Cort CL-1500

Brand New 2003 production.
Solid maple top. Beautiful Flame Tiger Stripe.
Volume, tone pots. Pull up pot for coil tap on tone pot. 3 Way Toggle for pick-ups.
Set Neck, beuatiful heel joint for fast top fret playing.
Neck is comfy for my rather medium size hand with short-ish fingers.
Guitar Body size is small-ish for a single cut-away semi hollow body. Size of a Les Paul. Makes a great "girl" guitar.
Only accessory included is a really crappy 6' long guitar cable. It's a molded plastic cable wih cheap connectors. Keep it as an emrgency back-up cable, or toss it in the Salvation Army thrift store pile.

GREAT SOUNDING GUITAR. THINK HOLLOW BODY GIBSON LES PAUL MEETS ES-335, WITH A TELECASTER HIDDEN INSIDE WHEN YOU PULL UP ON THE COIL TAP TO PUT THE GUITAR IS SINGLE COIL MODE. SINGLE COIL MODE IS DEAD QUIET, NO NOISE.
I OWN 40 AMPS, THE GUITAR SOUNDS BEST WITH BEEFY AMPS WITH 6L6 POWER TUBES AND A 4 X 12 MESA BOOGIE CABINET.
I LIKE THIS GUITAR BETTER THAN ALMOST ALL MY OTHER GUITARS DUE TO VERSATILE SOUNDS I GET OUT OF IT. Extremely comfortable to play is a real bonus for long gigs.

it is INCREDIBLE HOW WELL MADE THIS GUITAR IS FOR THE PRICE. SET UP NEEDED NO TWEAKING OUT OF THE BOX.
WOOD IS GORGEOUS, FANCY TREE-OF-LIFE MOTHER OF PEARL INLAY ALONG THE FRETBOARD IS ASTOUNDING.
NO GOOFY MISTAKES OR ELECTRONICS PROBLEMS.
I HAVE NEW GIBSONS THAT DO NOT MATCH UP IN TERMS OF CONSTRUCTION QUALITY COMPARED TO THIS KOREAN GUITAR.

AS I HAVE OWNED IT LESS THAN 3 MONTHS I HAVE NO OPINION ON LONGEVITY OF THE GUITAR. IT IS MADE SO WELL THAT I EXPECT THAT IT WILL LAST A LONG, LONG TIME.

I USE THIS GUITAR IN LIVE SITUATIONS WITHOUT A BACK UP GUITAR.

I BOUGHT DIRECTLY FROM CORT. INITIALLY THEY SCREEN ALL Phone CALLS WITH VOICE MAIL. THEY DO CALL BACK QUICKLY IF YOU APPEAR FRIENDLY.

GUITAR HAS LIFETIME WARRANTY. NEVER HAD TO EXERCISE IT YET.

My GUITAR PLAYING HISTORY = 43 YEARS
I OWN OVER 40 GUITARS AND 30 AMPS. LOTS OF OLD AND NEW EQUIPMENT. I EMBRACE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY BESIDES PLAYING A 60 YEAR OLD MARTIN FLAT-TOP.
THIS CL-1500 IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE GUITARS. NICE SMALLER BODY SIZE IS Super EASY TO PLAY.
CORT HIT A HOME RUN WITH THIS MODEL.
CORT DOES NOT ADVERTISE THIS MODEL MUCH. HARD TO FIND IN CORT dealerships. YOU ALMOST HAVE TO SPECIAL ORDER IT TO GET ONE. WORTH THE TROUBLE THOUGH!

The features of the guitar have been covered well in other reviews. I think it has all that you could want for serious playing. The only thing that I have done is to replace the combo bridge/stop with a fully adjustable type to ensure exact intonation and string height adjustment. The hollow body design even provides reasonable projection of bedroom playing without an amp.

This guitar has a great range of sound thanks to the dual mighty mites and the semi-hollow construction. It is not as muddy as the typical Les Paul types. The coil tap allows some very interesting strat type sounds as well.

This is the most beautiful guitar that I have ever seen! The deep burgundy flame top and the vine inlay in the fret board are exquisite. The shape of the body is unique - vintage and contemporary at the same time. This guitar is worth the money just to hang on the wall and look at!

