There's a lot on this page but it'll answer a whole bunch of your basic questions and I'd appreciate 
it if you'd look through it. The FAQ part is alphabetical by topic. Then when we DO talk 
(and I love talking with you all!) it can be about details & deep stuff. ~Scott

Our physical address:
Available on request

All standard correspondence & payments:
Wingfeather Enterprises LLC
PO Box 1745
Wimberley, TX 78676

Phone: 512.392.4400

FAQ TOPIC	NOTES
ACTIVE ELECTRONICS	We do not put in active electronics. Birdsongs are passive only. To my ears, the best tone a bass can have is a natural, woody tone with warmth and a pleasant "voice" to the midrange. It should have natural rich lows and clear highs, but nothing artificial or overly-boosted. This is the tone that naturally cuts through a mix and can be heard onstage. Any boosting and cutting or drastic tonal shaping should be done with your amplifier, not (to my ears) with circuit boards & batteries in your bass. So with all respect to the active electronics community, all Birdsongs leave the nest with simple, warm, natural sounding passive electronics.
AMPS	I get asked what amplifiers I suggest a lot - I think a great instrument should sound good through anything. My personal favorite amp is the old GK400RB with any brand single 15" speaker cabinet. The test amp and the one my ears are "baselined" to because it's been my main amp for 17 years or so is a Peavey 1x15 combo... believe it or not. It's a TKO 115 and I run the low, high & graphic EQ all flat - no boosts, no cuts. Never let me down. I like it simple - one day I'll just have a poweramp and a speaker. I want the sound the bass makes, just louder. Warm lower mids, growly vowely high mids, clarity up top and round fullness down low. Sorry, this is what you get when you ask a guy who drives a '69 Dodge about amplifiers. I want it simple & indestructible with good basic tone... I'll take care of the rest.
APPROVAL	Details in ordering.
ARE THEY IN STORES	No, we deal directly with you to ensure the instrument gets to you the way it's supposed to and to personally make sure you're satisfied. Read the reviews about our instruments and check out our 7-day approval... trying it out in your own environment is the only true test anyways. We understand your concern about buying something you've never played and we realize our instruments are a bit different. But we live in the computer age, and at this point a Birdsong is a pretty proven "blind date."
BUILD TIME	Currently around 6 months, more for super complex builds.
CANCELING YOUR ORDER	Please see details in ordering and on the legal page.
CARE	Play the heck out of it 'til it looks like Stanley Clarke's Alembic or Victor Wooten's old Fodera. It's not laminated in plastic; it will age, it will scar. You both can do this together in your relationship and fill the air with music whenever possible as you journey onwards together. Otherwise, check the Online Owners Manual. It's a beautiful instrument, but it's a tool first and if I ever see it back here I want it looking well used and respected like the handle of Grandpa's hammer.
CHANGES TO OUR DESIGN	Shortened horn, etc... It has happened occasionally, but generally no. We're not a "Custom Shop" ~ the shapes you see are what we clothed the balance points & measurements of our original designs in once they felt great and balanced perfectly. Basses with LP or "Beatle" bodies (for example) don't balance unless those bodies weigh a ton. And have you ever actually played a Thunderbird? Did anyone at Gibson ever actually play a Thunderbird?! I mean, balance is paramount. Trust us & try a Birdsong the way it is. Having at this point sold quite a number of our little basses, I encourage you to read around and seek others' opinions online (ummm... those qualified to have an opinion who've actually played one, please) then seriously consider whether you want to change anything... they really are complete designs.
CHANGES TO YOUR ORDER	We're happy to accommodate changes to your order ("Can we do it with a 5-piece body?", "I think I want a 2-pickup instead", "Can we do that Sadhana body in inventory rather than the Walnut?" etc.), but keep in mind some add cost and most add time. And after the 4th or 5th change, the more you run me amok the more likely I'll forget something. We're pretty laid back, though, so go ahead and ask. We're here to serve and we'll do our best.
CONTROLS	Why two volumes instead of a master & blend? I found better "all the way up" tones by optimizing each pickup's signal path. To shove them both through one value of potentiometer compromises that. Tone being higher on my list as designer than convenience, two pickup Birdsongs have two volume controls. The best tone with either or both of them full up is what I went after, over blendability.
COPY DESIGNS	Will you build a Tobias body... Jazz bass.... smaller P bass... Strat... We've all done it at one time or another, but NO. Though the classics are great designs, I began building my own instruments because I was tired of looking and sounding like everybody else and stock, off-the-rack guitars didn't fit or do it for me. Though brilliant, they are 50-year-old designs that have already been copied to death by everybody, their brother, and their weird second cousins from the edges of the piney woods. The Muse would slap me silly if I took my talents and vision and misused them that way. So with extremely rare exceptions (mostly past) we stick to original designs.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SADHANA & CORTOBASS - COSMETIC?	Yes. Same neck specs, pickups, wiring and hardware. Think of it like this - the Cortobass is a sweet running small block Challenger that handles like a Ferrari. The Sadhana is one that looks like the Ferrari too - it gets the more exotic materials & curves, and the set neck. But it's still a Birdsong, strong and simple. (And you'll never have to worry about synchronizing six dual-throat Webers.)
DOES ANYONE FAMOUS PLAY THEM?	This seems to be a universal benchmark of legitimacy... it's not. Yes, and when they do, that's great, because it makes THEM happy to be playing the little bass they love. I can tell you that sometimes famous players want stuff for free, which is bogus. I can further verify a whole lot of not famous players want stuff for free too, which is also bogus. I don't want anyone playing these just because they got it for free, I wouldn't ask anyone to play a month of gigs for free, and let's face it; this is how we eat. I'd rather build one for YOU, do what I love, and earn an honest living without playing games. We love the famous people who contact us just like we love the workin' folks who play in church on Sunday. They all get treated the same. There are many professionals out playing our instruments, spreading good vibrations through music; there are many artists creating with tools we helped create. That's all that means anything. Fame is relative. Anyone with a Birdsong has it because they loved it enough to buy it, and plays it because of its attributes as an instrument... not because of an arrangement. (See ENDORSEMENTS) And I wouldn't make an instrument for someone who was kind of a dick just because they were famous any more than one who was not famous. Integrity may not be a good practice for the bottom line in the business world, but I'm going to try to be a decent human first.
