i'm from indonesia. i can answer your "wow" thougts about how great that guitar are with such pretty low price : becoz korean/chinese companies buy our land cheap, build factories here with cheap material from our nature, and make much money by selling their guitars in market cheap BUT they pay salary of our ppl way so cheap too!
Well… Rifqi, Nike used to do same business in poor countries too. Not only Nike. So l’m feel very really sorry to say this but, that’s what some of world class companies do. Also Indonesia is big country with pretty high population, not as much as India or China, but still high number of population, due to that till recently most of Indonesian big company or corporate done business mostly inside their country. Not interested in exporting. Wish one day you or your people build good guitar which is made in Indonesia with your own brands. Then you guys will be able to pay enough salary. Good luck Indonesia :) by the way Elmo, great playing with that Cort guitar :)
A dear friend of mine that has since passed had one of these for a few years. Always enjoyed playing it, compairs with a Mexistrato for sure. Awesome playing my friend. - All thee Best
A few words for a G260CS.. Bought it from Thomann for 258€, guitar was great, nice finish, 3.2kg, some cosmetic tiny deffects, but it had one of the four bolts that hold the neck to the body damaged in terms that someone overtightened and damaged the threads.. Thomann was contacted, and the guitar was replaced free of charge, great job from them. Second guitar is great, only flaws would be some tiny remaining of polishing paste on some places, tiny scratches in the finish visible only with a flashlight, and thats it. The guitar is all in all awesome, still 3.2kg, body is slightly more ergonomicaly cut in compare with the stratocaster, frets are not scratchy, or sticking out of the fretboard, fretboard finish is just wow, I loove the finish on the back of the neck, it is very satin and fast, not too thin, but very comfortable (something like squier), it stays in tune, but I use the tremolo just for light vibrato, and another day it's stil in tune... nut is cut perfectly, action on the lower side... I love the pickups, all my life I was playing humbuckers, and now I was blown away with this singlecoils, I would never replace them. You can roll down the volume and get sparkly clean sound, and turn it back up and get some bite. I didn't expect the sustain because of the floating tremolo, but it has it in a HB SC550 range.. Guitar just vibrates and feels alive, feels like an instrument... I also have Harley Bentons (sc550, dc dlx gotoh) which are ok guitars, with throwed on some great parts, but in hands feels maybe more undeveloped.. If someone is new in the guitar world, and it needs the first guitar, g260cs is a must.. It could beat double the price guitars... Cheers!! :)
Love the honest reviews and fantastic playing as always. Not sure why you have < 20k subs compared to other guitar channels that have subpar playing and whose reviews are basically advertisements.
And goddamn, may I just say, Elmo, SPECTACULAR review. You put the guitar through its paces, tested all the types of things you'd want to get out of that pickup configuration, and did it all without a bunch of narcissistic chatter and bs. Would that all gear reviews were this focused and thorough. Thank you very much.
I first learned about the G Series guitars when I picked up a used G254 which is basically the same guitar in a Basswood Body with no pickguard and back routed control area for $70.00 about 6 years ago. Then I started checking on the G260 about 3 years ago. The Ash bodied Cort Guitars are usually pretty heavy, over 8 pounds. I inquired on at least 5 or 6 over a 2 year period but all of them were heavier than I wanted. Then, last summer, I found one in mint condition, 6 pounds, shipped to my door for about $284.00. It can easily compete with my American and Japanese Fender Strats
I have a Cort acoustic that I wouldn't trade for anything. I gigged all over Asia with it. I also have a Cort CR250 which is as good as any Gibson I've tried. My super cheap Cort Action PJ bass is awesome too. Great neck and it sounds wonderful with LaBella flatwound strings. I had a G110 Strat style and it was a horrible guitar. I think as long as you stay away from the bottom of the barrel models you'll get a really decent guitar from Cort.
Thank you for your work. Very nice of you to show good price worthy equipment for most people that enjoy music as a Hobbie. Impressed by the guitar. Thank you.
O yeah! That is my favorite and main guitar for many years already! I have many demos and songs made with it on my channel. I recently updated the tremolo for VS-100 version and did some more updates.
Sincere thanks for the review. Because of this, I decided to buy one myself. I changed the humbucker mic to real Seymour Duncan but can not tell the difference. I also change the tuners (paid around 100€) and this guitar became excellent.
Since Cort are making all these fantastic instruments for everyone else, I think they are the company you go to when you really want to buy some great quality but not pay too much. Love Cort for what they are doing, you can always count on their quality!
Thanks for the video. I got this same $399 G260 OPN from Thomann a couple of weeks ago. It is not B stock. My ash body is better matched than the guitar demonstrated here, and the body is light and resonant and the neck joint it immaculate. This guitar was recently made. The strings were fresh and needed to be stretched! Most of the shipping cost was balanced out by not having to pay sales tax, and the shipping from Germany was Amazon quick. Best of all, I could actually communicate Thomann. I was seriously worried that the G260 OPN was old stock because no one else outside Indonesia seems to sell it, and it hasn't been in the Cort catalog for years. As you say, the G260 would enjoy having some great pickups installed, but the only visible cheap part on the guitar is the easy to peel off Cort label on the headstock. Most of low end famous brand guitars I have been looking at recently are actually made by Cort it seems. Thomann also sells a newer and even less expensive version of this guitar, the G260cs. This guitar is composed of all Cort branded parts and has a roasted maple neck.
