Cort 115

LEFTY Korean made strat-type solid body guitar, bought in 1997, I think.
Maple neck with rosewood fretboard, 22 frets. Fairly fat, but fairly comfortable, though not very fast. The access to the last frets is only OK, no excellent. Flat solid top, with a nice translucent orange finish, showing a nice slightly figured wood. I don't know what wood the body is made of...alder or poplar maybe. Much too heavy to be basswood, and not the big veins characteristic of ash, anyway... Pickups : S S H. The controls are usual strat: 5-way selector, one general volume,passive tones for neck and mid pickups;this last one being a push-pull to split the bridge humbucker.
These controls are not progressive enough. They almost behave like switches !!!

The bridge is a wilkinson style trem, with strings trough the body, the nut is a rolling one with rolling string guides, and non-locking tuners.

The main problem with all this is that it doesn't stay in tune unless you don't use the trem (or very very lightly) or make too heavy bends. The whole rolling stuff would have been a real good idea, but that don't roll at all, but probably the main cause for this lack of tune stability is the tuners, that look doubtful to me... But maybe these problems only concern my own model. Anyway, though it is a cheap guitar, I give a 7 for the features, it doesn't deserve more.

I play it through a Fender Champion 110. I play almost any style, from blues to metal via funk and reggae. I always find something that does the job.. versatility is its strong point.
Very beautiful clean, bright, but not very precisely defined. Anyway, I like it. The crunch is OK, very sensitive to the attack if you rely more on the volume than on the drive. A little Stones-like...I dig this sound. The big driven sound is not bad, but it's not its cup of tea...nice grain, but the HB lacks some level, punch and harmonics for me.

Positions:
1(neck): very stratty, smooth, round, "tyre-like" sound, ideal for blues-funk in clean or slight crunch sound
2: very nice out of phase sound, but only really suitable for clean, where it is awesome for arpeggios
3: stratty rock sound, rougher and harder. Nice for crunch rock, and drive rhythm sounds
4: sounds a little acoustic, useful for arpeggios in clean, but harder and brighter than pos2, which I prefer, anyway. Avoid drive with this one, unless you turn the tone to 0 and get a slightly synth-like sound.
5:humbucker... I use it almost always full. Inevitable for leads in metal, but still a little short for it... I wish it was more powerful.

To sum it up, it's a good all-round beginner guitar, but I think, after owning it for 5 years, that it's high-time for me to change my gear...I need something better. It globally lacks presence and definition...the sound is not always clearly defined. But the biggest problem on this axe is its trend to take odd noises, like my watch !!! It is really shitty with high-gain sounds. I long for something better, but I still don't have the money...sad life!
Seven, nothing more, and I take into account it's a cheap axe.

The strings were a little high when it came, but now I fixed it and it's alright. The neck adjustment is OK, as well as the fretwork, finish, and the pickups. Nothing special to say, except something wrong with the rolling nut: I can't mount less than .010 1st strings, or else they break when I tune them. Something cutting, probably just on my model. Should have been 9, but I put an 8 in my case

I think it is made to last, unless I slam it against the floor because its lack of tune stability got me angry. I noticed some rust on the pickups, but, come on, it's a cheap guitar I won't keep and it doesn't deserve that much care. The finish of the body is pretty thick, so I think it can endure more wear with no problem.

This is in fact the 2nd model I own... I bought the first one and noticed the day after a problem in the neck/body junction... I sent it back and another one (which became mine !) came a couple of weeks later. One-year warranty. OK

As you can judge from what I've written before, it's a good all-round guitar for beginners, but not much more, and after owning it for 5 years (and playing for 7), I think I definitely need a better one... my next step will be a Kritz Stradovarius, not less !
I wish it had more punch and output, the humbucker especially. Anyway, I thought it sounded really good when I was beginning my electric guitar player life...If it's your case, you cn think about it, but be sure it doesn't have the problems I mentioned before.

Made in korea in 1996 (I assume). The body seems to be solid Alder, and makes the guitar quite heavy. Mapple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets. Looks just like a strat, but with SSH PU configuration. Strat standard 5-way selector. Two tonality knobs, one being a push-pull to split the humbucker. One volume knob. The finish is transparent, making it possible to see the fairly good quality of the wood. The bridge is a wilkinson style, very efficient. In fact nothing extraordinary but absolutely nothing missing.

This was my first electric guitar, and I must admit it is quite hard to get rid of it : having more experience today, I can feel I could have a slightly better sound, but I just can't find anything that sounds better under $600. Unpluged, the sound is powerfull and well defined. Plugged, you can do almost whatever you want with it. With the humbucker splitted and the volume around 8, you get something like a very clean vintage strat. If you set the volume at 10, you can get through very fine with overdrive and distortion. The humbucker gives you a dense and powerfull sound, not too far from a SD Pearly Gates. Even for twice the price, you can't get better. Of course, this guitar can't scream the blues like I expect my next one to, but the sound is really satisfaying. It is not a killer weapon in one peculiar style, but it is easy everywhere. Direct into my Peavey Classic 30 (full tube) and for the price, let's say 10.

No problems, but I wasn't an expert when I bought it. I had to adjust it after two years of playing, I guess that's normal.

Not complicated routings and electronics, good quality manufacturing, no problems. I never used a backup.

Dunno

After 4 years playing this guitar, I still get along with it. I think of changing the PUs and buying a Godin Radiator as an alternative, but nothing hurries. I plaid much Red Hot, Buckley, Radiohead, Pixies, and even AC DC on it, with great success, and I now compose my own music with my band. If you're a beginner, or at least not a shred master, and that you want a cheap guitar you want to get along with, don't hesitate !