ENDORSEMENTS	We generally don't give our instruments away. I can count the number on one hand with fingers left over, and they were personal gifts, not "endorsers." This is what we do for a living, and our Good Work. It is what we offer to the world and in return we eat. "Well if you give me a bass I can sell a bunch for you!" Maybe so, but then they're buying them just because you've been seen with one, not because it means anything to them. And for you session guys, a "professional courtesy" is to pay what's required for a professional tool, just as you like to be paid what you're worth for a professional session. :) When I go see a band I know, I'll pay to get in. I don't want something for free. That's how you support something you believe in. Nothing personal folks, just being real with you...
FIGURED MAPLE TOPS	Every so often we do it. We try to avoid the typical figured Maple top - on - Mahogany body because it's been done to death by everyone jumping on a bandwagon of guys that already did it better. Considering that body wood is just a seasoning in the sonic soup pot if all else (pickups, scale, neck, neck woods, hardware, wiring, strings) is the same, I much prefer to work in chunks. I know it's much more profitable to slice 'em wafer-thin and put the veneer on top of cheaper wood. I know that. But that's not a determining factor in doing what I do. This is... look at the grain melting around these contours & sides and tell me you'd rather have it 2-dimensional. Then I'll tell you NO! That you're nutty as a fruitcake. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'M nutty... but I really really like this! This is half the fun of figured woods and most never see it 'cause their "figured top" veneer is only 1/4" thick, IF that.
FOREIGN / INTERNATIONAL  ORDERS	Details in ordering.
FRETBOARDS & INLAY	Rosewood is our choice on our fretted basses for tonal purposes. If you like the look of Ebony, we prefer to use a darker piece of Rosewood. Pau Ferro is a lighter colored, redder wood with similar tonal properties and sometimes we use that. But "Tone trumps trimmings." Fretlesses are generally Ebony. They are unlined and we don't currently offer lines.  INLAYS Most Birdsongs come with side dots that are bigger than average, and no dots on the fretboard. It gives a nice clean look and you can't see the face dots when you're standing up playing anyways. We do offer the option of pearl face dots, though. Custom pearl wildness has happened (we have sources for such work) but we generally don't because of the time, expense, and possibility of complications with what you might think you want exactly. Just chalk it up to the fact that we mostly build simple, organic instruments, and we stick to what we do best.
GIG BAGS	Birdsongs generally ship with a hardcase. Most of our basses are only an inch or so longer than a Fender style guitar, so some gig bags will fit. Best suggestion even though it pains me deep inside, is to take it to a big store with lots of gigbags. Find a high quality, thickly padded one with metal clips & receivers that hold on the strap (you spent two grand on a bass and you're going to hold it on you with plastic clips?!)... find out the make & model... then get the hell out of there. Go somewhere independent and see if they can order it. Don't give those big corporate box stores a dime. Spend a little more and vote for the little guys; they don't get bailouts and even if they did they wouldn't spend it on bonuses and takeovers. :)
LOW ACTION	Can you expect ridiculously low action on a short scale bass? The answer has 80% to do with your technique and 20% to do with the fact that short scale basses' strings are under less tension and like slightly higher action. Most of the players I've encountered in my 20 years of messing around that wanted super low action with no buzzing didn't have any idea that with rare exceptions it's always a balance of those two... and didn't have the refined technique that gets minimal buzzing out of super low action.  Our basses generally ship with action I consider "medium low" (and I like low action); as a builder, low action is only one part of what "playability" is to me. It encompasses balance, weight, neck shape, ergonomics, right down to the type of edge on the fretboard. Get everything else right and working together as a cohesive whole that fits you and you'll play with action a notch or two up from what you thought you needed (like, on your Pbass), not miss it a bit, and sound better for it. By the way, we're talking millimeters here; not the kind of "slightly higher" action you find on the rack at GC with necks you could shoot arrows off of. These basses play really really well. The question is - do you? I'm kind of heavy handed, so I accept a little buzz.
MESSAGE BOARDS	We get asked why we don't start a message board or a guestbook. We've got our hands full building basses and guitars for folks who get what we're doing; they're now played in many other countries and all over the states, many professionally. While we're completely honored and grateful for the interest & support, we simply don't have time to police a public forum of our own OR to debate / correct / participate on a public board. Sorry. In fact, it's our policy not to get involved in online forum talks about us. We prefer you come to us for information and consult the reviews out there for informed opinions. We are a nation of armchair coaches & barstool Generals and now everyone can look like an expert whether they've ever actually done anything or not. Down the path after hundreds of gigs, repairs, the music shop years, thousands of instruments through my hands, hundreds of hand built instruments' worth of sawdust on me, in me, and in places you wouldn't even imagine (and as many happy clients), and with decades of experience and a great little company with instruments all over the world, I'm not going to debate some pundit who can't even type with decent grammar on whether or not my instruments could possibly sound good based on a bit of high science he's trying to universally apply to something as subjective and easily bent as sound. Sorry, too busy actually making it happen. :)