Greetings from Greece, love your work man. Bought a Cort Fat g290 and it was awful with huge problems. Hate it! After watching this video I decided to try a G260, man you are right this is awesome! I gig with it every night! Find it great for pop light rock and clean tones in general. Kee up the great work!
After i watched this video, i checked my local second hand site and wow! found one old new Cort g260 frome some old lady for about 280$. 2014 and still with nylon on all plastic covers, on pickguard and on pickups too.( Her, old lady husband, was local guitar repaier and own few guitars from different range and passed away 4 years early.) This g260 was have bad setup, some frets out, strings high and neck trussrod open... but after few my own in home setups now in playable condition and really nice instrument.
From Leo: I have never seen a line of CORT guitars in any store to try, but we did take a CORT X-2 and a M600 in on trade. They are pretty impressive, play really good with good sounding pickups. They are also priced well. I don't know why they are not more popular.
Many have stated that these are the nicest Ash body S type for very little money, and when Fender made their "we won't be using Ash as much" announcement, there was a serious run on this specific guitar by those who wished an Ash model that 70s boat anchor heavy. It appeared for a bit like it wouldn't be made anymore, but it is still listed at Thomann, though my local distributer doesn't seem to want the "middle child" models from Cort. G100, then G300, with some leftover G290 FATs
WHOA GREAT REVIEW AND INSPIRED RIFFAGE. GONNA BE ON THE WATCH FOR ONE OF THESE. USED TO OWN A CORT HBS II BUT IT WAS STOLEN. THAT AXE IS NIGH UNTO IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND BUT THIS SEEMS A CLOSE APPROXIMATION MINUS THE HSH AND BIRDS-EYE MAPLE FRETBOARD.
Amazing what a little care and attention can make to the final build. Given the price range Cort is a stand-out concerning quality and looks. It isn't rocket science, even with CNC and modern manufacturing it still takes people who care to build a quality guitar.
nice guitar , it seems to inspire you , maybe you should keep it for a while 😉 . I have a Cort G-custom , it came to me with a broken mic, i fix it and set it up to my taste , sometimes i think about selling it but then i play it and it always makes me smile . Take care , nice playing 🙂👍
Fem veckor kvar till sommarlovet och plötsligt ser årets sommargitarr klar ut 🙌, tillsammans med en effektpedal kanske för oss sommarbarn 🤔. Väl sammanfattad recension, Elmo No mikä ettei Karjalainen 👍😊
Nice looking guitar. I bought this Stratocaster kit guitar and am putting a natural stained finish on it. Just buying a strat may have been a better option. Boiled linseed oil can take days to dry in a cold house. Basswood certainly doesn't have the nice appearance of that guitar you demonstrated. The real good thing about that Cort guitar is your playing.
To any guitar snobs if you played any Indonesian guitar it was probably made by Cort. If you played a non-japanese ibanez you definitely played a cort.
Years ago I dismissed Cort but turns out they are pretty nice these days, plus they're doing all the subbing for brand name mid range guitars as well. They're pricey in Canada though, so other brands get more competitive, for example I got a new Fender MIM on sale for cheaper than a new Cort.
Sincere thanks for the review also. I have the G280DX and what can I say. Excellent guitar. I would say, a lot of guitar for the money I paid (~420EUR). Why G280DX ? Because I was looking for a G series one and in the shops here and the only models available were G110 and G280DX. So, I went for G280DX. Other thing about ? Well, I didn't expect to like the pickups, but I found them surpisingly good. And so on. Again , tanh you and keep going.
Cort is the (by numbers) biggest guitar manufacturer in the world (most of the production is OEM for companies like Ibanez, G&L and many more). So these guys know how to build guitars.
I had a Cort Effector Explorer back in like '92. It had 6 or 7 little toggle switches on it where you turn on chorus, flanger, delay, etc. It was cool. But the wiring diagram for that thing was a nightmare lol. But it played good. I wish i still had it cuz theyre hard to find in good shape. 😎🏁
I have the Cort X250 TDP. Costs about 340 EUR it feels and preforms like an 1000 EUR guitar. I have ownd one ST type a former Nr:1 guitar and played a lot Cort and I have never been disapointed with them..
The Cort factory in Korea built/builds the midrange and “budget” guitars for tons of companies including PRS, Fender, and Epiphone, so why wouldn’t this one be just as good?
Nice guitar, great playing and excellent review! Sort of reminds me of an old Hondo LP copy my friend had back in the day- also a surprisingly good instrument.
Well when I’m looking for another guitar I’ll keep Cort in mind. Thanks for the video Elmo! Doesn’t seem like much upgrading is needed. An extra tremolo spring , maybe and better tuning pegs.
I often say my Squier ProTone Strat is a Korean Cort (also ash and about that price back then as well). You can sort of tell by the pickguard: it's the same screwpattern as this one. But even back from '96-'98 when they made those with a Fender bridge, they were already great. It just said Squier by Fender on it. And still is great, although I want to change the pickups.
I have several protone's. Before changing the pickups try ti change the pots first. The original ones are 500k... Thats why they can sound to trebly...
Strange, i was checking that Cort out a year ago - the thing is, by the time you upgrade the pickups, pots, and possibly tuners, you're at the price of a Mexican Strat so just go for that. On a budget for Strat-style, Yamaha Pacifica is a great choice. After upgrades, you're still under the price of this Cort.
It's a Cort, that's why you haven't heard of it. They make some really good guitars, but I never see any advertisements for them. As you know, they make a ton of guitars for other manufacturers. I have a PRS SE made by Cort and it looks and plays fantastic.
