Cort L450C

This guitar has a nice thin satin finish that shows off the mahogany body nicely, it's an attactive guitar to look at with mop X shaped position markers on the fingerboard and a concert sized body. I bought mine at a guitar show and it did not have a scratchplate fitted although I've seen some pictures of the guitar with one. The neck has 14 frets clear of the body and is a single piece of wood apart from the heel. Headstock is rorewood faced and carrys the Grover vintage style open backed tuners. 11 guage D'Addario strings fitted as standard. Solid top and back, laminated sides. No electics but very tidy internal construction.

I rated this a ten first, because the guitar has a fantastic rich and smooth sound, presumably as a result of the mahogany body, it has a sort of plummy sound if you know what I mean. It's great for blues with a natural compression that encourages you to really dig in and rewards this with a great tone and chime. It is not a versatile guitar but for that delta blues tone it is great. So a seven is probably a fair result.

I bought the guitar after playing it because the action was superb, and the quality of finish and construction is very good, a couple of the tuners have tight spots, but I think these will free up in time and they work well. I put 12 guage strings on and a quick tweak of the truss rod had the action back to perfect. The finish of the bridge could be a little better and the plastic nut, saddle and pins let it down a bit, but that's all.

The absence of a pickguard means the satin finish has now been buffed to a gloss by my fingers just below the soundhole but otherwise no problems at all, the guitar is playing in nicely after two months with no sign of anything untoward. I don't play gigs, I bought the guitar for playing outdoors and with a few friends but it is so well made, the guitar would be the last thing on my mind if I was to walk out on stage, apart from the fact it doesn't have a pick up!

Not needed any and don't imagine I will, I got a good deal at the show and they threw in a Cort gigbag, in beige! Apart from dropping to bits there's not much to go wrong on an acoustic guitar.

I've been playing for 25 years off and on, I play every day usually Fender electrics, and often warm up on the acoustic, I don't have any other acoustic guitars but I've played plenty. I would certainly buy one again if it got damaged or stolen, I looked at and played lots of guitars before I bought it and it stood out at a guitar show with literally hundreds of good quality guitars around. If you're looking for a blues guitar or even something just a bit different to all the rest get one. You'll be amazed you can get a guitar as good as this for less than ??300.