MODEL HISTORY	CORTOBASS (Standard, 1 or 2-pickups & varitone) 2004 - current BEAUMONT BLUES GUITAR  (2 made in 2004) CUSTOM GUITARS 2004 - 2011 (Maybe a dozen or so)  CORTOCUSTOM 2005 - current (a Cortobass with other body, mods or unusual non-stock features - now absorbed into the Customs) CORTOCLASSIC (Single pickup, slab body, vintage bridge, jack in face) 2005 - 2006 CORTO GT (A 'Classic with a hot pickup & varitone) 2005 - 2006 CORTOSUPREMO 2005 CORTOBASIC 2007 - Current (I build them for inventory now and then) SADHANA 2006 - Current, most from #50 (2010) on are set neck "Benchmades". MESQUITO 2007 - 2008, 2 left to be built in 2012 ELECTRIC JAZZ GUITAR (series 1) 2007 (2 made) EJG (series 2) 2010 (1 made as part of the 6th Anniversary set. After that they're all D'Aquilas.) FUSION (CortoFusion '07-'08) 2007 - Current TULIP 2008 SKYRIDER 2009 - Current. Summer 2011 became one of the Customs. ODYSSEY 2010 - Current. Summer 2011 became one of the Customs. Cbass 2010 - Current FEATHERBASS 2011 MARCIANO ESPECIAL 2010 - Current As we refined our focus & instrument line, some renaming & changes occured. CortoClassic - Replaced by the single pickup Cortobass, which already has all the upgrades most wanted on the 'Classic basses. CortoGT - Same as above, order a single pickup Cortobass with the "Hot" pickup. CortoCustom - These are one-off custom bodies (all different) with Cortobass necks, hardware and electronics. Or they're unusual combinations of features from our basses, like a Cortobass shaped like a Fusion. We build a few but our time is limited. CortoSupremo - This was an early, all-the-way loaded Cortobass. It's just not called a separate name now.  (As always, our specs have been and will continue to be subject to change.)
NECKS	DO YOU SELL JUST NECKS? No. We really don't want Birdsong necks floating around without the rest of a Birdsong bass attached to them. They wouldn't even come close to fitting anything else (even the heel is in a different spot); you'd have to design a bass around it. And we already did that.  SIZE Here is a comparison to a Fender Jazz neck: note much thicker fretboard... more stability and tone! SWAPPING As for a retrofit (Birdsong, fretted to fretless or vice-versa), we do them - conversions are $360 US, client pays shipping both ways, and we keep the old neck. It'll leave the nest like it was born that way.
ORDERING	Ordering a Birdsong We're really easy to work with, but we have been doing this professionally for years and here is how it works best... Please make sure the birdsongguitars email address is marked as safe if you have SPAM filters! Continental US clients You look over the site and gather ideas, examples, questions & information We confer on the details of your build through email or call Scott at 512.392.4400 We do the numbers and you pay half ~ Check, money order or "eCheck" online any of those OR PaySimple  for the final payment. You get a receipt and a serial number and over here a work sheet & folder ~ we're low tech! Your build is updated on the client page when and as it happens ~ you take the journey with us Around completion, you pay the balance ~ CK, MO, eCheck, PaySimple (like PayPal) or credit card We send it to you ~ Monday is shipping day and we ship FedEx fully insured, adult signature required. Some non-continental US and all international clients You look over the site and gather ideas, examples, questions & information We confer on the details of your build through email or call Scott at 512.392.4400 Please be sure we can understand each other, this is very important as there are many details! We estimate shipping costs through FedEx (not the cheapest, just the best), to be in 3rd invoice. We do the numbers and you pay the 1st half ~ bank wire transfer or international money order You get a receipt and a serial number and over here a work sheet & folder ~ we're low tech! Your build is updated on the client page when and as it happens ~ you take the journey with us. Around completion, you pay the balance plus actual shipping (and it may have changed, not our fault). We send it to you ~ We ship FedEx fully insured, which means we must declare the actual $USD value. (You are responsible for understanding & paying any taxes or fees charged by your country's Customs.) Payments are non-refundable Despite the empathy I have for whatever situation comes up, I can't fix it by capsizing my boat. We'll finish your instrument and help you sell it at no cost, then square up on what you paid, less a percentage to cover my time. But there are no refunds during the process and no exceptions. When you commission custom work from someone who does this for a living, their end of the deal is to make you something that exceeds your expectations at a price that is fair both ways ~ your commitment is to follow through and complete the deal they're counting on to eat. It's nothing personal, it's just business. I do, however, reserve the right to cancel & refund you at any time if I feel your demands are becoming greater than what I can reasonably accommodate. A word on the wait You can expect your order to be completed in roughly 6 months. While this may seem like an eternity in McWorld, in the world of boutique workshop musical instrument making it's actually fairly quick. You can expect we will work our tails off to make this happen for you, but you can also expect as we are human and there are only so many hands at work here that by the time I'm working on your instrument I may need more time. In this case, it will take longer. Wood holds surprises as does life, and I work hard with 100% devotion but at a sane pace so I can remain the sharpest tool in the shop and enjoy what I do. Home cookin' takes the time it takes, and that baby's not gonna pop out just because you're getting antsy. Of course if this is an order for a birthday or a gig comes up, let me know. I can promise you I will do my absolute professional best but that is all. I group work and try to keep it flowing ~ so it may not be numerical and it may mean there are times I'm working on other tasks than what's next on yours.
PAINT & FINISH	No. We use a hand~rubbed oil blend and like our basses to look and feel like wood. Why only natural finishes? 'Cause we like it that way. :) Hand rubbed in several coats, our oil blend seals the wood while leaving it looking & feeling like WOOD, not plastic. We love the natural beauty of the woods the way they are. An oil finish, to our eyes, ears & hands is a far superior finish for a MUSICAL instrument. An oil finish will wear and will not stand for abuse such as studded wristbands, spilled beer, or being carelessly leaned against amp corners. (They make instruments for folks like you with thick clearcoats). And as it wears over time, it wears in like a good pair of jeans... go find a picture of Victor Wooten's 1st Fodera or Clarke's old Alembic; those are well-loved basses. If I have to explain it...  So I'm afraid if you want one in metalflake purple or with a mural of a busty mermaid with a forked tongue crawling out of a skull next to a shipwreck, you'll have to make your own arrangements there, bub.
