELS & AVAILABILITY - “As I love what I do in designing these instruments, I’m not done coming up with new variations I like to bring up off of the notebook paper to see and play in real life. Being a small workshop, there are only so many models we can serve up at a time. This means some shapes and names come and go. It’s a natural process and the garden tells us where it needs replanting. We’re building for inventory and building to order, the Birdsong page will show a few models we’re taking orders for as we’re able and confident we can complete in a reasonable time. If we’re not, we won’t take any orders.”
PACKING AN INSTRUMENT FOR SHIPPING - VIDEO! HERE YOU GO.
First off, do not leave it to mail center employees. They know how to pack cell phones; this is different. Whether you're returning it for sale on consignment or for repairs, the goal is to get it here in the condition it leaves your house in. It got there from here OK, so if you do what we do, it should be fine. Some try to protect it from scratches - I've opened up cases to see one piece of sheet foam, loose. Like it was a dryer sheet. And it didn't even smell like fresh linens! Don't worry about that. It won't get scratched... its threats are more like getting run over, gored like a rodeo clown or thrown off a truck. So number one,
INSURE IT FOR FULL VALUE. ALWAYS.
LEAVE IT TUNED TO PITCH.
Slip a sheet of foam under the strings to protect the frets in case of a frontal hit.
MOVEMENT is the enemy - all the way here it will try to beat its way out of the case if it can move, and the case out of the box if IT can move. So stuff in & around the bass soft foam, t shirts, whatever. Make certain it can't move side to side, headstock to tail, or front to back in the case.
NOW DO THE SAME with the case inside the box with packing peanuts ("Ghost turds", we call 'em...) or wraps of big bubble wrap. It should look like you're shipping a mummy and slip into the box snugly.
Then TAPE THE HECK OUT OF THE BOX. That means more than one piece of duct tape... it means packing tape across the flaps, front to back, and then over the seams.
Clear tape any labels so they stay on the box.
Ship only via FedEx or UPS, in that preferred order. Please send us a tracking number. If you send on a Monday it'll get here by Friday - no weekends on trucks or in warehouses. That's how we ship usually.
SEND TO: (Contact for return address and info).
Ship (again) FULLY insured and require a signature.
It seems like a lot but it's not - it's just not cutting corners. It's being extra careful every step. It's a $2000 instrument... YOUR $2000 instrument until it's all good when I open the box! Uninsured? Insufficient packing? Wrong address? No phone number on it? That's between you and your carrier of choice. If something happens, we can only help if all that was in place. Thanks in advance for your care, it will be reciprocated.
OPTION AVAILABILITY - Why aren't some options available? We designed the instruments as complete systems. And though we do customize some aspects of our basses, we don't veer from what we know works really well and at this point have pleased thousands of players of all styles. Sometimes an option works against something we tried to work IN to the instrument. We're not a "Custom Shop" redesigning the bass every time. We know - down to the way it's all put together and down to the millimeter of where things are - why these basses work and another that may be a hodgepodge of ideas may not work as well. As for model to model, there have been considerations such as a companies' inability to gold plate aluminum or potentiometer case height that may affect what options are available on different models. Stuff you might not even think about, but we have to. And overall as a policy we make what we enjoy making. It might not make our instruments a fit for everyone's dream, but it helps us give our absolute best to the world. We love what we do, and love doing it... this is an important part of why our basses and guitars feel so good!
PICKUPS - “The ones that have worked for years.” Some we talk about, some we don’t - not because it’s some secret magic, but because sometimes we just start with a pickup model and use - wire - mount - and voice it differently than its original market aim. That just leads to more questions and more talking you around the dumb answers you got on the internet about how it won’t work. It works. But we’re not going to spec out for you everything we’re doing that makes a Birdsong a Birdsong - sorry! They’re are a little different, and so are we. Don't worry about what the internet says they might sound like in other applications - this is not that, and we've used them for years.
