This has been a most interesting post.
Thanks John!
Just out of curiosity, I looked at my 2 Cort Curbow basses to see where they were built.
The sunburst one with the Wenge neck was built in Korea. The fretless bass was built in Indonesia!
Both basses look great and sound great although the fretted sunburst is a little louder on stage than the fretless. I use Stainless Pro Steels on this one, and Chrome flats on the fretless (is this normal to experience a volume difference between them??-all being equal, ie same pups and electronics?)
They are GREAT basses for the buck, and very well made. I use them 98% of the time when I don't want to take the big fella out in case it gets damaged.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is, these guys are building quality------OK they are not Greg Curbow basses but damn-they're good.
Just out of curiosity, I played the fretted Curbow through my little Avenger practice amp yesterday, and it sounded great then------------
I plugged in the Series.
GEEZ!!!
For a 32 year old bass, it just blew the Curbow away.
Even the Fernandes I had was better than a lot of so called high end basses, so I'm all in favour of quality no matter where it is made. I do agree, that basses such as Fender, while being made in America are also made in eg. Mexico
These basses are NOT as good as the American ones, BUT like me, when I bought the FERNANDES, it was the nearest thing to my dream that I could find, and thus believe that many young players will tend to buy the NAME as opposed to the build country. When they do get enough money to buy the real thing, then they will, and trulu appreciate the finesse of the Real Thing. I did!
My brother has 2 PRS single cuts and they are great
Sorry if I lost track a bit, but agree with John, yet agree with making a copy product available to those less well off
Just my 0.02
G