Despite its light weight and semi-hollow construction it feels solid and should hold up well

I have had no problems with this guitar.

If you want a beautiful, unique, semi-hollow body guitar with great sound, this is it! If you can get one for under$400, go for it!

Looks cool, sounds good, doesn't cost much. Semi-Hollowbody. Coil tapping for a diversity of sounds. Real playable neck. Unusual design, chambered, with fancy Tree of Life inlay. A luthier told me Cort can make such a nice guitar for so little $$ because they have sophisticated, computer-controlled equipment that can do the inlay and other tasks which were formerly done by hand.

Sounds real good for a laminated top guitar. Not as good as a solid top, but the next best thing. Versatile, Good for jazz, but can also rock. The bottom end is a little light, but overall sounds nice.

I got it on E-Bay. It came with the wrong tailpiece on it, and the intonation was WAY out. When I contacted the guy, he talked to his distributor, and they sent him the right tailpiece. Now it's fine.

Other than that, no problems. Guitar is quilted for days and looks good.

It is a semi-hollow, so don't drop it! Hardware is OK, finish is not going anywhere.

This guitar is a good buy, as Cort is considered an "off-brand". There are always some of these floating around on E-Bay. It is a rare bargain guitar that actually is a player. While this guitar won't replace my Heritage on jazz gigs, it has for club dates where I don't want to bring my nice jazz box. It's a fun guitar to play and I don't feel like I'm sacrificing that much.

Incredible design feature. Go from standard Les Paul style H/H PAF P/U or...pop the coil tap switch on the tone pot and bam! Go single coil all the way through. Nice! It needs red hot pick/U's for my style but other than that, I wouldn't change a thing until it needs routine maint. Again, only reinstall with original equipment. (I'm glad I sold my Parker- Cort just made parker look really bad.)

Sounds like a Les with super slinkies over an Ovation plugged in.
This rocket chimes like a harp!

Beautiful aged black-cherry quilted sunburst all over with abalone tree of life creeping up the neck like ivy. Gotta give yourself plenty of time to gawk. Gold hardware (who knows) plus micro-mini Grover style machine heads...in gold (who knows!)

Be easy with this- it's a baby. Pauls and strats take all kinds of knocks and dings; this won't. It's super precisioned without the use of ball-bearings. Playability...you're flying all over the fret board. (See ya later Wizard Ibanez) I'd like to see these two back to back with the high-end Parker. Note: you'll be changing strings like mad on this puppy.

N/A

10 flat- if it had hotter pick ups, I would make it a 10 plus. BUY ONE!
Actually, It's Korean, BUY TWO.

The previous reviews have descibed this guitar very well, nothing to add on that score. I don't understand why Cort put these tuners on, cheaper models have Grovers!

This guitar has such a range of sounds that one can play any style, the coil tap being very useful. If guitar/pickup comparisons were done in an environment where one could only hear and not see this guitar would be up with the best.

The action is perfect for me, I cannot imagine how it could be improved, this matter is always subjective though.The quality of the finish is awesome with the exception of the bridge. This does not have the quality of the rest of the guitar. Again, as with the tuners, I am surprised that Cort got this wrong.

Quality such as this is going to wear very well I think, will the gold last? Doesn't on anything else so I don't suppose it will on this.

Lifetime warranty, what more do you need?

Been playing over 40 years, this guitar is very special. Cort are not very well known at the moment but watch this space.
Guitars? I have had them all, still have 2 LPs

Made in 2000 in Korea (big deal, you'd be surprised how many of your "U.S" made guitars have something done to them there). 22 Frets. H/H Passive PAF style Mighty Mite P/Ups....very impressive. As I use a 50/50 split between Big Muff & clean sound I was scared of buying this guitar, without trying through my rig first, but took the plunge & it paid off. Off set "LP" style body w/ stop tail Bridge. Like the other reviews I may swap out the Machine Heads BUT have found that with the heavier gauge strings I use (10-52) the guitar holds it's tune alot better. Fairly thin neck, pretty much like a LP 59er I have.
No accessories included & came in a cardboard box. My only gripe with this guitar so far is that I own about 15 cases & it does not fit any that I would consider safe for travel. Having said all this, the guitar has taken pride of place in a collection of over 25 in all. The body is as good as any "hand crafted" that I have seen in the shops & the added bonus of the vine inlay down the neck is not only different from the standard Ibanez style but very well done. (no glue filler on mine that I can see). I too have looked at the latest line of G*bs*n LP's & the parralellogram inlay work is @#$ked.

