The Cort X500 Menace
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- #knowyourgear
Some of the links below are affiliate links and when you use them your purchase helps support the channel.
Link to the Cort X500 Menace guitars I found on Reverb
reverb.grsm.io...
Engl Fireball 25 is now at Sweetwater
imp.i114863.ne...
Keeley Caverns Reverb Delay pedal
imp.i114863.ne...
My absolute favorite action gauge! ( You can actually see the numbers on this thing)
imp.i114863.ne...
D addario tool kits
imp.i114863.ne...
Dimarzio Locking strap
imp.i114863.ne...
Snark tuner
imp.i114863.ne...
The mic I use for this and my podcast
imp.i114863.ne...
Know Your Gear T shirts
teespring.com/...
Want to have your product reviewed on this show? Contact us here
seanwknowyourgear@gmail.com
pmcknight7@gmail.com
You can become a Patreon and support more videos like this
www.patreon.co...
Check out the Podcasts here
knowyourgear.b...
Facebook
/ knowyourgear
Instagram
/ phillip_mcknight
![[Live] : ONE FIGHT NIGHT 28 วันนี้!! "พระจันทร์ฉาย vs เอลลิส"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LfImEQqfARc/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Eng Sub] Cort X500 electric guitar](/img/n.gif)
I bought a Cort KX 500 etched earlier this year. Purchased on Reverb but shipped directly from Corts warehouse in Mississippi. It showed up very playable right out the box. I Put my favorite strings on and adjusted intonation and that's been it really. Really happy with it and it feels like a much more premium guitar than the price tag would suggest.
What about the neck dive?
@@SiddharthKarunakaran Its a thru neck.
@@Timbo6669I know that. But if you leave your left hand the guitar will dive downward like an sg. That's known as neck dive.
@@SiddharthKarunakaran Every guitar neck or body dive, only İbanez S Prestige is balanced dude.
The Cort logo in a darker black or gloss black would’ve been a nice touch and in keeping with the general aesthetic of the guitar. Very cool stuff. Thanks Phil!
Cort are my favourite brand, always have been.
They need to update that logo. The guitar looks like something Darth Vader would play, but the logo looks like it could be from a 70's ice cream parlor.
Perfect balance if you ask me
Disagree
It also clearly says "Corf"
Fist thing that came to mind. They can have multiple logostyles for each series. The big brands do the same.
lol!
Phil .. you’ve actually made this guitar MORE valuable with that sticker!!
What’s the point of neck through when all the material has been removed for springs , set neck would be better i think
@@derekperry2142 You don't know what you're talking about huh?
@@simonfinch9277 Lolol.
Great to see some Cort Coverage. I would rather pay for features than a brand name in the headstock, specifically when Cort has certainly show they can really build some quality stuff (for the price).
Although, for the price point, stainless steel frets would be awesome.
Cort makes most of guitars made in Indonesia, they make import guitars for companies like Squier, Prs and so on and so forth so why not just cut put the middleman and buy something for the price it deserves you know?
@@simonfinch9277 yeah, makes sense. Especially because their QC has been going up for a couple of years now. I still remember my first Cort-made-ibanez... It was pretty bad, but the last couple of Cort-made-ibanez that I've bought, well they're actually quite good for the price. I wouldn't mind sacrificing the Ibby logo and headstock for a better price and features.
@@IAMXoX I got a squier jaguar in 2017 and it is a hunk of crap so i get ya, i don't have experiance with new Cort made guitars, but i only hear good things.
I have an Ibanez rgt42 that I’m pretty sure was made by cort and it’s excellent. Based on that, having similar quality with better hardware would be a no-brainer for me. That’s an almost 20 year old guitar now too so hopefully they’re even better now.
The sticker at the end was a nice touch, like you said some of them will inevitably disappear, but should be fun when one does turn up.
People always crap on Cort and some of them are playing a Cort guitar and don't even know it.They build a majority of imports for name brand guitars.
Never owned a bad Cort… first one an LP knockoff in the mid 80s. Miss that guitar!
Truthbomb!!!! I bought a a Cort pass at local pawnshop for $40 and it plays and sounds just like a Fender or better!! Buddy of mine bought a Ibanez xpt700 Xiphos from me and was giving me shite about it..had to burst his bubble and tell him that $1000 Indonesian Ibanez was built by Cort!! 🤣
That doesn't make any sense. What they build for other brands is down to the specifications that those companies provide.
Are you implying that guitar specs make no difference to how the instrument feels?