PAYPAL	I was enamored with this service for years, but now I hold it slightly above mosquito bites on the genitals. I can invoice you through these blowhards, and it'll work just fine, but it's a last resort. See Ordering.
PICKUPS	The ones in there work the best. Ask folks who've changed them. Putting a regular ol' P-bass pickup in it won't make it into a P-bass. It's just one ingredient in a tonal soup, and redesigning an instrument is like playing with a Rubik's Cube - you can't just change one thing and have only that change. Trust us & try it the way it's been designed. The Cbass, with a specially selected P-style pickup rearranged & located where it sounds the best, is very close.
RETURN POLICY	Details in ordering.
SCALE LENGTH	The "Scale Length" is the vibrating length of the string, nut to saddle. Guitars have traditionally been either 25-1/2" (Fender-style) or about 24-3/4" (Gibson-style). Paul Reed Smith found a compromise at 25", and for the most part that is what you can buy. Electric basses are predominantly the 34" scale Fender design and copies. The scale length affects most noticeably the distance between the frets (thereby how long the neck protrudes away from you) and the tension of the strings. A shorter scale length means the frets are slightly closer together and the strings are under less tension (due to the corresponding shorter length of the instrument from the tuners to the bridge)... in other words, chords and runs you had to stretch for on a "normal" guitar or bass are a lot more comfortable to play and the strings feel softer and bend easier on a shorter scale instrument. And the reach to the 1st fret is noticeably less as well - around where the 3rd fret is on a 34" scale. You will be AMAZED at the difference this amount can make in comfort and playability! And we worked very smartly in regaining the tone & sustain of a full-scale... something lacking in other short scales.
SIZE	This site is a lot like those old Dio videos - "How small is this guy? They never put him next to anyone else! He's just running around on buildings, slaying dragons and stuff." Birdsong basses aren't that much longer than a Strat or Tele electric guitar. Our bass case is actually a guitar case. Our first fret is your average full size bass' 3rd. Here are a few pictures. You know, they say a picture's worth a thousand words. But that never slowed me down... Sadhana with a Pbass; Birdsong's 1st fret is their 3rd (much less reach); Cortobass with Strat; Hy5 with Strat; and a client's comparison between the Hy5 and a Fodera 5-string. 'Nuff said.
SERIAL NUMBERS	The first number is the year it was completed. 4 = 2004, 5 = 2005, 10 is 2010 etc. Second is the model code: C for Cortobass (If there's an X at the end it's a CortoCustom, the occasional custom piece with Cortobass neck & electronics... these are numbered in with the Cortobass line); S for Sadhana; F for Fusion; M for Mesquito; H for Hy5; SK for Skyrider; EJ for Electric Jazz Guitar 1st series (2007); EJG for current Electric Jazz Guitar. SK = Skyrider, OD = Odyssey, FB = Featherbass. The next three digits are a consecutive production number for the model since production began. So "5C-013" was the thirteenth Cortobass built. "8C-150" was the 150th Cortobass built, etc. Cortobass production started in the Summer of 2004; 4C1-009 was the last serialized in 2004. 5C-029 the last in 2005. 6C-071 the last in 2006.  7C-111 the last in 2007. Then I got too busy to keep track. Instruments are serialized from their start; this will explain a lower number having a 6C and a higher number with a 5C... the first number is the year of completion. The higher one was probably an order that got completed first, and what became a 6C could've been an inventory build that kept getting bumped to build orders. It kept its number through the process, though. It's not completely linear like a widgit factory.  If there is a letter after the build number: P = Prototype (first of a series or test of a new feature) E = Employee (Built by or for, may have unusual features) R = Refit (replacement body or neck; instrument keeps its #.) X = Deviation from the standard model The occasional custom one-off instrument will be numbered B for Birdsong followed by a three digit build number. B 001 dates from 2002. The first 6 Hy5s date from 2007. The prototype Sadhanas, #001 and 002 were called "Shanti" basses, but this was changed starting with #003. Sadhana 12 was the last completed in 2006, #25 the last of 2007. As of 2010, "Custom" builds that can't be classified in with regular models will have "BX" serial numbers, such as "10 BX - 001" the first "Birdsong Custom", dating from 2010. Hopefully. Cbasses have "Born On Dates" when the neck was mounted to the body; this is their serial number.
SHOP TOUR?	Give us a call if you'll be coming through town, we'd love to meet you! We're less than a mile off Interstate 35 and there's an Italian food place right nearby. Come see us in action! 512.392.4400
STRINGS	Your fave brand & gauge string may work great on your current instrument, but the .045 - .105 nickel roundwound strings we equip our basses with (or the D'Addario Chromes .050 - .105 flatwounds) are our choice for what works best on the bass we designed. Just trust us & try it our way - you're already springing for the bass, it's already different, try it with the strings we know work. We currently use Curt Mangan roundwounds. You may think "But I love my DRs..." You love your DRs on your current bass, but this is a totally different instrument. Approach it "as is" and I doubt you'll be disappointed. We really did work at this.
TREMOLO SYSTEMS	These are not offered on Birdsong basses. They are too big, the string spacing is too wide, it removes material at a crucial place and works against the improvements in our design by decreasing tension & string stability.
UPPER FRET ACCESS	Our bass necks are 24 fret, the heel on the neck doesn't start until 17, and it joins the body (in other words, the actual part of the body that the neck bolts into) at the 20 - 21st, and it's dressed away. Don't worry - it's NOT like a Fender neck heel.  OPTIONAL "UPPER FRET ACCESS" CARVING (shown) We will dress a bit more away and contour for extreme upper fret access upon request as a $25 option.