I plugged this in for the first time with the band I play in (Sancho!!!) just a week ago & the lads were very impressed. I play a cross between acoustic & rock/ heavier & with the coil tap option I am able to sweep most all of the sounds I need. With the Big Muff distortion I do get a little low end feedback, BUT the guitar sustains like no other in my collection!!! Tit for Tat I guess. Other effects are Chorus, Flange, Morley Wah & digitech rp6. The P/Up selector does feel a little cheap & plasticy & only time will tell on that one. This guitar is sooooo easy to play & I have found myself playing at my best with this in my hands. No dislikes at this stage with the guitar itself....

Guitar came pretty well set up, but as I said previously, I found my string gauge assisted both the action & performance + I do not believe this is just a personal thing. I think that the way it played after these very simple adjustments were made, made a huge difference. The top & back of the guitar are just superb. I have the BCSB finish which definately has the WOW factor when showing it to other muso's or friends + the Vine!!!! No finish flaws that I can find. My old bass player bought the artisan series Cort, which first clued me onto the quality guitars they are now producing. I will say this though......the machine heads & hardware on that bass do seem to be much more durable than the CL 1500....as do the same on the Mirage series (which I almost bought instead.)

I have probably mentioned most of this topic previously, but I do feel that being a fairly heavy handed player, this may not stand a hell of alot of abuse. Eventually, the machine heads & toggle switch will definately be replaced......as for the p/ups I really am enjoying them & will give 'em a big work out before swapping. This will be the number one guitar for live work and most recordings & has surpassed any preconceptions I had about Cort or Korean manufacturing. Never do a show without a back-up or five......especially with amount of strings I go through.

I think it has a limited life time warranty although nothing came with the guitar. Best to ensure you are aware of who is importing the product so if the store won't help you, you can go & get straight up them...although the guys at Eagle Music in Sydney have always been great with assisting me in set-ups etc.......I hope I never have to deal with Korea, it takes long enough to get it done a suburb away.

I have been playing for ten years & own over 25 guitars (not sure at present). I wish I had of asked for case & recommend anyone who is considering buying to look into it first. If it were stolen I would hunt down & ......yes I would buy another one!. The guitar fits my hands & playing style really well & as I am trying as many different styles as I can at the moment, I would say it is a fantastic all rounder. Another thing to note as a major difference for me between the CL 1500 & it's younger brothers (1000 etc) is the positioning of the volume control. Because of the F hole it is right up near the bridge which makes it alot easier to access than the lesser models. Major bonus! Great Guitar, get into it>

Made in Korea 1999. 22 frets, hollow body with F-Holes, beautiful quilted maple top with 3-tone sunburst finish. Vine inlay with tree of life Two PAF-style passive hums 3-way switch, vol, tone, coil-tap (push-pull on tone pot). Standard tuners Neck feels great, not as lon as Fender style.

I wanted a bluesy, fingerpicking sound, maybe like sixties when they were getting into psychodelia, but hadn't left pop. Also I wanted a jazzier sound than my custom strat. I use a Fender 40 valve amp. I like the chunky warm sound of the pickups, but will be changing them for some Seymour Duncans, these mighty mites are a little tinny to my ear. This guitar really feeds back in the nicest way when cranked through the Fender, bridge PU is great for my sometimes rockabilly lead playing. Would prefer higher quality Pick ups

The Finish is the best part of this guitar, it is flawless. I bought it primarily because of the look, weight and slim neck. I knew I would be ripping the PU's out, also the tuning pegs do slip a lot and I will be replacing them and all the gold hardware which looks a little cheap again for my taste. It sounded great from the Factory though ! The neck is a dream for smaller female hands. Also I will replace the plastic nut with a bone one. Considering all these alterations, it is still far within the price of a Gibson 335 (what I really wanted), the only other guitar I would replace this with is an Ibanez Artist the smaller size hollow guitar from the 70's, which walks all over this cort, but hey they are rare and expensive.