@@tushar8998 that's exactly what happens.He has a great video describing all of it.Go check out that video I was surprised when I first saw it.
Aesthetic value aside, which is somewhat subjective anyway, this looks like a lot of guitar for the money. Especially since authentic ebony fretboards are becoming rarer every day in that price range. And you get a neck through body with a compound neck, Duncans and FR 1000.
The 1000 series Floyd Rose can be always replaced with a Original Floyd Rose.
That’s a screaming deal for the appointments. Oh to be a new guitar player in 2021!
I have a great local shop in Missoula that sells Cort guitars (and several other brands) and I have acquired many Corts since he opened his doors a couple years ago. I have enjoyed all of them and they truly seem to punch above their class. You get so much guitar for the money.
the X series always had that body contour. even before Kiesel came to be.
Yep, came here to say my X2 from 2002 has that contour.
This is the first video I could really see the sock test well. What ever you did with the lighting and all, it worked. Thanks! ❤️🎸
Very honest, classy, thorough, informative and down to earth review. That You for Your work on YT.
I have a Cort acoustic and I love it. Love these videos too, thanks Phil.
Cort guitars have always made high professional quality crafted guitars whether it their own or making for other brands
I am a guitar dealer and Cort is one of the lines I carry. All of the guitars I have received are nicely set up and have never had one that was unplayable out of the box.
Neck through with SDs stock. Not a fan of the floyd rose or the lack of inlays...but to be a guitar player in 2021 is great. Way better than my crooked neck strat knockoff from the early 2000s. Thanks for the review Phil!
I recently bought a Cort 12 string acoustic from a local mom n pop shop 1) to support local 2) because of your suggestions that they are a quality company…I was not let down. I’d buy another Cort in a heartbeat
I have owned several Cort guitars and have nothing bad to say about any of them. Very good guitars for the money.
I bought a Cort KX-500 Etched last year. It has Fishman Fluence Modern pickups ,locking tuners, a Hipshot style hard tail and a swamp ash over mahogany body. I’m pretty happy with it. Cort makes some interesting guitars. I’d like to see them make a semi hollow guitar built for blues players…
Cort Guitars are great. I sent you a Message on Instagram with pics of my first guitar back in 1995 when I was 12!!! Its a Cort Acoustic I still play to this day!!
That is a nice all around guitar! If was a builder I would build this type of guitar in several price points. Great review as always. Thank you Phillip.
About 5 months ago my wife bought me a Cort G200DX, Color: Java Sunset over solid Ash body. Me, I love this guitar and I am now a fan of the brand. I am not a brand snob. My guitars are not about investments, they are about the joy of playing guitars. Great video.
When I was growing up I always saw Cort as a cheap playing guitar. Probably cause I didn't see anyone famous playing it... but now I see they've come quite a long way. Cudos Cort!
I thought the same thing. The music shop I took guitar lessons at carried Cort guitars and I would walk right by them and go drool over the Kramers and Jacksons that I couldn't afford as a 13 yo. Now I have a couple of them. Might have to go check out a Cort now
I have a 1998 Cort Les Paul which I believe is part of the lawsuit era. The thing is flawless, thick black paint, gold hardware, Epiphone LP pickups, perfectly set up from 1998 (never changed it). I never played it, been hanging on the wall in my ManCave forever.
The fretwork on these new Cort models has been impeccable. I got my X700 sometime around last summer, and it plays like an absolute dream.
I recently acquired a Schecter Damien 6 w/floyd rose, bolt on neck with coil split. Very similar, little cheaper. I absolutely love it! I bought it straight from the manufacturer and all in all it was perfect, well the neck pickup was way to low but a few turns to bring it back up and I have been in bliss.
not gunna lie. im now looking at one of these. never thought id be intrested in a cort....
Cort make G&L Tributes and PRS SE, and the Classic Vibe Squiers. They're obviously the guys to call if you're a guitar company and you want to produce an outsourced budget line of your guitars that are as good as the real thing.
Nice guitar! Thanks for sharing with us all.
I love the hidden sticker under the vibrato cover! Genius!
Love the Neck through !!! Beautiful
Awesome guitar. I've been thinking about buying one. You've made up my mind for the positive.