Hi. I had a 2nd hand cort strat ($100nz) that was awsome. After 3yrs I wanted to upgrade and always liked a mid range Ibanez($1000nz) that had a sound I liked and hello they were using cort x pots inside, awsome axe. Only difference was resale, $30 for the cort & $455 for the ibanez, only to get me to the next one. Any way top guitars and channel.
I have a cort M600 (prs clone) sounds pretty good, don't remember exactly the price but was less than 400 euros. She is still in my gears and i can't ask more for that money
Cort makes nice guitars, but you gotta keep one thing in mind: When the Korean government told them to pay there workers properly and to let them form a union, Cort closed all their korea factories and went to indonesia. Not a nice company.
@@dragan4658 or it is called illegally exploiting your employees and taking evasive action when justice is about to strike. but you are right: cheap guitars come at a price payed by those who build them. tbh i'd rather spent a little more on a brand where i know that everybody gets payed well. gibson would actually be a good example in that case
@@santrixhimself3679 If you're talking about injustice, then it's just inherent in the global capitalism system, not to do with Cort or any other companies that source cheap labor. They are completely "legal" in the sense that they are exploiting the labor cost difference, not breaking any laws. Blame the game, don't blame the players. If anything, the Cort factories have brought unprecedented employment opportunities to the Indonesian labor market. How the country deals with its own citizens is its government's problem, not Cort's.
@@santrixhimself3679 not familiar with that particular citation however why not just order them to pay proper wages instead of bringing in a union, as unions come with a high price tag and usually when government gets involved with unions there is payola involved, besides its common business practice to relocate when sudden changes occur in business. Sad though that people lost their jobs.
@@zxbc1 thats american propaganda bs. you need to blame the 'players'. they choose to play that game. there are other 'players' playing different games. lets say you work in concentration camp as someone who executes people all day. are you not to blame? are you just a 'player' and the 'game' is to blame?
I have a Cort 250 P made in Korea ( Cort is Korean so i tink it is a plus ) since 15 years and it works very well is really well made , it got fishman pick ups , for 350 € is far better then a squire strato in my opinion
I like Strat'-like guitars that are not straight Strat' copies. This one looks very good and has better features than any Fender Player. The Fender stuff doesn't even come with roller string strees or coil splits and you have to get the top of the American line for a contoured neck heel.
I dont understand why people are put off by Cort guitars ? seriously here in the UK a Company called Gear 4 Music have dropped the price of this guitar from £300 to £200 why ? They say Corts just dont sell ? I think the brand needs to get big name musicians to use their gear as its criminal that more musicians are not buying them.
I never saw that big Europe in my life !!! 😂😂😂 BTW you should try and review more Cort guitars !!! They are great ... The Cort X100 , X200 is so much affordable and good instruments ...
I was sorry to send back this guitar. The quality is very good and also the versatility. I like also the look and feel. The only downside is the weight: 4.5 Kg and I could really feel it. I asked Thoman guitar department if they have other guitars like this one but lighter but they have this info only for guitar over 2000 euro. Too bad.
LOL I bought one of these from a pawn shop out of curiosity years ago and noticed it was damaged where the bridge studs sit when I brought it home. I repaired it with some glue and hacked out a new pick guard from an old ally cooking tray and rewired it as a HS. It looks awesome and for a cheap guitar it really is pretty cool but I love cheap guitars for some reason.
Elmo, as you probably know, many top brands(eg PRS) have their cheaper models made in the Cort factory. Any guitar coming from there will be a pretty well-built instrument.
I bought an Action PJ too. Despite being my cheapest bass, it's my favourite for practicing and recording. I put LaBella flatwound strings on it and it sounds fantastic.
They have making the guitars and basses for the other brands. Even PRS hiring them for producing the SE series. Sure they can make best guitars but people are ignoring them because of its name.
Great review! How does it compared to the Fender Player you reviewed some months ago? I know they're quite different, but I would like to know which one you prefer. If suggestions are welcome, I would like to see an Elmo-style review of any of the Joyo Bantamp hybrid heads, for example the Atomic or the Zombie (probably this last one is more your thing). Will it be possible in the future?
The new G260SE seems a bit cheaper, like not as nice as the original G260. I ordered one of these a few years ago, but it had problems with the string alignment. I regret that i didnt pick a good one up instead of just returning it. They are really nice.
Just curious would you prefer the squire classic vibe or the g260...I'm guessing they shud be roughly the same price new. I saw you preview a red classic vibe strat.
@@MrPolevaulter 👍 interesting...thanks. I used to like the more budget friendly g200dx by Cort as well. I guess that competes with the bullet and affinity.
Hi Elmo, I'm trying to decide between this cort g260 and the sire S7, in your own opinion, wich one do you think is the best??? That will help me a lot 'cause i watch many of your reviews and i like them you are the best testing guitars all around youtube, thank you !!! Greetings from México.
Just had to return a G260CS. Which is a shame because it's a nice guitar. Hopefully it's replacement won't have a sunken Skunk Stripe or flakey laquer on the neck ... 🤞 Nice sounding Alnico pickups I like the way that Position 2 combines the Middle pickup with one of the coils of the Bridge humbucker.