USED INSTRUMENTS	WARRANTY The warranty is not transferable mainly because if anything crops up due to something a previous owner may have done, we can't be responsible for that. An original owner, it's clearer - it's only been in two sets of hands. Once one starts getting passed around we can only offer to assist in whatever your warranty-type needs are as fairly as we can. REFITTING Sometimes a pre-owned Birdsong becomes available and you may wish it had (for example) black hardware or a varitone. Buying used is buying one already made - it's not economically viable to have us change things on it for you once you factor in shipping both ways. We can in some cases help you obtain parts if you'd like to do it. Reality is we're very busy building new instruments and all hardware on hand needs to be going on the next order up. WHAT'S IT WORTH USED? Hard to say, but there are more that want them than we can make and it's a real, limited production, hand built item... I've seen them go for a little less than they cost or a little more and fully expect some to appreciate a bit over time.
VARITONE	It is a series of tone filters designed to change the tone of the bass with each setting of the switch. There are five settings and one bypass setting which allows the stock, unaltered tone of the pickups to pass through.  It's not a circuit designed to emulate the tones of other basses, it's not a pickup selector... it replaces a standard useless muddy tone control with five variations on the voice of whatever pickup or blend you select. No batteries required! (Note: at no cost, I'll substitute a standard tone knob if you'd like, but voiced so it's woody sounding & very useable.)
WARRANTY	5 years to the original owner - also see "Used Instruments" above and the legal page. If you are the original owner, The Birdsong Hand Built Guitar Co. will, for five years from date of delivery, repair or replace at its discretion any faulty component. The instrument must be shipped to us for inspection and repair. If there is responsibility on our part, we will pay shipping back to you. We also may arrange with a qualified shop local to you to take care of something minor. Normal wear and tear, damages due to submersion or extreme heat, abuse or acts of God (flood, fire, hurricane, Armageddon, anything even remotely Wile E. Coyote-esque, etc.) aren't covered. Also, any oil finish is prone to show wear - so that's not covered. It is suggested you read our legal notice for anything I forgot to list here! We are always available for any questions or concerns, and for product support. Our position is to be of service, and that doesn't end just because the check cleared. :) We really do want to help you, we just have to be realistic. So give us a call and we'll help however we can reasonably do so.
WOOD - EFFECT ON TONE	The wood of one part of an electric instrument, in my experience, affects the tone as a seasoning affects a soup. It won't turn minestrone into split pea... it's a secondary influence. The fact that an instrument IS wood has a HUGE effect, but the meat and potatoes of an electric instrument come from its construction parameters (scale, neck mounting, etc.) and its pickups (type & location). To give you an example, let's take a plywood $99 plywood Squier P-bass and a $2500 custom shop P-bass. They do not sound all that drastically different. Different as in richer lows, clearer highs, warmer mids? Yeah, a bit. Sure. Different as in one sounds like a P-bass and the other one doesn't? Absolutely not. In many cases, the degree of difference is negated the minute we plug two different players into two different amps, or even move your amp into another room. A ton of it is in your hands & style, your sound, and your environment. So we're talking seasoning here; a Birdsong sounds like a Birdsong whatever wood we build the body out of. They ALL have nice lows, sustain, warmth, and clarity. That said, we can fine tune it to your sonic needs. Which sounds best is totally subjective, but to me the basic Mahogany Cortobass has a very slight edge on the rest. A nice little nudge in the mids that these pickups REALLY respond to. But remember, these are subtle differences. The basic tonality of all the Cortobasses is very similar. They're really good, warm sounding basses, DEFINITELY unlike any short scale you've ever heard!
WOOD - FOREST DEPLETION	The destruction of the rainforests and the wholesale strip mining of Mother Earth concerns me deeply. We can argue the religion & politics of whether or not we have taken or been given "dominion" over anything until we're blue in the face - or how far we can push the envelope of what we can possibly justify under the word - it still does not give us the right to rape at will and plunder that which does not belong to us, but to Nature, all creatures and our children's children. That said, plastic guitars just don't do it for me. And if a plank of beautiful wood is already cut and sitting in a warehouse, I'm doing the world a service by rescuing some and building it into tools of creation to sing to the universe, rather than leave it there to become yet another armoire or end table. The amount of endangered woods a small guitar company like Birdsong uses isn't even a blip on the screen overall - Gibson will make more guitars in one day than I'll probably build in a lifetime. Rest assured that other than leaving it a tree, being handled as respectfully as we do and building it into a musical instrument is as good as it gets for wood.
WOOD - GRAIN & FIGURE	Every piece is different and it's a guesstimate as to what the final piece will look like cut, planed, shaped, carved, contoured, rounded & sanded. To me it's all gorgeous, and this is half the fun. And we love wood's natural character and work to include it whenever possible... if you want a clearer, character-free piece of wood, let us know ahead of time and we'll do our best. And if you like wilder, we can handle it, short of doing too much bookmatching tops on bodies. A handful here and there, but I like it to be a little more natural looking than that.
ZERO FRET	The zero fret is a fret directly in front of the nut, you won't even know it's there when playing. To my ears it makes the open notes consistent with the fretted notes. It also supports the downpressure of the string, taking this task away from the nut. And it gives very low action at the nut. It's not found on many American instruments because (ahem) Leo Fender didn't put it on, but it goes back generations in European stringed instrument luthierie. I like it, it's a premium feature I can put in there for you so on it goes. Some inventory builds & one-offs don't have one, but most Birdsong basses have it.

