The Company

A BRIEF BACKGROUND

The birth of Cortex Bass begins paradoxically in 2013, a year during which I decide to quit my job in the finance industry and join a small Swiss music workshop, Duvoisin & Co. I become co-owner of the company with Jacques Duvoisin and we are later joined by two minority shareholders. The company has a new innovative concept for bass pickups and integrated preamp, develops a new humbucker for electric guitars and then brings the whole thing to market the following year in 2014. After 5 years on the job, developing Duvoisin Guitars, Jacques Duvoisin decides to enjoy a well-deserved retirement. Without him, we cannot produce custom basses anymore.

During my regular exhibits at NAMM, I got to meet and appreciate the talents of Paul Lairat, a well-known Luthier from the South of France. We always understood each other very well during all these years, and far from being competitors, albeit in a tough economic environment, within a saturated sector, we have often come to each other’s help.

So, the next step came naturally. I decided to sail my own boat, setting up Cortex Bass GmbH, to focus on an outstanding build quality and reliability of the Napoleon model, innovative in its design, full of practical features that makes a bass player’s life easier… and yes… all basses are hand-finished by non-other than Paul Lairat.

The birth of Cortex Bass is officially dated 2nd of November 2019, and the company will launch its new bass model: The “Napoleon” in Standard and Deluxe versions, 4 or 5 string options, with a choice of various pickups and preamps. The launch will happen with the 2020 NAMM show, Hall D, Booth #5425.

17/11/2019 – Pierre Camilleri

Since the launch at NAMM 2020, a tiny issue… the pandemic paralized us from meeting our fans until we could go back on the road in July 2021 in Padova for the Guitar International Show. Since then, we have been back to NAMM, exhibited in Paris, enjoyed Mannheim and the new MIGS (Montreux International Guitar Show). We also took the opportunity to assess a significant social media presence thanks to the videos of Remco Hendriks and Alex Lofoco, two amazing bass players that have lent us their talent to support the Cortex Bass brand.

2023 will be an all European year in term of exhibits and trade fairs, before returning to the US and Asia in 2024, this unless… another tiny issue should cross our paths again!

In the meantime, come and check us out, as since our 4 and 5-string models, we have successfully launched 6-string and fretless bass models, proposed new options in electronics and finishing touches.

16/12/2022 – Pierre Camilleri

A Glimpse in the Production Process

Spalted Maple Sandwich

Napoleon Deluxe 4 – Spalted Walnut Fretless… “sandwiched” and brutto!

Series Sandwich

Series III “sandwich”… Bon Appetit!

Machine cut bodies, ready to be sanded by hand.

Sanded bodies prepared for the satin coating

Paul’s obsession for order…!

Future Necks sitting in a corner… alone, but always together!

Fret Boards

Fret Boards… You can hear them singing “I want to break free…”

Did we tell you that we like diversity…! Chocolate and Caramel Maple, Purpleheart, Padouk and much more to come…

Ready for coating… so which neck for which body?

Duvoisin Pickups

Colourful epoxy drying in future Duvoisin Active pickups… Six’s are close…!

Series Sandwich

Series III “sandwich”… Bon Appetit!

Sanded bodies prepared for the satin coating

Necks

Future Necks sitting in a corner… alone, but always together!

Did we tell you that we like diversity…! Chocolate and Caramel Maple, Purpleheart, Padouk and much more to come…

Ready for coating… so which neck for which body?

A Cortex Bass Deluxe Fretless 4 in the making… Cocobolo Top, Macassar Fretboard, Walnut Body & Neck… The “Innards” are still to come… Same hereunder with a Spalted beech top…