@@MrPolevaulter The second one wasn’t Perfect either but I decided to keep it anyway. It took a month from the Return Date … 🙄 The marks in the matt lacquer of the neck, near the nut, are much less than the previous one. The missing paint from around the neck screws had been rather inexpertly covered up with Sharpie ink. The string tree screw hole had been drilled at an odd angle. Once I had decided to keep it, I plugged the hole and redrilled it; also fitted a Graph Tech tree. Reshaped the odd angled Whammy Bar too. They gave me a discount for my trouble after I said I was keeping it. 👍 BTW this “CS” model is a bit different from the SE OPN model that you’ve reviewed here. Roasted Maple neck, Pau Ferro fingerboard, three knobs - no push/pull. Mine has Cort hardware and pickups (still magnetic though), not the SD and Wilkinsons of the SE. They sound good though, no problems there. Interesting pickup selection: Position #1 - Bridge (with it’s own 500k pot track) Position #2 - One Bridge coil + Middle Position #3 - Middle Position #4 - Neck + Middle Position #5 - Neck
Ciao Elmo, mi sa che ora la G260 non la fanno più con i Duncan, ma i pickup sono Cort VTS 63 e VTH 59 humbuker. Secondo te è valida ugualmente? Mi diverto molto a guardare le tue recensioni oneste. Grazie. Ciao
I just bought a court 280DX nordic night color, you should check that one :) Also the cort G300 really high specs for not a lot of money, X700 for shredding and the G290 fat, all beauties.
I'm about to buy this guitar, but the store lost the tremolo arm when they moved to another location! I want to buy another tremolo arm but I don't know the size and system of the original one (screw/nut/push-in)
Should I buy an used Cort g260 (this exact model) made in Indonesia for 300 dollars? It would be my first electric guitar (I want to play funk rhythms, lofi loops and mostly practice instrumental fingerpicking melodies)
Where did you find this guitar? I am asking because: these are not the stock pickups, this is not the stock trem, and these are not the stock string trees! You where very lucky to have found what looks like a heavily modified guitar... 😎 sounds nice though
![NLE Choppa - Or What ft. 41 (Orchestra Mix) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/biOFASEgSOM/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out more guitar videos: ruclips.net/p/PLNaLwTdlpQNGXHK9wPm1kYNDwFvMLQ7ES
Or some of my music: ruclips.net/p/PLNaLwTdlpQNHKlg8ALZfM3AINC20WMp8s
i'm from indonesia. i can answer your "wow" thougts about how great that guitar are with such pretty low price : becoz korean/chinese companies buy our land cheap, build factories here with cheap material from our nature, and make much money by selling their guitars in market cheap BUT they pay salary of our ppl way so cheap too!
Yeah, I know. The thing is, budget guitars also used to be really poor. Not anymore it seems.
Well… Rifqi, Nike used to do same business in poor countries too. Not only Nike. So l’m feel very really sorry to say this but, that’s what some of world class companies do. Also Indonesia is big country with pretty high population, not as much as India or China, but still high number of population, due to that till recently most of Indonesian big company or corporate done business mostly inside their country. Not interested in exporting. Wish one day you or your people build good guitar which is made in Indonesia with your own brands. Then you guys will be able to pay enough salary. Good luck Indonesia :) by the way Elmo, great playing with that Cort guitar :)
@@robinmeng Thanks!
This is called business brother.. Everyone's knows that in chaina & Indonesia it's very easy to find worker's within cheap pay outs..
@@Folklabwithsrija so sad to hear that..
I've had a Cort flying V since 1986. Toured all across the country with it. They're great.
A dear friend of mine that has since passed had one of these for a few years. Always enjoyed playing it, compairs with a Mexistrato for sure. Awesome playing my friend. - All thee Best
A few words for a G260CS.. Bought it from Thomann for 258€, guitar was great, nice finish, 3.2kg, some cosmetic tiny deffects, but it had one of the four bolts that hold the neck to the body damaged in terms that someone overtightened and damaged the threads.. Thomann was contacted, and the guitar was replaced free of charge, great job from them. Second guitar is great, only flaws would be some tiny remaining of polishing paste on some places, tiny scratches in the finish visible only with a flashlight, and thats it. The guitar is all in all awesome, still 3.2kg, body is slightly more ergonomicaly cut in compare with the stratocaster, frets are not scratchy, or sticking out of the fretboard, fretboard finish is just wow, I loove the finish on the back of the neck, it is very satin and fast, not too thin, but very comfortable (something like squier), it stays in tune, but I use the tremolo just for light vibrato, and another day it's stil in tune... nut is cut perfectly, action on the lower side... I love the pickups, all my life I was playing humbuckers, and now I was blown away with this singlecoils, I would never replace them. You can roll down the volume and get sparkly clean sound, and turn it back up and get some bite. I didn't expect the sustain because of the floating tremolo, but it has it in a HB SC550 range.. Guitar just vibrates and feels alive, feels like an instrument... I also have Harley Bentons (sc550, dc dlx gotoh) which are ok guitars, with throwed on some great parts, but in hands feels maybe more undeveloped.. If someone is new in the guitar world, and it needs the first guitar, g260cs is a must.. It could beat double the price guitars... Cheers!! :)
Love the honest reviews and fantastic playing as always. Not sure why you have < 20k subs compared to other guitar channels that have subpar playing and whose reviews are basically advertisements.
Thanks Joshua! Much appreciated :)
And goddamn, may I just say, Elmo, SPECTACULAR review. You put the guitar through its paces, tested all the types of things you'd want to get out of that pickup configuration, and did it all without a bunch of narcissistic chatter and bs. Would that all gear reviews were this focused and thorough. Thank you very much.
