Review: Cort M200

Here's another decent beginner guitar. The Cort M200. For those who still don't know it, I don't own any of these guitars, these are all reviews from other people. Enjoy!

 

Features: I am not sure of the year, but it was made in Indonesia. It is a PRS copy and it has a mahogany body, a maple neck, 22 frets jumbo frets, a rosewood fingerboard, tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece, 2 passive humbuckers, 1 tone, 1 volume control and a 3 way switch.

I'll give it a 7, because it doesn't have a whammy bar and a coil tap and I personally prefer maple fingerboards. // 7

Sound: I play mostly neoclassical instrumental rock and metal, but I am also familiar with blues, jazz, heavy and thrash metal... overly, a good pack of different music styles, so when I bought that guitar I was looking for something cheap that suits them all. I use this Cort with my Marshall MG15CDR and a chain of a Fender chromatic tuner, Boss DD3 Delay and a DigiTech GRUNDGE Distortion. It sounds pretty good for its price, the neck pickup is really nice on clean channel, it has deep jazzy warm sound with lots of bass. The middle position is sharper with more highs and with the proper settings, it could sound bright, Fender-like. The bridge position pickup is rather thin and weak, but with the height adjustments, I gave it more sustain and it sounded just as loud as the neck. It is meant to be used with distortion as it sounds awful on clean channel, but even with my chain, it still doesn't sound as heavy as I want. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar came with pretty high action, so I had to set it up and now it has amazing super low action without buzz. The other problem was that the neck wasn't bolted on properly and there were some weird sheets of paper between the body and the neck, so I had to get the removed as well. The pickups were adjusted pretty well, the bridge was okay as well. The finish was flawless, but the pickup selector clicks when you switch. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I've played this guitar for a year, everyday, at least 7 hours a day and the finish doesn't wear off, but I've dropped it once and the fingerboard came off the neck a little bit, some of the finish in the area of the place where the fingerboard is glued to the neck fell off, the guitar's intonation was horrible, because of its super low action, is started to buzz horribly and when I changed the strings, the nut fell off, so I don't find the guitar durable at all. The strap buttons were pretty loose when I got it, but after the set up, I find them reliable. I gig pretty often... like once a month, and I have no choice but to gig without backup, since I have no money for a backup guitar, but it hasn't betrayed me, not even once, so I guess I'll keep giging with it until I get money for a better one. // 5

Impression: Well, as I said, I play different styles of music, but mostly neoclassical metal and rock, mainly Yngwie Malmsteen and Jason Becker, and it does pretty well for its price, I've been playing for 5 years, and this is my only electric guitar, I also own a shitty classical Stagg that I absolutely hate. If lost/stolen, I guess I would buy it again since it is the best choice for these money, and my budget is thin. What I love about it is its clean tone and looks and what I hate is the intonation, but when I have time I'll fix it. My favorite feature has to be its cool bolt on - gives access to the high frets and makes it easily to bend there.

When I bought it, I compared it to the G260, but it had a problem with the whammy bar, so it went out of the picture. I also compared it to the cheaper models of the RX series of Washburn and some Washburns with dark, metal-style artwork, and it defiantly won me. Cheaper, prettier, with better sound and with better wood. I just wish it had a whammy bar and a maple fingerboard. Maybe I'll buy it a DiMarzio D-activator Bridge for the bridge position. // 8