Bassic Review – Cort Space 5 Headless Bass Guitar

Initial Impressions

At the core of Space 5 is a soft maple body paired with a striking satin finished 6mm poplar burl top. Sometimes, solid maple can be a bit heavy, as it is a dense wood, but in this example, the whole bass felt very manageable, indeed. Maple provides a rich tonal balance with tight lows, resonant mids and bright highs. The poplar burl adds a visually striking, organic aesthetic layered over the maple; while you cannot miss the eye-catching highlights, like a lunar belt framing the finish in both the Star Dust Green and Star Dust Black finishes. I don’t mind admitting that I wanted to see the green version in the flesh. In the marketing images, the contrasting colours look rich and inviting!

Where many basses look great from the front, Space 5 is visually striking around the rear, too. As well as utilising woods for tonal benefits, a multi-laminate neck-and-fingerboard construction also looks very stylish, and expensive even. A sandwich of roasted maple forms the structural backbone, bolstered by walnut laminates for added warmth and low-end punch. Cort says purpleheart strips introduce a focused midrange and crisp attack. The sculpted, moderately full, yet fast neck profile is capped by a roasted maple fingerboard with an inviting 15.75″ radius and abalone dot inlays.

Bartolini’s MK-1 pickups are a good solid choice, without a hyped signature to overshadow the nuanced tonal characteristics of the body and neck materials. In passive mode, it’s a respectable, well-rounded delivery with lots of punch. Seamlessly switching on the onboard 3-band active EQ is noiseless and allows for shaping that inherent voice to taste. It’s a clear-sounding set of electronics that to me, through my monitors, is well-tailored to taking the bass from a very respectable rounded passive delivery to an upfront modern richness. Again, without the harsh, peaky equalisation sometimes experienced elsewhere.

Playing In Space

Playability is also excellent. The zero fret facilitates an optimally low action at the headstock as well as balancing the sound of the open strings to fretted notes. Furthermore, switching string gauges requires no remodelling of hardware, as no nut needs recutting to accommodate different sized strings! The curved fingerboard permits comfortable access wherever you are woodshedding. String spacing at the bridge is 18mm, which is a good balance between familiarity coming from 4 strings, whilst at the same time not forcing us to accommodate a very wide neck. I have a preference usually for 16.5-17mm spacings, and sometimes find very wide extended range instruments do feel cumbersome. I’m pleased to say Space 5 had me rethinking my approach as I warmed to it with every note. The spoke nut truss rod makes quick neck relief adjustments a breeze, not that I’d expect the 7-piece laminate to shift much; personal set-up preferences taken into consideration.

Ergonomically, the new Space body shape incorporates deeper contouring for improved comfort and, in comparison to the Artisan series, in general, daring cutaways make for easy upper fret access in the true spirit of the headless concept. Hardware design is smartly minimalist, with specially engineered bridges tuners and universal stringing headstock clamp both optimised specifically for the headless format. Tuning and intonation are thus very stable. Rock solid. In my mind, I like having the tuners well within reach and not weighing down the headstock and thus acting down on one’s shoulder.

The Bottom Line

Overall, the Space 5 makes a compelling case for Cort as a source of superbly crafted, specification-focused instruments aimed at the discerning player. For all the reasons I have mentioned above, this bass makes a lot of sense, and, at the same time, for the busy travelling player, a lot less cumbersome whilst still delivering a girth sound.

At the time of writing there are no left-hand or 4-string options advertised; I suspect that demand is high for these basses, maybe we will see other options becoming available, as we did with the Cort A4/5 Ash. Topping off the Space 5 is Cort’s new generation logo on the body that looks every bit as sleek as the bass it inhabits.

Rounding up, Cort has always managed to bring huge value for money, especially in their premium instruments. The Cort Space 5 is not letting the side down one iota and along with the A5 Ash and Modern 4 is amongst my favourite basses to come out of the Cort factory. I would absolutely own the Space 5… green, of course!

On a side note, satin finishes are much easier to review as they don’t reflect the other side of my less pretty looking studio!