Cheers
I first learned about the G Series guitars when I picked up a used G254 which is basically the same guitar in a Basswood Body with no pickguard and back routed control area for $70.00 about 6 years ago. Then I started checking on the G260 about 3 years ago. The Ash bodied Cort Guitars are usually pretty heavy, over 8 pounds. I inquired on at least 5 or 6 over a 2 year period but all of them were heavier than I wanted. Then, last summer, I found one in mint condition, 6 pounds, shipped to my door for about $284.00. It can easily compete with my American and Japanese Fender Strats
Most Cort guitars are rather underrated. I have the G-290 FAT and the CR-200 single-cut 'Les Paul'. They are great guitars.
I get the same impression.
I have a Cort acoustic that I wouldn't trade for anything. I gigged all over Asia with it. I also have a Cort CR250 which is as good as any Gibson I've tried. My super cheap Cort Action PJ bass is awesome too. Great neck and it sounds wonderful with LaBella flatwound strings. I had a G110 Strat style and it was a horrible guitar. I think as long as you stay away from the bottom of the barrel models you'll get a really decent guitar from Cort.
Hi there my g290 fat, is awful! Great specs, but the frets needed leveling, and the 5 way switch is faulty. Glad yours was ok
i had 2 g290 Fat ! i returned the first because of Switch problem too. the New was perfect. i Always have it at home. no frets problèmes on both...
Thank you for your work. Very nice of you to show good price worthy equipment for most people that enjoy music as a Hobbie. Impressed by the guitar. Thank you.
And thank you :)
O yeah! That is my favorite and main guitar for many years already! I have many demos and songs made with it on my channel. I recently updated the tremolo for VS-100 version and did some more updates.
Elmo can make any guitar sound amazing
Thanks :)
Sincere thanks for the review. Because of this, I decided to buy one myself. I changed the humbucker mic to real Seymour Duncan but can not tell the difference. I also change the tuners (paid around 100€) and this guitar became excellent.
Since Cort are making all these fantastic instruments for everyone else, I think they are the company you go to when you really want to buy some great quality but not pay too much.
Love Cort for what they are doing, you can always count on their quality!
I have that exact model from 2006, it was made in Korea, great guitar.
Thanks for the video. I got this same $399 G260 OPN from Thomann a couple of weeks ago. It is not B stock. My ash body is better matched than the guitar demonstrated here, and the body is light and resonant and the neck joint it immaculate. This guitar was recently made. The strings were fresh and needed to be stretched!
Most of the shipping cost was balanced out by not having to pay sales tax, and the shipping from Germany was Amazon quick. Best of all, I could actually communicate Thomann. I was seriously worried that the G260 OPN was old stock because no one else outside Indonesia seems to sell it, and it hasn't been in the Cort catalog for years.
As you say, the G260 would enjoy having some great pickups installed, but the only visible cheap part on the guitar is the easy to peel off Cort label on the headstock. Most of low end famous brand guitars I have been looking at recently are actually made by Cort it seems.
Thomann also sells a newer and even less expensive version of this guitar, the G260cs. This guitar is composed of all Cort branded parts and has a roasted maple neck.
Cool!
Greetings from Greece, love your work man. Bought a Cort Fat g290 and it was awful with huge problems. Hate it! After watching this video I decided to try a G260, man you are right this is awesome! I gig with it every night! Find it great for pop light rock and clean tones in general. Kee up the great work!
Glad to be of help 😊
After i watched this video, i checked my local second hand site and wow! found one old new Cort g260 frome some old lady for about 280$. 2014 and still with nylon on all plastic covers, on pickguard and on pickups too.( Her, old lady husband, was local guitar repaier and own few guitars from different range and passed away 4 years early.) This g260 was have bad setup, some frets out, strings high and neck trussrod open... but after few my own in home setups now in playable condition and really nice instrument.
Cort's are great man! There is a reason their factory (now in Indonesia) churns out guitars for many many other brands...
Yes they made the PRS Mira that I play. They make amazing instruments.
From Leo: I have never seen a line of CORT guitars in any store to try, but we did take a CORT X-2 and a M600 in on trade. They are pretty impressive, play really good with good sounding pickups. They are also priced well. I don't know why they are not more popular.
Sounds good my sister had a cort bass years ago
I have the same model, sunburst colour. Excellent guitar, I love it!
Very nice!
I wouldn't swap out the pickups. I thought they sounded excellent, especially the middle pickup
Very clean like Vai type solo sound i think
Many have stated that these are the nicest Ash body S type for very little money, and when Fender made their "we won't be using Ash as much" announcement, there was a serious run on this specific guitar by those who wished an Ash model that 70s boat anchor heavy. It appeared for a bit like it wouldn't be made anymore, but it is still listed at Thomann, though my local distributer doesn't seem to want the "middle child" models from Cort. G100, then G300, with some leftover G290 FATs
Great playing as always. Came to see you play. Not for the guitar. Nothing wrong with the guitar but came for the playing.
Thanks :)
WHOA GREAT REVIEW AND INSPIRED RIFFAGE. GONNA BE ON THE WATCH FOR ONE OF THESE. USED TO OWN A CORT HBS II BUT IT WAS STOLEN. THAT AXE IS NIGH UNTO IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND BUT THIS SEEMS A CLOSE APPROXIMATION MINUS THE HSH AND BIRDS-EYE MAPLE FRETBOARD.
