Cort Guitars
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Cort Guitars is a guitar manufacturer centered in South Korea. They are one of the largest guitar makers in the world, and produce instruments for many other companies.
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[edit] History
Cort’s history is based around the work of Jack Westheimer. Westheimer was one of the earliest promoters of Japanese and South Korean-made guitars. The Cort name was a shortened form of Cortez, a brand of mostly acoustic guitars made in Japan under contract from Westheimer. Westheimer founded the company Yoo-Ah with partner Yung H. Park in 1973, and the factory for the company was based in South Korea. This factory eventually became the current Cort factory. The Cort brand was used as far back as the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the brand started gaining attention on its own.
Park remains CEO of Cort. Cort’s main factory is located in Incheon, South Korea. Cort opened another factory in Daejeon, South Korea, for acoustic guitars. In addition, Cort has a third factory located in Surabaya, Indonesia. In total, Cort’s guitar output routinely exceeds 600,000 guitars annually.
[edit] Models
Cort does not have a model of guitar that could be called their “signature,” like Fender and the Stratocaster or Gibson and the Les Paul. Instead, Cort produces a very large line of guitars to fit different guitarists and genres of music. Cort produces a wide variety of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, and electric basses, with the main emphasis being on producing a good product at a competitive price.
Electrics:
- EVL series
- G series
- KX series
- M series
- X series
- Zenox series
- Jazz box series
- Masterpiece series
- Signature series
Acoustics:
- Limited Edition series
- Earth series
- SFX series
- NTL series
- CJ series
- MR series
- Classical series
- Standard series
Basses:
- Masterpiece series
- Signature series
- GB series
- Artisan series
- Curbow series
- PB1L series
- Action series
- EVL series
In addition to the models currently being made, Cort has produced many others, such as the S series guitars, the Viva, and numerous others. Several of the earliest Corts were direct copies of popular models such as the Stratocaster.
[edit] Contract production
Cort’s main production focus is not on Cort-brand guitars, but rather on contract work for numerous other companies. Generally, large companies contract Cort to build lower-priced guitars that have that company’s brand on them. Ibanez, Schecter, G&L Tribute series and Fender’s Squier line of guitars are among the most well-known brands that Cort produces. In recent years, small companies known for extremely high quality (and high-priced) guitars have begun contracting Cort to produce budget line models. Avalon, based out of Northern Ireland, sold 8,000 guitars and more than doubled their income from the previous year when they contracted Cort to build a lower-priced guitar for them.
[edit] Notable players
- Hiram Bullock
- Larry Coryell
- Matt Murphy
- Pagelli
- Jim Triggs
- Neil Zaza
- Ricky Garcia
- Billy Cox
- T.M.Stevens
- Rob Elrick
- Will Turpin