This Cort will be a collectors item i feel in about twenty years. It looks as though it will age beautifully. Hardware I will replace. The wood finish is superb and I am really pedantic about it. The info that came around the pull up knob, however, left a scratchy area around it. I will especially replace the input jack as this often comes loose. I love solid quality metal on my guitars, this hardware is a little soft and tinny.
I can't be bothered dragging two guitars to a gig, so I guess I won't have a Back Up !!

The store is great, they do the intonation for a year, and will help with all the extra parts I want to replace.

I have been playing for over 20 years, I have had every type of guitar imaginable, from Strats to Guild, Hamers, Kramers, Teles, Ovations, Haggstrom, Maton, Custom etc... I wish I would have ordered a new untouched one from the factory instead of the "touched" floor model, and I wish I had a Tobacco Sunbust. (I was anxious to get it home) If stolen I would definately replace it with another Cort and order all the replacement parts and pick it up all customized !!. Love the look and feel, hate the Koereany thing about it like crap PU's and hardware. If I could have found an old Artist I would have bought that intsead. I didn't get a Cort case with it, and am extra carefull as the case is a bit cheap. Overall I love this guitar and after i have dressed her up a bit she will be my fave.

Built in 2000, made in Korea, this 22 fret chambered body electric with F holes has 2 Mighty Mite Alnico Humbuckers, a 3 way switch, master volume, and master tone with a push pull pot for tapping to single coil. The body is mahogony with a quilted maple cap, and the neck mahogany with an ebony fretboard. It's got a one piece bridge, standard closed tuners, and a glued in neck joint. Now that you know what it came with I will make a few points... I have not been impressed by the tuners so they have been replaced by sperzels. I like the sound of the pickups, but I think I might just feel like throwing a couple of PRS Dragons in because it is a shame to let them sit around unused. The strap buttons were nice and wide, but because of my insecurities and paranoia in general, I have replaced them with straplocks. Also might be good to mention here that the scale length is 24.75".

The guitar has a nice full sound due to the body chambers and the good quality mahogany body and neck. The Mape top and ebony fingerboard add a subtle bite. My current rig is as follows, Guitar->EH Q Tron->Big Muff->Dunlop Crybaby wah->Boss GE-7 set for a little kick in the upper mids->Ampeg VT120 3 channel amp with a TC Electronics Chorus->Boss DD5 in the effects loop. I play mostly trippy melodic rock and feel that the guitar suits this style well. As for other styles, it is more than capable of getting a nice jazz sound, a versatile blues sound with the coil tap, but I would venture to steer the metalheads and shredders in a different, more pointy headstock direction. One thing I touched on is the coil tap. I am very pleasantly impressed with this feature, and use it quite frequently. It's nice to go from a thick humbucker sound to a jangley single coil sound without switching guitars. As I stated above, I am going to put the PRS Dragons in only because they are too beautiful sounding a pickup to have sitting in my workbox. The pickups by Mighty Mite that come standard are not subpar and in fact have greatly exceeded my expectations. The high rating IS based on the sound I get with the Mighty Mite pickups.

Having worked at a major guitar retailer, I have seen the horrors that can occur when a guitar is shipped from the factory, everything from dings and scratches in the finish to warped necks to action higher than a dobro. This guitar was shipped with great care! The salesman pulled it out of the warehouse and brought it to me in the box. When I pulled it out, I was able to tune it up and have it play wonderfully. I like a bit of a high action, so I had to raise it a little, but no guitar ever comes set up to everyone's taste. As for the rest of the guitar, the finish is beautiful(a black cherry burst over a gorgeous quilted maple top), the binding on the body, neck and headstock is set into place perfectly with no glue lines that I can see. The "vine of life" inlay up the fingerboard is also well done, though there are a few places where it was filled with dyed glue. The hardware is all gold plated and seems like it will be gold plated for a long time to come, unlike the gold hardware on say, and Epiphone which will come off when you rub it too hard with a polishing cloth(but enough with the digs). There were a few frets that needed to be touched with a file on the edge of the fingerboard, but again... I have seen that on $4000 Gibsons as well.