REFUNDS & RETURNS Not during the build process. You can cancel and we’ll keep the credit on file for you, but it’s non-refundable. Our end of the deal is to make you happy with the instrument you commissioned us to make for you - yours is to be committed to the process. We’re people, and this is how we eat. Once it’s in your hands, if you don’t love what we sent you, let us know. Then pack it as it was and send it fully insured back to us - we’ll refund you fully. Our reputation is one of happiness and our return rate is under 1%. That said, “My wife says I can’t keep it” or irresponsible financial decisions on your side of things are not grounds for return. Sorry.
SD CURLEE - DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINALS AND THE “TEXAS” ERA 2011-2023. Same pickups, similar looks and tone, similar neck carve & “vibe.” Different? Better headstock angle, stronger neck construction, two way truss rod with easy access, zero fret, standard bolt-in pocket but super tight, some glued in, 32” and then 31” scale length, better hardware, oil finish, full shielding, and lots of details. They had to get revised, things needed fixing. So we did, and refined them a little to our standards of fit & finish. The SD Curlee brand changed hands from us in October, 2023.
SERIAL NUMBERING - On a Birdsong, the number is the year, letter(s) the model, 3-digit number that instrument's production number. So 6C-090 would be a 2006 Cortobass, the 90th Cortobass ever. X=custom options on a stock model, P=prototype. BX is a custom order so convoluted I can't figure out which model to call it - usually I go with body shape. It got a bit convoluted so we switched to a sequential number system in the summer of ‘23 starting at serial number 1000 and 1100. Texas-era SD Curlees were stamped consecutively regardless of model, starting with 001 in 2011. Scott’s Shortbasses (and a few Birdsong early run Cbasses) - 1st two numbers are the year completed; next four are an order date and are not consecutive.
SHORT SCALE - HOW CAN A SHORT SCALE SOUND THIS GOOD? “Truth to me is what comes out of the speaker, and I was going for a full, round low end - woody, vocal midrange - and a sweet high end that had clarity but wasn't overly brittle. I designed the Birdsong Cortobass until that's what I got. How? I voiced everything that way; I didn't start with a full scale and try to make it smaller and lose a bunch of tone, I started with my early short prototypes and worked to enhance where I thought they needed enhancing. Pickups, where they are, the values of the components, the materials and construction, other components... it's like being a chef. Forget what the pickups are (they don't know), tiny details of numbers and millimeters (it's a whole), brand this or that (it has no idea)... a Birdsong is a complete system that works. All those little percentages added up over years of refinement.” ~Scott B.
SHORT SCALE - WHY SHORT SCALE? Why not? Everything’s smaller, lighter and easier to handle than they were 30 years ago, yet we’re still plunking on huge basses that weigh a ton or don’t balance. When Birdsong put the Cortobass on the market in 2004, there were a handful of short scale basses available - mostly also old designs - and few took them seriously. Now everybody has a short scale offering… but this is still our specialty, and we know how to make them sound huge.
STRINGS - Standard length (not short), Curt Mangan nickel wound .045-.105 (roundwounds) or D’Addario Chromes flatwounds .050 - .105, set #ECB-82. Yes these are correct, been standard for over 10 years on everything. 5-strings? These sets are your EADG with ordered-in 35” scale .132 flats for the D’Addario set, Mangan’s standard .130 nickelwound B fits; other brands, some need the 35” scale string to have enough main winding to go through-body twice in our “Double String Through” setup and make it across the zero fret and through the nut slot. We ship with the strings we think work best on our 31” scale basses - if you want to explore others, you have to do your own experimentation.
STRAP BUTTONS - The upper button is usually found around back of the upper horn - this way your strap stays flat and against you better, as opposed to twisting as it comes off your shoulder, and is another little bit of balance-helping design we build in. (There are situations, just like in life, where context prefers it differently and you’ll see some; like on the carved scrolls where a well-placed strap button looks like a fineal.) But by design 90% of the time that’s where it is. Yes, it’s on there.