The big question: Are you for real?
In other words, is this really just some division of some huge monolithic guitar manufacturing empire, 
you know, like a whole microbrewery facade really run by guys in suits and ties with calculators? 


So real it hurts: Sawdust Boy & Cortobass - tools of the Creator!
(This was taken at the original workshop in 2005)

The Birdsong Story

Our story begins...
In a sandwich shop in San Marcos, TX we give thanks for our food and begin to eat. It is the moment of departure on a road trip in late 2003. After a while a woman dressed in black with much turquoise approaches... 

But really it began..
Music came into my life and around 12 there was this awakening to it as a path that called. I abandoned myself to it in those days, the early '80s, vowing to follow wherever it would take me. Bands. Gigs. Hit the road at 18 as bassist for Sleepy LaBeef. Much moving. Landed in Texas on the couch of a legendary Texas songwriter. Started writing every day. More bands, more gigs. Crazy 20s. Along the way a few things happened; I became fascinated with tinkering with my guitars, totally disregarding convention in the pursuit of new tones. I became dissatisfied with factory instruments; their "sameness" and the fact nothing fit my small body physically. And in my early 20s a creepy old French woman saw in the cards "You'll meet the man who works with the wood." I began building guitars in 1997 at age 28, already a player for 15 years.
Along the way...
There were gigs, music shops, teaching, and ultimately a going "back to the land" into the Hill Country of central Texas. Deep changes. (Read Walden). Life still revolved around music and music brought Jamie to me. This was around the time Birdsong consisted of whatever clear surface there was on the back table of a friend's woodworking shop. Guitars I'd been calling "Scott Guitars" back East became "Birdsong" here amongst the Southern Cedars, closer to the earth. "Uncle Johnny" showed me how to turn the guitars into art (among many other things concerning the mojo of woodcraft ~ here was a guy who worked with the wood), and I showed him how to turn his art into guitars. 

The first Birdsong Guitars instrument, "Rainmaker", was crafted in the corner of Johnny's shop as a gift for singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson, an artist whose music has meant a lot to me over the years, most importantly the "van years." Local hippie wood guru Sam brought the slab to me with the words "I found the piece you're lookin' for." And what a piece it was - a thick chunk of the wildest crotch Black Walnut I've still to this day ever seen. 

Continuing into this chapter...
But there are many facets to a life built on creativity, plus let's face it you have to hustle - you have to stay busy and prolific at what you do... and with a shop, students, recording, writing, building... I was feeling burned out, as if little progress was being made in any of them because there was just too much going on. So at this crossroads, knowing it was truly time to figure out what would be the main devotion all else could fall into place behind, Jamie and I packed up the old Dodge van to visit with some inspiring friends Florida in December of 2003. 

I was very discouraged because I live and breathe music, but was feeling so uninspired and scattered and nothing ever seemed to "click" and go anywhere... during the  pre-departure sandwich stop the woman with the turquoise came over to us on her way out. She introduced herself... feeling compelled to come over after watching us give thanks for our food. She looked me right in the eyes... "You... you work with the wood." 
How did you know?
"You work with the wood... I just see things." 
"Margaret" then left us, stunned and pondering. Some signs are small, and some subtle as a flying mallet.

Okay, I get it, I get it. YES, I DO work with the wood. Put one foot in front of the other. Pick something and let it lead the way. A new chapter began... over that trip and over Mondavi merlot once back at the cabin, plans were set and an instrument design I'd been prototyping since 1997 all came together. First flight was achieved July 4, 2004 with the launch of this website and offering of the Cortobass professional short scale bass guitar. 

Over the past six years...
The first Birdsong facility had previously been a place for bikers to get their Harleys wrenched on & turned into choppers. Vroom! Since #002 rolled out of there headed for Millard in sunny California, our little bass line has refined & expanded, finding hands & homes all over the world. We've seen our family grow by hundreds and enjoyed the company of some great helping friends in the shop.

The central Texas "Hill Country" vibrates with a creative energy that has drawn artists and craftspeople to the area for some time. It is a beautiful and inspiring place. Johnny's gone now, but he lived to see it happen. And his magical workshop was torn down & rebuilt elsewhere... that's where Birdsongs come from now. And along the way, I became (with much help) the man who works with the wood I was supposed to meet. How do you do?

It really is true that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step...



Our guiding philosophies

1. The best of yesterday meets the best of today...

Here at Birdsong Guitars we believe it is best to respect and build on the best bits of knowledge of what HAS happened, and combine it with the best pieces of what IS happening. Our instruments are not made of space age materials, do not have state of the art electronic packages, and are not chock full of gadgetry. They are simple and roadworthy, innovative and full of tone... the right tools for the job. Combining the hand craftsmanship, passive electronics, real wood and human service of yesterday with the production consistency of CNC (for the necks, so each neck is precisely machined to my specs and extremely consistent - and you don't have to wonder if you got a "good" feeling one like the guy raving about his) and the world-wide internet marketplace, we're able to build it right, put in a good day's work, be found by all who are interested in what we're doing, keep the workshop small, and maintain a "DIY" ethic. We answer the phone, do the website, design & order the parts, cut & shape wood, build & ship instruments all over the world, and take care of whatever you may need. No superstore shenanigans, no middle-man markups, no hard-sell spiels, and no bull.  

We build short scales because we love short scales and they're the only things that fit us. Jamie and I (Scott) are 5'4". In shoes. It could be said we have a personal relationship with the concept of "short scale." :) The problem with short-scale instruments that have been marketed is one of design. Most have been aimed at students through the years, and these generally are poor quality and their ability to stay in tune is questionable. And the "vintage" designs didn't balance or sound all that great. For example, Gibson has marketed SG-body basses since the '60s. They didn't balance well or sound all that great then, and they don't now. Plus most of them now are imported from Asian guitar factories for their Epiphone line. Professional quality, well-designed, American built, roadworthy short scales are hard to find... that's why we're here!