Hey hey... Phil! Great review on that awesome guitar... I bought a Cort KX500 FF from my friend Jack the Rabbit... great value guitars if you ask me! Mine is a stunning bolt on 7 string fan fret multi-scale with EMGs over a gorgeous satin finished two tone poplar burl in green that fades out into purple at the edges over a natural swamp ash body... 5 piece bolt on maple neck but with the purple heart like that one. It's quite the menacing looking guitar with smoked (black) chrome parts! He practically gave it to me at half the typical asking price... the U shaped satin neck feels great for a 7 string... and has individual bridge saddles... never had a guitar with that before! For my first "Dgent" guitar...I couldn't ask for anything better... except one with a whammy bar! 🤪 I know... I'm crazy... but I like whammy bars! 😎🤘🎸
Nice review, I like the little hidden surprise you left! Neat ide
its a studio quality recording guitar, for 850 its a steal.
Wow, that thing sounds killer!
I had a cort randy Rhoads shaped V in the early 90's and it was decent for sure. I like that but I need some inlays to see where I'm at lol.
That is killer. Technology just keeps getting better at a lower price. In the 80’s a single pickup Charvel or Kramer almost had a similar price point. Almost 40 years later
Cort has actually been making some quality guitars on their upper end for a few years. Only bad side you may see is fret sprout after the fretboard fully dries out. But then most guitars in the $2k range do that anymore. They have some great finishes. A far cry from the beginner guitars they made back when i first started. They still have the Sears catalog stigma for me. But ive been told im a guitar snob too
I have an old Cort and it is awesome. The name means nothing, its how it makes you feel and how it inspires you to play.
Thanks Phil. I shopped for many months this spring and eventually found that Thomann sells certain Cort guitars that are not sold in the USA. The 260 OPN that I purchased for $399 is not even in the Cort catalog. I would buy it again. This money gets you a Swamp Ash body, a Tusq nut, a two point Wilkinson trem, abalone dot markers and "Duncan Designed" alnico pickups on an HSS strat. The only cheap thing was the Cort stickers on the headstock, which came off easily with a fingernail.
Very thorough review. Lots of good info. Thanks Phil. Looking forward to playing one at my local Cort dealer.😜
I recently purchased a Cort G300 Pro, which was the last Cort that Phil reviewed. His (and Darrell Braun’s) reviews were primary factors. Similar to my guitar, today’s review packs a lot of premium features and excellent workmanship into a guitar with an attractive price tag. Go Cort go!
I have the G290 FAT and A5 Plus scms bass from Cort and they are so good. This one has been at the top of the list for my next with their multi scale 7 string.
Great video as always Phil.
Really dig your channel.
I love ebony fretboards. I hope to try this in the future. What a great price.
Nice. Thanks for the video Phil. I want one.
I had a Cortez Les Paul copy when I was young. I actually gigged with that guitar in my first real band and we were pretty decent for it being a first real band for all of us. We played all of the big clubs in our area and even some out of our area. as I understand it Cortez was the company that became Cort. I believe that guitar was MIJ. It was actually a very good sounding guitar and played, sounded great. Unreal sustain.
great content, dude! Just came across your channel, already subscribed!
thanks phil...you're the best, man!
Awesome idea on putting your sticker & signature on the back plate. 👍🤘
I like that guitar! Excellent review Phil!
Cort crafts excellent quality guitars always have if you have a Cort or a guitar made by Cort Jackson Squier and more you have a professionally crafted quality guitar
Cool!
GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!
Beautiful looking guitar.
Thank you Phil great review appreciate the effort. It is a nice guitar.
i had a pearl white Cort with black hardware and splittable zebras and loved it! apart from 1 thing i have used the v spring method in a lot of trem equipped guitars and never had an issue , but that guitar the middle spring always popped out, it had a cheap Cort floyd , but there was nouthing wrong with it, if i had made the springs parallel it would have been a great guitar! so try things! on a strat v or parallel i dont mind but on a floyd keep them straight!
Just here to feed the algorithm. Thanks for the video!
My first guitar!!!! Oh the memories
Really like the body shape and overall aesthetic. If there’s a hard tail version I will buy it without hesitation. It’s made in my country so it’ll be very cheap for me haha
Those Duncans sound great!
The neck woods are gorgeous.
What would make this guitar really nice is a clear finish and some transparent colors.
Cool guitar. Jazz Hands 🤗
Love the KYG Willy-Wonka golden ticket ploy under the back plate... sweet move Philip.
One of the best guitars I ever owned was a Cort les Paul style guitar. I loved that thing and I sold it to a buddy to get something else. I still kick myself for selling it.