VARITONES - They haven’t been available on Birdsongs in years and we have no replacements, only parts. Early white plastic cased were based off of a Torres Engineering kit; the ones after that were in-house design, open metal switch. If broken we suggest you replace with a Stellartone or other available on the market now, or contact us and we’ll send you a current-spec sweet sounding standard tone control to swap in - it’s a nut and two wires once you’re into the control cavity.
VIDEOS - All demo videos are up on the Wingfeather Workshop Youtube Channel.
VISITING THE WORKSHOP - Currently that’s not something we can usually accommodate. We’re not set up for visitors, and not usually cleaned up and presentable. And we love you, and we appreciate you, but we have a lot of work to do and need to focus on that.
WARRANTY - What's the return policy & warranty? Warranty is stated as 5 years to the person who gets it new & keeps it (but we're always here to help, call us with your needs). Return policy is 7 days from when you get it, or thereabouts. Now, be real with me... clear it with the spouse first, because "My wife says I can't keep it..." or your car breaking down are not grounds for a refund. Sorry. That has nothing to do with us. If it's really not a match for you, get it back to us in the same condition you got it in and we'll refund you.
WINGFEATHER - Wingfeather Enterprises LLC is the parent company name. We started as just Birdsong but as we grew to revive SD Curlee and also craft D’AQUILA boutique guitars - among the occasional other in-house brands - having it all under one name makes legalities & paperwork MUCH easier. Wingfeather is the name of the main green workshop in the woods, so it helped make that “business” move feel more right when it became necessary. We have done a variety of instrument building out of the Wingfeather Workshop, though nothing in large numbers:
Birdsong is by far the most known, from 20 years of focus specifically on short scale basses and the occasional guitar, and 24 years of existing as a brand.
Scott’s Specials are a little different, a little simpler and less expensive, and he hand signs the headstocks. The most famous of these is/was the Shortbass. The signature dates back to his first guitar build in the 1990s. Scott’s own lineup can be found at www.sbeckwith.com.
SD Curlee USA is a ‘70s brand whose aesthetic really influenced us and, through amazing twists of fate, we had the opportunity to revive and refine. This slotted in behind Birdsong in numbers for a while, as a labor of love mostly, until changing hands in October of 2023.
D’AQUILA guitars, and lap steels under various names: Scott’s own lineup can be found at www.sbeckwith.com.
WOOD WEIGHT & DIFFERENCES - Electric instruments get most of their tone from the structure, pickup selection & placement, and then we get into the woods from the neck and fingerboard down into body combinations - these "Season the sonic soup." All have plenty of lows, mids and highs and most wood is "Tone wood." That said, denser wood is heavier and brings a hair more low and high end clarity with a slight scoop. Softer woods are lighter in weight bring a little mid bump (“warmth”), rounder lows (less piano like) and are less bright up top. It’s subtle though. You & your environment contribute to what degree, if any, it comes out - and your ears may interpret differently what others’ hear. Just don’t assume that because you can’t hear it, it doesn’t exist, OK? The body wood does make a difference, but if that’s all you’re changing it’s subtle. As an ingredient to lean the build toward a desired voice, yes… as something that would make it a completely different sounding instrument? No. That said, mahogany (reddish to maroon, medium weight) has a slight mid hump, like a pleasant speaking voice; walnut (brown, medium weight) has an even response low to high; softer, lightweight woods have nice warmth and punch, good depth, sweet highs. I’d choose by looks or weight first, tonal consideration second; most of the tone of a Birdsong is in its design, pickups and positions, and neck. Neck wood? Definitely. Mostly we stick to maple, with fretboards of rosewood (brown, has the mids and warmth still in it that maple scoops out). We have built with maple and ebony boards, too.
HOPE THIS HELPS! Anything not answered here (or for any clarifications) please contact us.