2. What's put in is what it becomes...

First off, everyone at our little workshop plays. All of us are musicians, all of us are here doing this by choice not because it is a "job" but because it is our calling, our good work. We believe music is a sacred thing, a spiritual thing, and it is our devotion to further its ripples... some of those ripples are Birdsong instruments and we're grateful for the opportunity to be of service. Every instrument we create we pour our heart & soul into in hopes that it becomes an inspiring tool for the player, spreads good vibrations to listeners, and serves as a ripple outward of our wishes of peace, love & music... and of the  blessings gifted to us.

We work at a steady pace, but there's only so fast we'll go. We work at a sane pace, we close down the shop & recharge during August and over the Holidays (About Dec. 15 - Jan. 15), and all of that helps us build these little jewels how they should be, and keeps us straight as to why we do it in the first place. So thanks in advance for your patience, understanding, and support of real people of the community trying to do something positive to high standards and live simple lives filled with craft & connection... and for this, we promise to build you the absolute best instrument we are capable of. A hand built instrument is not "fast food"... the question could even be asked, "Is fast food even food?" but that's for another time. Point being if you want art, if you want craftsmanship, if you want something of quality somebody really made, with love and devotion, it costs more, you'll wait longer, and you'll probably be in line. Whether it's a gourmet meal cooked up just to your specs in a fine restaurant, a quality paint job on the ol' Dodge, or a handmade bass. For those who can't wait, there's McBurger's, Buster's $99 Paint Emporium, and Guitar Monolith. 

3. Go with what you know...

We're not a custom shop and our basses are not trying to be all things to all people. We are what we ARE, and our instruments are what they ARE. Our main deal is short scale basses. Why? For me it was an issue of size... for others it's a back or hand issue, or you may just want a smaller, more comfortable bass. I know simplicity, an organic aesthetic, naturalness, warmth of tone, and what feels right to me. So naturally these facets of who we are as people manifest into our instruments ~ like an artist's personality comes through in their art. This is how you know the art is true and pure, and this is our art. 

Based on experience, there were tones I felt a bass should have. So we built our basses around them... a bridge humbucker that has punch, growl and a horn-like midrange when you dig in. A neck pickup that gives a round, woody tone that has elements of an upright bass in it... great for jazz or singer-songwriter accompaniment, fantastic with the fretless option. These two pickups together give a scooped, powerful, big-bottom tone with clarity and punch you've never heard in a short-scale bass. So we really designed the instruments "from the tone up."

And I knew about short; I got tired of wrestling with a big, clunky bass that was too heavy and too long. I knew if I needed it, others would too, for their own reasons. And I knew that some big boned ol' marketing dude designing a short scale bass... well, he wasn't gonna get it right either because what balanced on his shoulders would neck-dive on mine. What I DIDN'T know was how well a short-scale really designed by a little tenor banjo of a person, this hairy guy in particular, would work so spectacularly well in the hands of so many different sized & shaped players! Tall folks tell us it's like playing a guitar, women rave about them, and for little guys like me it's a revelation. So we stick with what we know, how the design finally clicked, and that's what we offer.

4. Wood sounds good...

The Creator did pretty darn good in the material department as far as I'm concerned. And in an instrument, I want to hear the wood. The wood should be the voice of the instrument; it's not just something to hold the pickups & preamp in place. To best serve the voice of the wood, we don't put that much between it and the jack. Technology makes it easy to "improve" the character right out of something. We carefully chose our pickups after much experimentation. I much prefer the classic tones, midrange voice and harmonic content of passive pickups and am willing to let my amplifier do the boosting & tone shaping work. An instrument's tone should come from its materials, not artificial enhancement. Just my opinion, in modern vernacular "IMHO", but I'm sticking with it.

5. Form follows function...

Yes, they're pretty... but they look the way they look for a reason. For example, the upper horn is long so the strap button can be placed where the bass will balance; to me this is more important than the aesthetics of a short horn. And the strap buttons are designed to keep your strap on and are placed so your strap doesn't twist as it comes off of your body. It's this type of linear thought that has gone into every system, part, and setup of a Birdsong. All that said, I still want them to look good! So all our instruments are proportional - not just short necks slapped on big bodies. They're graceful... we worked hard on the lines. But they had to work right first. And the basses ship in guitar cases because they're so compact... and that's a bit more functional than a big ol' bass case you can't fit in the car!

6. Life's too short to count pennies...

Why pick the cheaper jack? Why use cheesy pots? A high-end instrument should have high-end jacks and pots, among other things. We don't chintz you out on the stuff you can't see. That bridge is solid milled brass. That control cavity is completely copper lined & star grounded. Those knobs? Probably Ebony or Rosewood. Why? Because we care, and because we can. Nobody here asks why we buy pricey parts and hand-selected materials. And nobody who owns a Birdsong questions that either.

7. The human element...

Sadly lost in the hustle and under appreciated is the concept of a craftsperson making something with devotion and good intent, and getting a fair price for something with some character to it. This contrasts with the "shopper's ideal" of perfect shine, lots of flash, right name brand and a discount big box store price. Who really made it? What's really under the gloss? Who cares. Well, we do! The Chinese & Koreans are turning out some fine instruments, but so often this is "perceived quality"; a flawless finish and good looking chrome is nice, but not if it's on a five-piece body of the cheapest wood money can buy and the hardware is all cheap cast or bent steel. I'm sorry, and with ALL respect to them - no matter how many sweaty workers' arms on an assembly line perform their tasks, that's NOT "Hand Crafted", no matter what the label says. The cheapness will dog you long after you've forgotten how inexpensive it was. 

