Features of Our Basses
Necks
The Birdsong bass was designed around the neck, and we build them around the neck. We use a proprietary 31” scale length, tilt-back 2+2 headstock for balance and aesthetics, two-way double action truss rod, zero fret (a feature that dates back into old European instruments - in our case it allows low action and open strings to have the same sound as fretted notes), three piece construction for strength and stability, and 24 frets. Maple is our main neck wood, with thick rosewood fretboards. Others happen, too. We like a clean board but use slightly larger side position dots (on the side where you actually see them when playing), and hand fit this into a tight neck pocket in the body. Over our many years, necks have come from a variety of other shops and techniques and in-house hands; today they are completely bench-crafted in house by Head Luthier Jake Goede.
Bodies
Whatever the final curves of a Birdsong bass model, they are connecting key balance and comfort points they all share. Our bodies are traced, cut, joined, routed, dressed and sanded by hand - hands mount the templates and guide the tools - from wood we select by the board and plane and prep in the workshop. That’s where the build begins for us. We mostly do natural finishes, and our finish is a proprietary blend of oils Scott evolved from a recipe given him by his woodcraft mentor. We hand rub it into and on the wood in several coats, using no grain filler. Birdsongs look, feel, and sound like wood! Over time an oil finish will age with use - this is GOOD. Scott said, “If I ever see one again, I want it looking like grandpa’s old hammer.” We make them to use, and we don’t laminate them in thick plastic finishes. Touch-up is easy if needed; it’ll be fine. For wood, we use many different kinds… primarily mahogany, cherry, and black walnut, but exotics work their way in for tops and accents, and we’re known for using character-rich slabs of native Texas and southwestern woods like mesquite and spalted pecan.
Pickups
Our recipes of which pickups where and wired how have happened through experimentation and out-of-the-box thought. We’re not building copies; there are varieties of voices we want our versions of, but we’re starting with very different basses, and that is part of the recipe too - a fundamental part. Our basses are a little different - size, and how they go together, and what makes that HUGE sound come out of them. The original Cortobass still uses the same unusual single/hum arrangement and gets the tones that built this whole company (warm almost-upright-bass at the neck, punchy but not too aggressive bridge, and both on is a giant full-range voice); the twin soapbar Corto2 and 5-strings cover a lot of sonic ground, the Cbass nails the “P” tone but in our comfy bass, and the Fusion is just amazingly warm and woody and clear. They all sit in a mix very well stage or studio, reflecting the experience and needs of the pro player who designed them all in the first place. Any one will be versatile, reliable, and inspiring. They just have different personalities. Call Scott with any questions.
Hardware
Parts are parts, right? No. From the beginning we’ve spec’d our basses to be pro quality, built for use wherever, whenever. They might be talismans, but they’re tools first. Hipshot USA bridges, Hipshot or Gotoh tuning machines, oversize strap buttons, CTS pots, Switchcraft jack, even the screws get canned if the QC didn’t happen enough for us. We entered a market mainly of chintzy bottom-dollar import student short scales and old ‘60s reissue designs that didn’t work all that great even then. There has been much more action in the short scale field since the early 2000s, much of whom has come and gone. We’re still here, and a Birdsong is still a mark to measure up to in short scales - in design, in how they work, their sound, the feel. It’s a whole package.
They’re marks to measure up to as BASSES.
They just happen to be short and more comfortable. We designed them that way.
Benchcrafted
Why, in this modern age of manufacturing, would we possibly want to be doing things on a small scale and the hard way? Because we love it. We got the call to build musical instruments. It’s what we do. Birdsong has been in a handful of different work spaces over the decades, but we keep it small and we keep it personal. Head Luthier Jake? It’s all he’s wanted to do since Luthier school in 2007. Birdsong founder Scott? It’s been his dharma since teen-hood to follow the path of music and fill the world with it in as many ways as possible. Over time that became making its tools by the late ‘90s, and that became Birdsong. Co-founder Jamie from 2004 and all the hands who helped it happen for so many years since? They all caught that vibe and all left (and leave) their own prints on the process, and put in their own good energies… which, like food prepared with love and devotion, does play into the final energy something has. We’ve had chances to grow past our comfort level but always throttled back to where we like it. A workshop, doors open to the Texas sun, trees around, music playing, working wood into pieces of instruments, putting those together to sing. And sending them home to you.
“Sound Up” Design
From the beginning, we weren’t going to just shrink what was and hope it worked well enough. Scott wanted a GREAT BASS - that just happened to be smaller and better balanced with less reach and more hand built attention to detail.
So whether we’re trying to nail a specific voice (the Cbass) or just going for a nice, full electric bass tone with plenty of lows and highs and a midrange that gets you heard without getting you fired, and sits in a mix really well, our philosophy is this:
“What comes out of the speaker is the truth.”
Argue why and how something works or doesn’t, or can’t (always a favorite of those of us actually making it happen), but the tone speaks for itself. That’s why our basses have different pickup arrangements than others and we build them a certain way, with specific things we do in the making. Because sometimes when you change something, you change everything. We didn’t shrink an existing model, that doesn’t work. We started from the kind of sound we wanted and kept building around that until we had a bass.
Our short scales are not adapted from something else - that was what we started with, short scale, and put IN what would add BACK what a shorter scale took OUT. Simple as that. Built from the sound up!