Cort EVL Z47

2008 MODEL 22 LARGE FRETS MAHOGANY BODY--MAPLE NECK--ROSEWOOD FRETBOARD--EMG HZ7 PICKUPS(PASSIVE)--SATIN BLACK FINISH--LP BODY(KIND OF)--TONEPROS BRIDGE WITH STRING THRU BODY--

I JUST RECENTLY DECIDED TO ENTER THE 7 STRING WORLD AFTER PLAYING A 6 STRING FOR YEARS--I ALSO DECIDED THAT I DID NOT WANT TO SPEND UPWARDS OF $1,OOO ON AN ESP OR CARVIN OR IBANEZ, SO THE EVL WAS A PERFECT ALTERNATIVE--I AM MOSTLY A JAZZ GUITARIST, FOR LACK OF A BETTER TERM--

THE FACTORY SET UP WAS AVERAGE, AS MOST ARE--IT CAME WITH A .10--.54 SET OF STRINGS WHICH I CHANGED TO .09--.52--THERE ARE NO FLAWS STRUCTURALLY SPEAKING--CORT MAKES AN INCREDIBLE GUITAR FOR THE MONEY--I ALSO OWN A CORT 'SOURCE'(A SUBJECT OF ANOTHER REVIEW)THAT LITERALLY KILLS MOST 335 TYPE GUITARS--ANYWAY, THE EVL SOUNDS GREAT, IS VERY WELL BALANCED WEIGHT-WISE, ALBEIT A BIT HEAVY--IT'S A BOLT-ON NECK WITHOUT A NECK PLATE, SO IT'S ROUNDED ON THE BACK, WHICH MAKES IT A LOT EASIER TO REACH THE HIGHER FRETS--ALL IN ALL, GREAT WORKMANSHIP, A VERY DECENT FRET JOB AND A FIRST CLASS FINISH--

ABSOLUTELY WILL WITHSTAND LIVE PLAYING--

FIRST CLASS CUSTOMER SERVICE--JEFF HUBERT HAS ALWAYS BEEN KIND AND HELPFUL TO ME

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 42 YEARS AND HAVE FOUND THE CORT GUITARS TO BE AN INCREDIBLE VALUE--I HAVE OWNED A G 290, A HIRAM BULLOCK SIGNATURE ALSO--IF I WERE TO CHANGE ANYTHING, IT WOULD BE THE PICKUPS--THEY'RE DECENT ENOUGH, BUT I THINK EITHER AN EMG ACTIVE SET OR A SET OF DIMARZIOS WOULD REALLY BRING THIS BEAST TO LIFE

The main unique feature that this guitar has is that it's a singlecutaway, les paul style, seven string guitar which I don't think anyone else makes accept Cort.

Mahogany Body,
Maple Bolt-Neck,
Rosewood Fingerboard,
22/Jumbo frets,
25.5 scale length(which is better for string tention),
EVL Pentagon Circles inlays,
TonePros Lic. Locking 7string bridge w /string thru body,
EMG-HZ7 (H-H) Passive Pickups,
2vol, 1tone, 3way toggle pickup switching,
EVL Metal Truss Rod Cover Knobs w/O-rings,

This guitar is quite heavy but not Gibson Les Paul heavy.

The rest is on the Cort website.

I play mainly Rock and Metal music with some melow stuff on the side. This guitar is aimed very much towards metal music but when you turn the volumes down on the guitar, it softens out surprisingly well.

On a typical distorted amp setting this guitar sounds quite good, the pickups are quite hot and the low B string is quite clear. On a clean setting the sound from both pickups is quite harsh. I'd suggest turning your volumes down the guitar for any clean playing. When the volumes are down a bit on a clean setting this guitar can sound quite jazzy and fruity like you'd expects from an ibanez artcore or lespaul.

The overall sound of this guitar is just a bit too blunt for me, it's not bright enough for fast playing and it's only quite clear not very clear. If you're thinking it might sound like a lespaul, it's just not as bright as a les paul. Les pauls are ballsy yes but are still bright sounding guitars.

The best part about the sound is the soft and thick clean tones it offers. The disapointment is that this guitar is designed metal playing but doesn't deliver for sharp fast playing, it's a bit too muddy for most distorted settings. I would recomend turning up the Mids and turning down the Bass on your amp or pedal to get more attack and presence from this beast.

I've seen and played alot of Cort guitars and the finish is always top notch. this guitar is pretty much black all over and has a Matt finish. This guitar is pure goth with it's pentagons all over it and metal cross truss rod cover. A decent looking instrument.

The playabilty is top notch all the way up the fretboard, all the corts I've played have had very quick necks on them.

I bought this guitar brand new straight out of the box and I was quite anoyed that the action was set so low that it wasn't playable. I set up the action and it plays very well except for some fret buzz around the 12th fret, I truss rodded a bit but it's still there. It's not unbearable.

Another thing is the that the thick B and E strings can be quite floppy compared to the rest of the strings. If you buy this and find this problem try tightening the B and E up a few more notes to stretch them in. This guitar holds it tuning quite well but not amazingly.

This guitar seems very solid when playing it.
I haven't gigged it yet but I'm sure it would hold up better than say a cheaper Epiphone.

They're quite helpfull if you see them at a Guitar show.

I've been playing since 2002, owned many different styles of guitar and I play through a Hiwatt 100w Maxwatt amp with a Zoom G1X pedal shoved in front of it. With a certain setting on this pedal the guitar can sound quite good. I just think this guitar in general needs a different wood added to it to make it sound brighter.

If you're just looking for any seven string guitar, there are better ones out there but this is the only singlecutaway I can find.

Overall this guitar is OK.