Cort Viva

This is a 2000 Korean made 7 string model, mahogany body, beautiful trans red finish, very sleek thin body. Similar to an Ibanez S series. Bolt-on maple neck, 24 frets, 25 1/2 scale, rosewood fretboard, graphite nut, two Mighty Mite humbuckers with coil tap, wilkinson type trem. No locking nut, but holds tuning well enough. Grover type tuners, five on one side of the headstock and two on the other.

Play many styles, and this fits into the darker, gothic metal realm with 7 strings. Play through a Boss GT-8, then a Peavey Tube Sweetener direct into a Firepod interface, then through a vintage stereo power amp.

Stock pickups are not bad. No noise, nice bite to them. Low B comes through nicely. I assumed I would need to replace the pickups, but I'm happy enough with the sounds I'm getting out of this instrument. Bridge pickup is sharp with a nice bite, the neck pickup a little mellower and creamier.

Sustain is amazing, and I found out why - this is the only bolt-on neck guitar I've seen that had the neck pocket sanded smooth after the finish was applied. This is something I do when I pick up a new axe, but was surprised to find it had been done at the factory. This greatly increases the contact area between the neck and body, and does wonders for sustain and resonance. And it does resonate, to an amazing degree.

The coil tap is a nice feature. Silky sounding through clean patches. Overall the sound is very good. I've played through better pickups, but there is a good variety of tones to be had using the coil tap and rolling off the tone a little.

Bought this used on ebay, original owner claimed it was barely played, and it certainly appears to be the case. Came with the hang tags still on it and wrenches.

Action is low and smooth. The wider neck takes a little getting used to, but is thin and fits my hand very nicely. Very fast neck - to me, moreso than the Ibanez Wizards. The medium jumbo frets were finished very nicely. I played it for a few days before tearing it apart and putting it back together with new strings.

The only thing I changed was raising the pickups a little, and raising the low B string a bit as it was buzzing when picked hard open. Now it is sweet.

Fit and finish were flawless. Amazing for the price. Satin nickel finish on the tuners, knobs and bridge. The only problem I detected was a stripped strap peg screw at the base, easily fixed with a sliver of wood and a little glue. This may have been from the previous owner, don't know.

The trem action is limited, but I don't do any dive bombs anyway. Was expecting a lot of tuning headaches with no locking nut, especially after changing the strings, but it is holding up very well, which says something about the tuners themselves.

The fit between the neck and body is beautiful. Very precisely machined. I am very pleased with the overall quality. An excellent value.

This is certainly a solid, well made, gig-worthy instrument. Would not have a problem taking it anywhere. The finish is not overly thin or thick, and I expect with care will last forever. The strap buttons are ok, but I will likely replace them with Dunlop Straploks anyway, out of habit.

I would never gig without a backup, but I don't think I'd need one just the same.

Have not had any dealings with Cort, no warranty on this instrument at this point anyways.

I've been playing about 5 years total, have eleven other guitars, including a Jackson DK2S Dinky, MIJ '91 Strat, 72 Tele thinline, Peavey T60, chambered custom made LP clone, Washburn acoustic-electric, Fender 12 string, Yamaha G231 classical, a 5 string bass, lap steel, and mandolin, and lastly a rack full of effects and preamps in my makeshift home studio.

Have had this a month now, wanted to wait until the initial excitement phase had passed before posting a review. There isn't really anything to dislike about this instrument. It is very well made, beautiful to look at, and plays especially well.

I spent about eight weeks researching and pricing 7 string guitars. Ernie Balls were out of my league, leaving Ibanez and Schecters for the most part. After comparing features and prices settled on the Cort. For my money this is by far the best value out there.

If it were stolen I would try to find another one. Great guitar for the money.

Follow up on my previous review:
I added a coil tap switch on the tone pot to affect the bridge humbucker. Additionnaly I dropped the split for the bridge humbucker on the switch second position. So I gain two more sound: the bridge single coil and the humbucker mixed with the mid single coil.

The bridge humbucker, when splitted, is really near a P90 by being agressively bity and mid high oriented. It really punch. The second position on the switch that mix the bridge and mid pickups doesn't really deliver a major improvement except that now when mixed in the humbucker configuration it fills the lack of output of the splitted configuration which is the stock setting. Personnally I was aiming to get a single coil sound on the bridge position, and only for this, it really worth the investment.

see previous review

see previous review

see previous review.

see previous review

It really improved versatility of this really nice axe. I also own an Epiphone G-400 Vintage and the only thing my Viva can't compete with is the neck humbucker sweet low and smooth sound.

Bought new in january 2002 as my first guitar ever. Same feaures as previous review. Mine has a natural maple finish which won me over when I saw it far back in the music store.

As my first guitar, I was hoping to play mainly blues, jazz and some Led Zeppelin. I choose this one for the versatility it offers as it was my first guitar and definitely the look was awesome with its solid maple natural finish body. It definitely meets my expectations for what I was hoping to play and even more. I use it through a Marshall MG15CDR 15 watts and an all tube Traynor YCV20. The humbucker is a bit noisy but I always manage to turn off some electric devices and it's more than OK. It is really a strat like sound, quite nosy with a lot of sustain.

I really like the sustain it keeps notes as long as you want.

Only 9 because the mid single coil pickup has no personality compared to the neck single coil and bridge humbucker.

From the stock config I raised the pickups and tone came to what I expect in order to play some Led Zeppelin and a lot of blues. I also had some trouble to setup properly the tremolo who was too tight.