And I think perfection is highly overrated... frets? Function? Performance? Aim really high. But I remember the first real hand-worked guitar I had, a late '70s B.C. Rich in solid quilted Maple. If you ran your fingers over just the right spot, you could feel that this piece of wood was shaped by somebody's hands. It wasn't sloppy, it wasn't poorly done, it was really really nice... but it had character to it and you could feel that it was fine handwork vs. machine perfect. "Somebody made this." I've never forgotten that. I got it; it meant something to me. 

So we hand build instruments. Does this mean we start with an axe and a forest? Do we have a foundry, and mill every screw? Of course not. But we're also not just slinging that buzzword around... and screwing together the ubiquitous Fender copy from catalog parts. There are no assembly  lines, no conveyor belts, no robotics. What we don't obtain as parts  engineered to our specifications must be selected and bought as materials, then cut and shaped. And it's all fitted & finished by hand. OUR hands. We have nothing more fancy than you'd find in a good basic wood shop. The sawdust doesn't lie; in our shop it could be 50 years ago!

And I love all my brothers and sisters but when I take time out of my life and call somewhere, I want to speak with someone who can answer my questions, and not just off a screen with a computer modified "Americanized" voice. When you call Birdsong, you speak with the owners ~ my wife Jamie or me, here in Texas... the folks who designed and took active roles in building your instrument and who built this company. 

And you buy direct from us. There may be some retail music shops we will be dealing with at some point... but we're selling all we can build. These will be small, independently-owned shops who know what they sell and don't play games... they will be listed on the site in the FAQ. We will DEFINITELY NOT be dealing with discount superstore chains because we don't believe predatory exploitation is what the founding fathers had in mind when they outlined Capitalism; we don't think a hypothetical worked-the-numbers 30% discount is worth what you as a consumer, your neighbors as a community, or we as a society give up in purchases of inferior product from big corporate chain stores; and we don't necessarily think a bigger piece of the pie gained by those means is worth what is lost in the process. People know the price of everything but NOTHING about what they've really PAID.

We will not have whole instruments built in a factory in Vietnam or China or Mars (or Uranus either, for that matter) and stamped with the Birdsong name; we will not have our Email or phones answered in New Delhi, Upper Volta or EBE; there is no "cover-up" veneer on our instruments, or on who we really are & what we really do either. We are simple living people who make musical instruments. Not kings of empires or out to take over the world, not out to separate you from your wallet by whatever means necessary. Quite frankly when you approach something from the craftsman's perspective, you make decisions about what you're willing to invest in your pieces that pretty much guarantee you stay living simply! In other words, by the time we're done loving on a Cortobass and fitting it with the parts we use, there isn't any room in the price to fit in a retail store's cut. Kinda makes you wonder what's really been invested in labor,  materials, workmanship, and parts quality in a guitar that can sit on the wall of your local Music Monolith Incorporated for $200, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Huh? Huh? Doesn't it? Huh?  Well it should! And it should concern you too - every dollar you spend is a vote for who you want to succeed and grow. 

We will send to your door the finest instrument we can build, give you a week to fall in love with it, and back it with a warranty. Your questions or concerns will be handled by us personally, and the reputation of the Birdsong Hand Built Guitar Co. is based on your total satisfaction, not how much "product" we can "move." Birdsong is a way of life for us.

8. Take it all the way...

Designing an instrument (not just a headstock and a logo) is a long dark tunnel and you've got to follow it all the way through to come up with something iconic, like a V8 engine or a Beetle or a '74 Dodge... well ok, that may be pushing it. But I wanted something that was a complete original. Sure it's still wood & wire and the neck bolts on, but beyond that most everything else is "outside the box" thought refined into a "something different" that really works. That's what I mean by "complete." I mean we've engineered it right down to the strings we put on. For example, why two volumes instead of a master volume and a blend? Because each pickup has its own signal path and I could optimize the component values for the particular response and voice I was looking for out of each one. Can't do that if you shove 'em both through the same value potentiometer unless they're the same pickups. And they're not. So we don't. 

There's so much more to it than "Gee, I think I'll slap a P-bass pickup right here." The woods were chosen for their tonal properties in this specific instrument (Mahogany's slight midrange "bloom" is that subtle thing that made it the standard wood), the pickups for how they transmitted that voice in this specific instrument, the controls how they allowed these tonal colors to shine through the jack. It's a combination of instinct & alchemy. There won't be much changing on the Cortobass (just evolution in details), there won't be fifty variations on it ("Look! This one only has 5 pickguard screws - it's a new model! Prepare the ads and buy an endorser!"). It IS. And every instrument from the original prototypes to the 5-string short scale bass goes through the same evolution, right down to component values and the personality test of plugging it in and totally disregarding if it's all things to all people... is it the best SELF it can be? What does IT have to offer for someone seeking something different than the same old same old? Does it speak? Is it done yet? Does it sing? Is it a good tool and a tool of good? Is it worthy of the feather? 

9. Gratitude...

Thank YOU so much for being so interested in what we're doing you read this whole page! We are honored. None of this is to say any of what we do is "the only way"... it's just to show what's behind what we do. You have the right to know who you're supporting, who you're voting for with your dollar bills. We are so grateful to be doing all of this, to be of service to you, to help music happen better in some way. If you are considering obtaining a Birdsong instrument or are just curious what's going on out here in the woods of Wimberley, Texas, please feel free to call us at the workshop.

10. Take nothing for granted...

Not the wood, not your working limbs, not the time you think you have. They are all results of things beyond yourself. I try to keep myself very reverent about all of this for however long it ~ and my own body ~ lasts. If you knew you only had six months left, would it change the devotion you give to what you do? Would it change what you do itself? Well that is how I've chosen to approach my life and this is what I choose to do with it!

Any questions?
512.392.4400

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