Amazing what a little care and attention can make to the final build.
Given the price range Cort is a stand-out concerning quality and looks.
It isn't rocket science, even with CNC and modern manufacturing it still takes people who care to build a quality guitar.
nice guitar , it seems to inspire you , maybe you should keep it for a while 😉 . I have a Cort G-custom , it came to me with a broken mic, i fix it and set it up to my taste , sometimes i think about selling it but then i play it and it always makes me smile . Take care , nice playing 🙂👍
Thanks! Yeah, it's a nice guitar. But I have plenty as it is :D
I got a Cort X100 and a X250 and they are very good guitars. I put some Tonerider pickups in them, as I do with almost all of my guitars.
That guitar sounds kickass.. hands down one of the best..
Fem veckor kvar till sommarlovet och plötsligt ser årets sommargitarr klar ut 🙌, tillsammans med en effektpedal kanske för oss sommarbarn 🤔.
Väl sammanfattad recension, Elmo No mikä ettei Karjalainen 👍😊
Tackar :)
Nice looking guitar. I bought this Stratocaster kit guitar and am putting a natural stained finish on it. Just buying a strat may have been a better option. Boiled linseed oil can take days to dry in a cold house. Basswood certainly doesn't have the nice appearance of that guitar you demonstrated. The real good thing about that Cort guitar is your playing.
Thanks Daniel :)
Nice review and awesome playing! 🤘
Glad you enjoyed it
I recently got a g260 in black with 3 strat hum buckers, and it’s a great guitar! Mine is also ash body, it’s from around 2006 I think
Cool!
To any guitar snobs if you played any Indonesian guitar it was probably made by Cort. If you played a non-japanese ibanez you definitely played a cort.
That's a beautiful guitar, sounds great too. Nice playing
Thanks a lot!
I bought it today and personally I really liked it :)!!!!!
Years ago I dismissed Cort but turns out they are pretty nice these days, plus they're doing all the subbing for brand name mid range guitars as well. They're pricey in Canada though, so other brands get more competitive, for example I got a new Fender MIM on sale for cheaper than a new Cort.
Sincere thanks for the review also. I have the G280DX and what can I say. Excellent guitar. I would say, a lot of guitar for the money I paid (~420EUR). Why G280DX ? Because I was looking for a G series one and in the shops here and the only models available were G110 and G280DX. So, I went for G280DX. Other thing about ? Well, I didn't expect to like the pickups, but I found them surpisingly good. And so on. Again , tanh you and keep going.
Cort is the (by numbers) biggest guitar manufacturer in the world (most of the production is OEM for companies like Ibanez, G&L and many more). So these guys know how to build guitars.
Cool. That axe looks good. Been Playin' Cort Aero 11 model for a few years now. It ain't perfect but looks wicked & tremolo system is reliable too.
Yes, what a wonderful guitar but you impress me even more, would give everything to play like you!!!
Thank you very much :)
I bought a used Cort similar to this in black. Its a decent guitar. Love the playing Elmo! 🤟
Cheers!
Great guitar and playin'!! Love your T-Shirt! :)
Thanks!
Thanks bro! Good review. 😊👍
My pleasure!
I had a Cort Effector Explorer back in like '92. It had 6 or 7 little toggle switches on it where you turn on chorus, flanger, delay, etc. It was cool. But the wiring diagram for that thing was a nightmare lol. But it played good. I wish i still had it cuz theyre hard to find in good shape. 😎🏁
I have the Cort X250 TDP. Costs about 340 EUR it feels and preforms like an 1000 EUR guitar. I have ownd one ST type a former Nr:1 guitar and played a lot Cort and I have never been disapointed with them..
The Cort factory in Korea built/builds the midrange and “budget” guitars for tons of companies including PRS, Fender, and Epiphone, so why wouldn’t this one be just as good?
Please Demo the Larry Carlton Sire S7 Or S7fm thinking of buying one. Love your honest assessments and playing and banter. I am a fan
Thanks! I have been looking at a couple of Larry Carlton guitars recently. Might review one at some point.
Nice guitar, great playing and excellent review! Sort of reminds me of an old Hondo LP copy my friend had back in the day- also a surprisingly good instrument.
Cheers :)
Oh man - yes! I have a load of Hondos and they are quality instruments.
Well when I’m looking for another guitar I’ll keep Cort in mind. Thanks for the video Elmo! Doesn’t seem like much upgrading is needed. An extra tremolo spring , maybe and better tuning pegs.
Thanks to Cort, I have a studio full of good quality guitars and basses for less than the price of one Gibson.
The current version ,available in Europe is available through Thomann ,but with different, pick ups tuners,and ,bridge.
I often say my Squier ProTone Strat is a Korean Cort (also ash and about that price back then as well). You can sort of tell by the pickguard: it's the same screwpattern as this one. But even back from '96-'98 when they made those with a Fender bridge, they were already great. It just said Squier by Fender on it.
And still is great, although I want to change the pickups.
I have several protone's. Before changing the pickups try ti change the pots first. The original ones are 500k... Thats why they can sound to trebly...
Thnks mate for making this review
Nice guitar and nice review as always !
Glad you enjoyed it
Strange, i was checking that Cort out a year ago - the thing is, by the time you upgrade the pickups, pots, and possibly tuners, you're at the price of a Mexican Strat so just go for that.
On a budget for Strat-style, Yamaha Pacifica is a great choice. After upgrades, you're still under the price of this Cort.
depends on the country you live in.