The mid pickup has about no tone, I don't know if it is the pickup itself or circuit... anyway soon I'll work on it.

I got it for a year and a half, no problem. I only play at home (a few hours every day) with friends, no gig, no recording. I figure out it will stand by my side forever. The finish can withstand mostly any injuries. I plan to change the pickups, priority for the middle single coil who lacks of personnality. I would be very sad if it was stolen because it is my first guitar, it is no longer available and I would miss really much the tone and sustain that I haven't found on more expensive guitars.

Never went back to the store where purchased and had no communications with Cort.

I played guitar for a year and a half. This is my first guitar. I recently owned a JayTurser JT-134 (ES-335 copy) to have that deep bass sound of a semy hollowbody with humbuckers and for almost the same price as my Viva, it is nothing, doesn't stay tuned, action is slow, neck too thick.... This Viva has the look, the sound and the price I can play on it for days and nights. It could be less heavy.

For the price regarding the sound, it kicks many more expensive guitars.

Don't try to steal mine.

This is a 1995 or 1996 super strat similar in lines to Ibanez S series guitars. Solid soft-maple body in sunburst finish with H/S/S pickup configuration (they're Mighty Mites), one volume, one tone, five-way switch and a Wilkinson (or Wilkinson-like) tremolo with roller nut. The neck is rock maple with a 24-fret rosewood fretboard, off-set abalone dot position markers and a large abalone block at the twelfth fret with "VIVA" stenciled into it in black. The body is fully carved and curved so that it is super smooth and very thin, with a recessed jack in the front. Despite being quite thin, it's not as light as I had first thought -- soft maple is still maple, I guess. Control access is all from there back and there is no pick guard. The neck is a medium-thin C-shape, with a flat-ish fretboard radius and Fender narrow -- I pull the high E string off the fretboard just like on my Strat. The neck meets the body at an Ibanez-all-access-style neck-joint/heel that feels as good as the one on my $1500US list Ibanez RBM1. The tuners are stable but no-name schaller-alikes. I found this baby in a pawnshop and got it for peanuts because the shop owner couldn't recognize the quality of this guitar and could only read the name on the headstock. His loss. This model is one of Cort's flagship guitars and they've gone all-out in the quality department. It really shows. This instrument is gorgeous.

I play a wide variety of rock, through a number of amps. Played acoustically, this guitar is bright and full, with lots of volume and sustain for a trem-mounted guitar. This guitars Mighty Mite pickups are very good to my ears. The single coil in the neck gives a bright but breathy tone that isn't too thin. The middle single coil as a sharper personality but is still very useful. Together, they spank :-). The bridge is growly and fat -- a strong humbucker, but not as hot as the Tone Zone in my LP. I think the bridge pickup is coil-tapped in the middle-bridge switch position (four), and some of the punch is lost as a result, tho' the sound of these two pickups mixed is pretty funky. The single coils are as noisey as most single coils -- they sound the same as my Strat did before I swapped out it's pickups for Lace Sensors. But this guitar has a wide variety of sounds at it's disposal. The tone control is very well voiced, and offers alot of tonal variety on all the pickups over a nice long curve. I didn't have any preconceived ideas about how this guitar would sound, so I'm not disappointed in any way, though I can't see switching to position four in mid-song too often because of the resultant loss of gain. I like the noises it makes, though. The pickups are mounted directly onto the guitar and the all-maple body really gives them plenty of resonance, warmth and bite. Does that sound contradictory? Well, the neck single coil in particular has wonderful bright bite on the attack, but the body of the note has warmth and breath and depth. It's quite nice.

The setup was appalling when I got it, and probably helps to explain why I was able to get the guitar so cheap. I set it up myself to my preferred specs over the course of an evening and now it's fine. The overall fit and finish is fantastic! The dot inlays are placed perfectly into the fretboard; the neck sits in it's pocket tight and clean; the trem adjusted to parallel very easily; the roller nut is perfectly aligned and at an excellent height in my opinion, tho' some (like those who keep the shims under the locking nuts on their JEMs) might want to shim it a little higher. The neck's satin finish is flawless, and this is the most important part of the fit and finish of any guitar, IMHO. Again, Cort are trying to place themselves on the map with this axe, and people should sit up and take notice. This guitar originally had a $750US list. I've never seen a finish this good on a >$650 street value instrument. And this is a very nice unseen bonus: the control cavity has been painted with anti-static paint and there is foil carefully glued to the back of the control plate. Someone took pride in this guitar and it shows. The rating reflects the price range, and presumes a much better setup on a new instrument than I had on my used one.

This guitar seems well built. The sound quality of the tone and volume controls along with the obvious quality of the rest of the instrument has be thinking they'll last a good long time. The strap buttons are the kind with the very wide heads and the narrow waists, and seem well set, tho' I'll replace them with Schaller straplocks as I do on ALL my guitars. I would never gig without backup unless I had absolutely no choice, but I think you can trust this axe.

I've never dealt with Cort. I have no idea about a warranty.

I've been playing a while, and I'm a certified gear head. (See my web site at www.magma.ca/~jimid for a list of most of my gear). This guitar is simply a Saturday afternoon surprise, a rare and beautiful find. I love it's sleek, finely finished looks and thin, moulded form. And the pickups are wonderful. I'm always looking for something new and interesting to add to my collection, and I'm very happy about finding this guitar. If you find one out there in the world, play it before turning away -- Cort's made an impressive instrument here and it is definitely worth a look. If I was a relative beginner and/or could only afford one electric guitar, this guitar would fit the bill nicely.