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Cort Essence
The Essence series from Cort offers an unadulterated acoustic guitar experience with a timeless look and vintage charm. By focusing on the core elements of the best possible sound quality and playability, Cort has created a guitar that offers exceptional tone and effortless performance.
All Cort Essence steel-string guitars at a glance:
Die Cort Essence series in detail
What makes the Cort Essence series special?
The Cort Essence series offers an acoustic guitar experience that you wouldn't expect from a guitar in this price range. By focussing on core elements, a guitar has been created that offers exceptional sound and playability at an affordable price. The solid top made of torrefied Sitka spruce produces a rich, warm tone that is perfectly balanced by the mahogany back and sides. The intricate herringbone rosette and purfling add visual appeal, while the Fishman preamp system ensures your sound stays clear and vibrant on stage. The Essence series offers the perfect blend of value and performance to suit your style.
Their understated elegance and classic design make them an ideal choice for players looking for authenticity and style at an affordable price.
Grand Auditorium or Orchestra model?
With a body depth of 4 5/8″ (117 mm), a top shoulder width of 11 1/2″ (292 mm) and a bow width of 16″ (405 mm), the Grand Auditorium body size (shown here in natural) sits perfectly between the larger Dreadnought and the smaller Grand Concert. This makes the Auditorium body ideal for strumming/flatpicking and fingerstyle playing, suitable for versatile acoustic guitarists who prefer a guitar to cover a variety of sounds and playing styles.
The compact size of the Orchestra, also known as the OM (seen here in black), is perfect for players with a smaller body or for those looking for a comfortable playing experience. The bright and strong emphasis on the high mids makes it more suitable for fingerpicking than strumming, which often requires more low notes. The Venetian cutaway of this model allows easy access to the high frets.
Expert knowledge: Aged to Vintage Top and Bracing
Using a special process called ATV (Aged To Vintage), luthiers treat the solid Sitka spruce top and bracing to achieve the big, open tone of a decades-old, highly sought-after acoustic guitar. This torrefaction is a process in which spruce tops (before being installed in the guitar body) are roasted in ovens normally used to dry wood so it can be finished. Roasting gives the wood a slightly darker colour and at the same time slightly changes its structure, giving it new tonal characteristics. Torrefied spruce tops in particular tend to sound warmer and sweeter, giving them a well-rehearsed quality that you would expect from a much older piece of wood. While torrefaction can't replicate the effects of decades of age and playing, it does add tonal depth without losing the clarity, articulation or volume typical of spruce.
The wood combination
Spruce wood offers an ideal balance between strength and flexibility and is therefore the most popular choice for acoustic guitar tops. As a guitar top, Sitka spruce is the standard tonewood of modern times. The combination of strength and elasticity results in a wide dynamic range that allows for clear articulation and is suitable for everything from aggressive strumming to flatpicking and fingerpicking.
Bright yet natural, with a strong and warm midrange, the beloved mahogany wood has been a standard for acoustic guitar backs and sides for many decades. Mahogany is known for its pithy character in the midrange, characterised by a strong fundamental tone that is often described as ‘punchy’, ‘woody’ or ‘dry’ because it doesn't produce many ringing overtones. The mahogany's earthy voice has been featured on many roots music recordings for years. Blues and other roots players tend to respond well to the midrange character of mahogany. The smaller-bodied mahogany guitars from the Essence series tend to appeal to fingerstyle players. When it comes to versatility, a mahogany Grand Auditorium is a good choice.
All the important features of Cort Essence guitars at a glance:
- available as OM and Grand Auditorium models
- cutaway
- sitka spruce top (torrefied with the Aged To Vintage process)
- Advanced Scalloped X-Bracing
- mahogany back and sides
- rosewood fretboard
- bone nu and saddle
- Fishman Presys pickup
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