Cort has added another couple of smart-looking cutaway acoustic guitars to its lineup, featuring solid red cedar tops with satin black finishes, Fishman electronics, and it is offering them both for a very accessible $369 price tag.
Buying a quality acoustic guitar under 500 bucks has never been easier but ina sense, it has never been tougher – there is just so much choice.
Option paralysis is real. But Cort has to be in the conversation, and the MR500F-CED cutaway dreadnought and its more compact orchestra-sized sibling, the L100OCF-CED, both offer something fresh from the usual sitka/mahogany tonewood cocktail.
Confusingly, these are listed in different series; the L100OCF-CED is part of the smaller-bodied Luce series. The MR500F-CED from is an MR series model, which is vaguely described as “instruments of the highest build quality with traditional design and modern features”.
Nonetheless, they’re definitely twins, both arriving similarly – and immaculately – dressed with that solid-colour finish on top, ivory pickguards and binding with black purfling adding some high-contrast detail, with a circle of ivory on the rosette tying it all together.
The backs and sides are layered mahogany. The neck is mahogany, too. The natural satin finish here is a nice contrast to the body’s top. Cort says the Ivory pickguards are a nod to vintage acoustic aesthetics, a bit like those mid ‘30s Gibson L-00s. We don’t have rosewood fingerboards, not at this price.
Cort has gone for an ovangkol, which matches the bridge and seats 20 frets. The scale is 25.5”. Both guitars are fitted with die-cast tuners and a PPS nut, and are ready for open mic night with a Fishman Presys VT and S-Core acoustic guitar pickup and preamp system. You will find the controls for these nested inside the soundhole.
There are subtle differences. Expect a bit more midrange boom from the MR500F-CED, and a slightly tighter spacing at the nut. It measures 43mm while the L100OCF-CED has a 45mm nut, perhaps a better bet for fingerstyle players. The L100OCF-CED’s smaller body should lend it some sweetness.
As Cort notes, Cedar is lesser spotted for this kind of money. “Often reserved for nylon stringed instruments or high-end, hand-crafted steel strings, cedar topped guitars bring warmth and resonance to production models at an attractive price point,” it says.
Certainly, we can think of some cedar-topped Lowden high-end acoustic guitars that would be many players’ idea of a dream guitar – see the Lowden WL-25 for example – so it is nice to see it on a sub-$500 instrument.
The L100OCF-CED and MR500F-CED are available now. Head over to Cort Guitars for more pics and specs.