I got a g290 fat in January I love it, feels like a premium guitar for a much lower price. I love not being a brand snob
Hey snarehit22 , I’m looking at one of those - how does it feel? Comparable to a strat or something else? I haven’t managed to get my hands on one to try yet. For context my go to guitar is my cort m600 which is amazing but I also have a squier classic vibe 60’s strat which is nice but it has some tuning issues which is pissing me off
@@davidwest8610 tbh my comparisons to my ibanez, and Jackson's are hard as they are non traditional.tuning is very stable and one of the smoothest trems I have ever played. Neck is more of a c shape not too much of a hand full but more than my other guitars. Pickups are good but I may change them, but the voicing options make it really versatile
I have a Cort G290 and think it's truly brilliant. I have spent the last few months looking for another guitar as an upgrade to G290. I have tried a whole bunch of guitars ranging from about £800 -£1400, including Gibson, Schecter, Ibenez and Sterling(by musicman)and have sent them all back. They were sometimes almost 3 times as much as my G290 but couldn't really match it. At this point I have given up looking. I paid £550 for my G290 and it had pretty much blown away everything I have tried up to the cost of about £1500 - £2000(ish). You get a guitar worth 2 or 3 times what you pay for. Because of this I'm pretty sure my next electric guitar will also be a Cort. Possibly the G300 pro.
Great video and nice axe Phil 🤘🎸😎
its a cool guitar. looks good and probably sounds amazing.
Very nice guitar! And a solid overview.
Love the SD Nazgul! Black winter would be nice in the bridge.
bought a keeley caverns a bit ago, my most expensive pedal and my favorite
The gold Cort logo was the most tasteful, subtle feature ...!
For a FR1000, Those Duncans, a thru neck, and that look....I would think its well worth the money. Looks like a solid guitar for a reasonable price to me.
Holy shit, I never thought i'd see Phillip rockin some Diamond Supply.
I purchased a Cort E500 last year and was very underwhelmed. It felt very cheap and the fretboard was garbage. Glad to hear this one is better.
Had to do that v pattern with MIA strat.
It was the only way it would come back and stay in tune.
I originally sent it out to my local shop for the set up and they changed the springs and put 5 in there.
You needed to be a weight lifter to move it!
They said that was the only way it would stay in tune...
I do my own setups now...lol
O refuse to pay someone and they don't get it right.
Great review, Phil. Specs out a lot like their (Cort's) X700 Duality and very similarly priced, with the x700 having a little more "pretty" to it. And loved the end of the vid!
… brilliant assessment. Dig the sticker idea.
Good informative review Phil, I own a couple of Cort brand name guitars includeing an Explorer X 600 and I probably own a couple of other branded guitars that were more than likely made by Cort and their all quality instruments.
That would look amazing with stained wings like an old Aria SB.
I bought a cheap Amazon Pyle. I'm very very pleased with it. Thats a nice guitar though.
Sounds killer thru the Engl. Really like how you do these reviews.
What’s the Engl ?
Engl
The nylon sock test is a great addition.
Before Carvin begat Kiesel, Ibanez put out the original RGD series with the body cuts...everyone else followed...but look how it's morphed style wise and we all one🤙
Cort make excellent guitars! Love my cr150.
I think Cort should do what Kia did and change the logo since the Logo looks really cheap imo, I'm sure if they get their best guys to qc for WMI it would be killer.
I have a 2020 Kia Ceed and the new logo just looks awful to me lol 😂
EDIT: That being said, the Cort logo does look cheap
Looks cheap partly because it is an in interesting logo and partly because it is so damned enormous.
the new kia logo is trash lol
Nice guitar. It's very similar to my Schecter Banshee 6. I'm so glad I built a pretty decent guitar collection before prices went so crazy though.
Great review as always :)
‘Sing it with me’ …”Cause your a Maple Panga Panga with a two-Pronged Crown! lol
I dig it!
A Mr. Green Manalishi called, he wants his crown back...now!
Just had to hit Spotify for a Peter Green fix. Otherwise Green Manalishi would play through my head for hours.
Cool guitar Phil. Cort has some good guitars on their own and make great guitars for other mfg's, so it should be good!
Good video, looks like a great guitar.
Hey Phil! I asked you on your live stream about brass nuts the other night. The reason I asked is because I was wondering if you've reviewed the Yngwie Malmsteen signature Strat and if not, would you be willing to give it a look? Thanks!
The body is actually after Ibanez, the RGD model
Cort nowadays is a great manifacturer, they also make almost every indonesian guitar from other brands (Even Strandbergs are made in their factory).
The only two places I've seen that you can get these are Reverb or direct from the factory on E Bay. I really like to play one before purchasing. They really look like a good bang for the buck.
Looks pretty good. I like the overall. Nice price.