What is it?
It has to be said that we’ve been impressed by virtually every instrument we’ve seen from the Cor-Tek Corporation in recent years. The company is also responsible for building a number of guitars outside of its own Cort house brand (including PRS’s SE range) and the quality is always tip-top with playability that hits the mark every time.
This Gold A10 hails from the company’s highly automated acoustic guitar facility in the Jinzhou District of Dalian, Liaoning, China, and just reading the spec put us in a bit of a swirl even before opening its case. Cocobolo back and sides with a torrefied Adirondack spruce top? That’s a match made in heaven if ever there was one – on paper at least.
The company’s website proclaims that “the Cort Gold-A10 Cocobolo exudes boutique-style craftsmanship that extends beyond gorgeous tonewoods and distinguished accoutrements, with time-intensive hand-rolled fret edges, tone-enhancing torrefied materials, and Fishman Flex Blend electronics for unforgettable performance”. And at a price that won’t break the bank (too badly, anyway…).
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So, what’s all the fuss about the woods that are involved? Well, first let’s take a look at cocobolo. To begin with, it’s a member of the rosewood genus Dalbergia retusa and is often employed by luthiers as a more than able substitute for that Dalbergia superstar, Brazilian rosewood.
There are tonal variations between the two, of course, with cocobolo being renowned for its bright tone, lower register resonance, articulation and note distinction. Native to Mexico and Central America, it is also renowned for its wild grain pattern, which often challenges all but the most sublime Brazilian variety.
As you can see from the pictures here, the back wood has a beautifully complex pattern with the paler sapwood running down the centre. It’s strange that all the fuss is made about the beauty of back woods on acoustic – and classical – guitars when it’s the part your audience never sees. But that’s all part of the fun of owning such an instrument.
The cocobolo’s running mate on the Cort A10 is torrefied Adirondack spruce, and this is another tonewood that goes hand in hand with exceptional levels of tone and performance.
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Known for its “ringing yet complex and nuanced tone that carries right through high volume levels where other spruces start to break up”, according to the Wood Database, ‘Addie’, as it is affectionately known, has graced the tops of some celebrated pre-war Martin acoustics. Indeed, its legend continues, optimising as it does an acoustic’s dynamic and tonal ranges.
But the equation doesn’t end there as we find a mahogany neck, very good-looking reddish-brown padauk binding and maple purfling to both body and neck, plus an ebony fretboard – with mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays – to complete the body timbers.
We’re told the neck is also reinforced with strips of walnut either side of the truss rod underneath the ’board for extra stability and reinforcement. Factor in a bone saddle and nut, with Grover open-gear tuners and a factory-fitted Fishman Flex Blend pickup and you can see what excited us when we scanned the A10’s bill of goods in the first place.
Oh, and if you’re thinking that it would have been nice of Cort to include a scratchplate to protect the top from those wilder plectrum wielding moments, fear not, there’s one in the case for you to fit yourself if you want to. Nice touch.
Freed from its case and turning the A10 over in our hands, its finish and build look as exemplary as we’ve come to expect from Cort.
The cocobolo on the back and sides is the star of the show – and we mustn’t forget that the precise patterning of the wood will vary from instrument to instrument – but if this guitar sounds half as good as it looks, then we’re on to a real winner.
Specs
- Price: $2,599/£1,899 (inc case)
- Origin: China
- Type: Grand Auditorium
- Top: Torrefied AA-grade Adirondack spruce
- Back/Sides: AAA grade cocobolo
- Max Rim Depth: 113mm
- Max Body Width: 402mm
- Neck: Walnut reinforced mahogany
- Scale Length: 648mm (25.5”)
- Tuners: Grover gold open gear
- Nut/Width: Bone/44.5mm
- Fingerboard: Ebony
- Frets: 20
- Bridge/Spacing: Ebony with bone saddle/55mm
- Electrics: Fishman Flex Blend
- Weight (kg/lb): 2.4/5.2
- Left-Handers: No
- Finish: Natural gloss with satin neck
- Contact: Cort Guitars
Build quality, playability and sounds
Every player would agree that no matter how good looking a guitar is, it’s the playing surfaces – neck, fingerboard, et cetera – that either win or lose the day. In the case of the A10 we’re happy to report that the satin-finished neck is a very comfortable C profile that feels like it belongs in the hand.
It sits in that area where it’s neither too chunky nor too skinny, measuring 21.5mm deep at the 1st fret, broadening only slightly to 22mm at the 8th. The nut has been expertly cut and the ’board is very nicely finished, too, with those hand-finished rolled fret-ends adding extra boutique swish.
When we first tried a few pioneering chords the sound was a little compressed. But we concluded the A10 had very likely not been out of its case since it left China many moons ago and would probably respond to a day or two left on a stand to come up to room temperature and prevailing humidity.
We also made sure to give it the occasional campfire chord serenade each time we passed and it began to open up nicely. Basses became stronger, trebles noticeably sweeter and, although it’s impossible to measure, we could swear it got louder, too.
Of course, all this is in line with how new acoustic guitars can come out of storage hibernation and begin to blossom and bloom – everything we would expect from an Addie top backed with a nice member of an elite rosewood family. And, of course, it bodes well for the future as we’re sure there’s plenty more opening up to be done by the guitar in the months and years ahead.
The instrument responded well to both fingerstyle pieces and chordal workouts, the latter offering a very good blend of clarity and complexity.
The Fishman Flex Blend pickup and preamp system adds another important dimension to the sound. Combining an under-saddle piezo with an internal mic, the plugged-in sound reflected that of the A10’s acoustic nature when interfaced with our Boss Katana-50 EX.
The Fishman’s tone control added more colour with a variable midrange that you can adjust for chordal oomph or fingerstyle finesse. It has a built-in tuner, too.
Verdict
Verdict: ★★★★½
We were aware that this is a factory build with a degree of hands-on along the way. But it successfully escapes that stereotypical ‘cloned’ tone set that some factory builds succumb to and when it left us was well on its way to being a standalone individual with a very good portfolio of usable sounds.
Sure, if you gave a set of triple-A grade cocobolo and some Adirondack spruce to a boutique luthier you might find that further tonal refinements and build enhancements would become available. But then the price would very likely be five times what it is here.
Guitar World verdict: What Cort’s A10 offers is a step towards the upper echelon of acoustic guitar lutherie at a very reasonable price and, from what we’ve heard, once the guitar has fully opened up, your investment could be, quite literally, very sound indeed. Try one, we think you’ll like it.
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