I have one of these and the pickups and pots are fine. As for the tuners, just wrap over on the first turn and hey presto, it's locked!
It's a Cort, that's why you haven't heard of it. They make some really good guitars, but I never see any advertisements for them. As you know, they make a ton of guitars for other manufacturers. I have a PRS SE made by Cort and it looks and plays fantastic.
Hi. I had a 2nd hand cort strat ($100nz) that was awsome. After 3yrs I wanted to upgrade and always liked a mid range Ibanez($1000nz) that had a sound I liked and hello they were using cort x pots inside, awsome axe. Only difference was resale, $30 for the cort & $455 for the ibanez, only to get me to the next one. Any way top guitars and channel.
I have a cort M600 (prs clone) sounds pretty good, don't remember exactly the price but was less than 400 euros. She is still in my gears and i can't ask more for that money
Cort makes nice guitars, but you gotta keep one thing in mind: When the Korean government told them to pay there workers properly and to let them form a union, Cort closed all their korea factories and went to indonesia. Not a nice company.
It's called looking out for the consumer to bring them affordable products by not raising prices and stay competitive.
@@dragan4658 or it is called illegally exploiting your employees and taking evasive action when justice is about to strike.
but you are right: cheap guitars come at a price payed by those who build them.
tbh i'd rather spent a little more on a brand where i know that everybody gets payed well. gibson would actually be a good example in that case
@@santrixhimself3679 If you're talking about injustice, then it's just inherent in the global capitalism system, not to do with Cort or any other companies that source cheap labor. They are completely "legal" in the sense that they are exploiting the labor cost difference, not breaking any laws. Blame the game, don't blame the players. If anything, the Cort factories have brought unprecedented employment opportunities to the Indonesian labor market. How the country deals with its own citizens is its government's problem, not Cort's.
@@santrixhimself3679 not familiar with that particular citation however why not just order them to pay proper wages instead of bringing in a union, as unions come with a high price tag and usually when government gets involved with unions there is payola involved, besides its common business practice to relocate when sudden changes occur in business. Sad though that people lost their jobs.
@@zxbc1 thats american propaganda bs. you need to blame the 'players'. they choose to play that game. there are other 'players' playing different games.
lets say you work in concentration camp as someone who executes people all day. are you not to blame? are you just a 'player' and the 'game' is to blame?
Love the shirt! Yngwie! Best guitarist ever!
:)
I have a Cort 250 P made in Korea ( Cort is Korean so i tink it is a plus ) since 15 years and it works very well is really well made , it got fishman pick ups , for 350 € is far better then a squire strato in my opinion
Great review and great playing, thanks! How would you compare this to the Harley Benton Fusion III? I feel it's time to replace my Squire Bullet!
This one might actually be a bit better. Not sure though.
That little bit of Harlem Nocturne 🤌
I have a Korean-made one. It's the best guitar I've ever tried!
Cool!
Danny Gatton was my father's favorite guitarist. One of the best Tele players of all time.
He and Roy Buchanan best tele players what I know.
But Danny played any style.
Yep :)
I like Strat'-like guitars that are not straight Strat' copies. This one looks very good and has better features than any Fender Player. The Fender stuff doesn't even come with roller string strees or coil splits and you have to get the top of the American line for a contoured neck heel.
Yeah. And still I like Strats for some reason :D
I have a Cort Source 335 copy. Awesome instrument and way better and cheaper than any tokai
I dont understand why people are put off by Cort guitars ? seriously here in the UK a Company called Gear 4 Music have dropped the price of this guitar from £300 to £200 why ? They say Corts just dont sell ? I think the brand needs to get big name musicians to use their gear as its criminal that more musicians are not buying them.
I never saw that big Europe in my life !!! 😂😂😂
BTW you should try and review more Cort guitars !!! They are great ...
The Cort X100 , X200 is so much affordable and good instruments ...
I was sorry to send back this guitar. The quality is very good and also the versatility. I like also the look and feel. The only downside is the weight: 4.5 Kg and I could really feel it.
I asked Thoman guitar department if they have other guitars like this one but lighter but they have this info only for guitar over 2000 euro. Too bad.
Elmo is yours also "heavy weight" champion? If not I could buy yours :-). Do you sell it? Thanks for this nice reviews. Cheers to Yngwie ;)
I sold mine ages ago, sorry. I don't remember it being heavy though.
LOL I bought one of these from a pawn shop out of curiosity years ago and noticed it was damaged where the bridge studs sit when I brought it home. I repaired it with some glue and hacked out a new pick guard from an old ally cooking tray and rewired it as a HS. It looks awesome and for a cheap guitar it really is pretty cool but I love cheap guitars for some reason.
Elmo, as you probably know, many top brands(eg PRS) have their cheaper models made in the Cort factory. Any guitar coming from there will be a pretty well-built instrument.
Yep :)
I bought a Cort Action PJ and its the best cheap bass you could buy.
I bought an Action PJ too. Despite being my cheapest bass, it's my favourite for practicing and recording. I put LaBella flatwound strings on it and it sounds fantastic.
Hey elmo! Great review as always. Is this similar to G260 CS? And if so, would you recommend this over the pacifica 112v?
Haven't tried the CS. Yes, this over Pacifica.
They have making the guitars and basses for the other brands. Even PRS hiring them for producing the SE series.
Sure they can make best guitars but people are ignoring them because of its name.
They do yeah.
Great review! How does it compared to the Fender Player you reviewed some months ago? I know they're quite different, but I would like to know which one you prefer.