I have been depending on this guitar for the last 3 months and the only thing that I am a little skittish about is the headstock. Because of it's small size, it seems fragile and I would not want to smack it into the side of an amp. The original tuners also seem like they might not be in it for the long haul, but that is really not that important to me since I replace the tuners on every guitar I purchase with Sperzels. As far as gigging without a backup, I have only this to say... "ARE YOU F***ING INSANE???" Remember, just about every guitar will experience some sort of trouble at some point. As far as the durability goes, I urge you to buy the case that is specific to this guitar... it is a bit of a strange shape and doesn't really fit right in other cases.

Comes with a limited lifetime warranty, and I am sure that I will have no troubles should I need to invoke it. As far as the customer service department goes, I hope never to be on their eternal hold telephone system.

I have been playing for about 14 years now and have owned quite a few guitars that have fallen by the wayside (either traded in for something new and exciting or hanging on a wall mount with about an inch of dust on it). I don't see that happening here. The guitar is not only beautiful, but versatile. Over all, I would say that until I get my $10,000 PRS hollowbody, this guitar will remain firmly in my hands just about everyday. At the price it is being sold for, there is nothing that can compare to it... If they were making it in the USA, it would be selling for about $1200 more and would still be well worth it. If you are looking for a guitar that will blow the doors off the travesty that has become Gibson, this is it... Don't let the price fool you.

22 frets, hollow body (with F-Holes), beautiful quilted maple top with 3-tone sunburst finish. Vine inlay (also very lovely). Neck and Top are bound (creme color). Two PAF-style passive hums (I'm thinking about throwing some PRS Dragons in there), 3-way switch, vol, tone, coil-tap (push-pull on tone pot). Sounds great in every pickup combination - very versatile! Non-locking standard tuners go out of tune fairly easily - they're being replaced with Sperzels as I write. Neck is much like a Les Paul Standard. Rosewood fingerboard. Stop Tailpiece bridge. Very good, but could have more clarity in pickups as well as better tuning machines.

I play mostly progressive metal/rock, as well as some blues and jazz. I send it through a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, M/B V-Twin pedal, Rocktron Intellifex, and Red Bear 2x12 cab with Vintage 30's. Although it is not the perfect guitar for everything, I love playing it. As was previously stated, it is very versatile. I can play lovely Dream Theater style high-gain leads, then with one flick of the pickup switch and a pull of the tone knob, I'm in single-coil, bridge pickup mode for the blues section! My only gripe is the feedback, but hey - it's hollow with F-holes! Suits me very nicely!

Set up great at the factory - action was low with no buzz. Comes standard with 10's. Finish is the part where this guitar really shines (no pun intended). This guitar is absolutely gorgeous! No finish flaws, no inlay problems, no binding problems. Beautiful three-tone sunburst quilted maple top and back. Creme binding on body and neck. I have had many wonderful comments on the look (and sound, for that matter) of this guitar. The members of my band are envious of its appeal! :)

This guitar is built very solidly, and has withstood many rehearsals and gigs. The gold plated hardware has not faded, and the body remains beautiful (especially since I baby the thing). The strap buttons are decent, but I've replaced them with Schaller straplocks (I'm paranoid). I would never gig without a backup, but I don't think it would EVER fail me...

The only gripe I've had with Cort is their slowness in shipping me a case. The guitar is not a standard shape, so it doesn't fit in standard cases. I ordered the case 3 months ago through my local dealer, but nothing yet. I think, however, that it might be the dealer's fault, so I refuse to pass judgment at this juncture...

I've been playing about 5 years. My other guitar is an ESP LTD MH-300. These two guitars are the biggest steals (price-wise) on the market. Solidly built and GORGEOUS, the Cort CL-1500 hollowbody suits me and my music very, very well. I'll be hanging onto it for a long, long time - case or no case... :)