If suggestions are welcome, I would like to see an Elmo-style review of any of the Joyo Bantamp hybrid heads, for example the Atomic or the Zombie (probably this last one is more your thing). Will it be possible in the future?
Not much in it to be fair. The Fender might just edge it, but if you take price into consideration, then it might just be this.
I think Cort is second only to Samick for making guitars for almost every other brand in the whole world.
I own two corts, and my prs and jackson soloist were both built by them, they are fucking everywhere
:)
Nice wah-like quack. No need to change the pups at all.
The one I tried had scratchy frets so I guess QC varies
The new G260SE seems a bit cheaper, like not as nice as the original G260.
I ordered one of these a few years ago, but it had problems with the string alignment.
I regret that i didnt pick a good one up instead of just returning it. They are really nice.
Just curious would you prefer the squire classic vibe or the g260...I'm guessing they shud be roughly the same price new. I saw you preview a red classic vibe strat.
Out of the ones I've tried, the G260.
@@MrPolevaulter 👍 interesting...thanks. I used to like the more budget friendly g200dx by Cort as well. I guess that competes with the bullet and affinity.
G260... Better
Great review, thanks Elmo. Is this guitar alternative to Squier Classic Vibe? What do you think?
Sure. It's slightly different though.
Great!!!
Wich kind of overdrive did you use for this test?
Great job Elmo 👍🙂
Strymon Riverside. Thanks :)
En 2021 esta cort G260 costaba 411 euros.
En 2024 me compré una cort G280 Select en Ecuador a 638 dólares...
Relacion calidad precio notable.
is this a better starter guitar than yamaha pacifica?
Better than the one I tried.
Shud be way more expensive too
I choose cort...
I have a G200 DX jss. Its serial number is 201210573...what year was it made of? What do you think about it? Probably 2012...?
Haven't tried it.
I can't find this model in cort website and indian market also 😔😢
Hi Elmo, I'm trying to decide between this cort g260 and the sire S7, in your own opinion, wich one do you think is the best??? That will help me a lot 'cause i watch many of your reviews and i like them you are the best testing guitars all around youtube, thank you !!!
Greetings from México.
Just had to return a G260CS.
Which is a shame because it's a nice guitar.
Hopefully it's replacement won't have a sunken Skunk Stripe or flakey laquer on the neck ... 🤞
Nice sounding Alnico pickups
I like the way that Position 2 combines the Middle pickup with one of the coils of the Bridge humbucker.
Sorry to hear.
@@MrPolevaulter The second one wasn’t Perfect either but I decided to keep it anyway.
It took a month from the Return Date … 🙄
The marks in the matt lacquer of the neck, near the nut, are much less
than the previous one.
The missing paint from around the neck screws had been rather inexpertly
covered up with Sharpie ink.
The string tree screw hole had been drilled at an odd angle.
Once I had decided to keep it, I plugged the hole and redrilled it; also fitted a Graph Tech tree.
Reshaped the odd angled Whammy Bar too.
They gave me a discount for my trouble after I said I was keeping it. 👍
BTW this “CS” model is a bit different from the SE OPN model that you’ve reviewed here.
Roasted Maple neck, Pau Ferro fingerboard, three knobs - no push/pull.
Mine has Cort hardware and pickups (still magnetic though), not the SD and Wilkinsons of the SE.
They sound good though, no problems there.
Interesting pickup selection:
Position #1 - Bridge (with it’s own 500k pot track)
Position #2 - One Bridge coil + Middle
Position #3 - Middle
Position #4 - Neck + Middle
Position #5 - Neck
Nice guitar, nice playing too
Thanks a lot!
I have the CR-250. Great guitars.
Cool!
I have a CR250 too. Nice guitar but it's heavy so my Yamaha RS320 gets picked up more often.
@@brookvillelanguageservices9005 Yeah I agree. I prefer my strats too. I guess I'm not an LP guy, as much as I like the looks
Ciao Elmo, mi sa che ora la G260 non la fanno più con i Duncan, ma i pickup sono Cort VTS 63 e VTH 59 humbuker. Secondo te è valida ugualmente? Mi diverto molto a guardare le tue recensioni oneste. Grazie. Ciao
Not sure as I haven't tried those pickups.
I just bought a court 280DX nordic night color, you should check that one :) Also the cort G300 really high specs for not a lot of money, X700 for shredding and the G290 fat, all beauties.
Maybe I should :)
@@MrPolevaulter I'll be waiting for the videos :)
I'm about to buy this guitar, but the store lost the tremolo arm when they moved to another location! I want to buy another tremolo arm but I don't know the size and system of the original one (screw/nut/push-in)
I don't either.
Nice to hear some Jeff Beck reference.
Cheers!
Should I buy an used Cort g260 (this exact model) made in Indonesia for 300 dollars? It would be my first electric guitar (I want to play funk rhythms, lofi loops and mostly practice instrumental fingerpicking melodies)
Should be great. But try before you buy.
I got to practice that whammy bar side thing
Slide thing
Yeah, it's a very nice sound :)
Damn man, your playing is sooo tasty, pleasure for the ears, very nice
Where did you find this guitar? I am asking because: these are not the stock pickups, this is not the stock trem, and these are not the stock string trees! You where very lucky to have found what looks like a heavily modified guitar... 😎 sounds nice though
Hi Elmo! Do you know if this guitar is predisposed to fret sprout?
Mine had none.