- Excellent Cort design that's reminesence of MM Luke models
- Very well built, perfect craftsmanship all around
- EMG active pickups
- Almost impossible to find one as it was discontinued long time ago
- Don't forget to check out Reverb as there might be a few ones listed sometimes
Hello there, back again with another cool guitar review for you! This time we will be looking at one of my favourite super Strats by the Cort Guitars company. In this Cort G-Custom review, I will be sharing a lot of details about the guitar as well as my experience with Cort Guitars.
Table of Contents
About Cort Guitars
Cort Guitars is a renowned South Korean guitar manufacturer that has established itself as a prominent player in the musical instrument industry. Founded in 1973 by Jack Westheimer, an American entrepreneur, Cort initially focused on building guitars for other brands. However, it soon gained recognition for its own line of instruments, becoming a trusted name among musicians worldwide. The company is known for producing a wide range of guitars that cater to different musical genres and player preferences. The company’s lineup includes electric guitars, acoustic guitars, basses, and even classical guitars. One of the key factors contributing to Cort‘s success is its commitment to quality craftsmanship and innovation. The company collaborates with acclaimed luthiers and employs cutting-edge technology to create instruments that meet the demands of both amateur and professional musicians. 
Over the years, Cort has gained popularity for offering high-quality instruments at competitive prices, making them accessible to a broad audience. The brand has also collaborated with well-known artists, further enhancing its reputation in the music industry. Whether you’re a beginner looking for an affordable and reliable instrument or a seasoned musician seeking professional-grade gear, Cort Guitars has a diverse range of options to suit various playing styles and preferences. With a blend of craftsmanship, innovation, and affordability, Cort continues to be a significant player in the global guitar market.
Cort Guitars probably manufactures a lot more guitars than you would ever imagine! Whether those guitars are made in South Korea or Indonesia, chances are they are made by the company. Cort Guitars operates its own factories and is known for manufacturing guitars not only under its brand but also for producing instruments for several other well-known guitar brands. Many of these partnerships involve the production of guitars at different price points to cater to a diverse market. Some of the guitar brands that have utilised Cort’s manufacturing facilities include Ibanez, Schecter, PRS, etc 
As an example, I have a Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 as well as an Ibanez AR300, which is made in South Korea by Cort Guitars and also the subject guitar, Cort G300 Raw, and one of the best guitars ever made, Cort M600, made in Indonesia by Cort!
Check out my Cort guitar reviews here (more reviews will be added!)
As one of the luckiest guys I am, I had the chance to play and test this subject instrument, the Cort G-Custom, as well as some other high-end Cort guitars, such as the Cort M-Custom, while working in the music industry.
Cort G-Custom
Cort G-Custom was also no different. Because the G-Custom was one of their top-segmented electric guitars, it had all the features you may ask for in a super Strat guitar! It features a swamp ash body with an eye-catching quilted maple top. It’s a classic S-type design featuring a double-cut body, but it’s definitely a unique design by Cort, not a direct copy of a Stratocaster design. Cort G-Custom also features a bird’s eye maple neck with a very slim design. I must say it was one of the easiest-to-play guitars that I have ever played.
One of the cool things about Cort G-Custom is that it features a set of EMG SA & 89 pickups in an HSS pickup configuration.
Tell me what this configuration of active EMGs reminds you of? To me, it reminds of Steve Lukather‘s signature Ernie Ball Music Man Luke!
Even though it’s not the exact same model as Lukather’s guitars, you can actually have the same vibe of active EMGs in an HSS setup. Note that, if you want to purchase this EMG (89-SA-SA) set, it will cost you around €245! Almost 1/3 of the Cort G-Custom‘s price tag! Cort G-Custom electronics feature a classic 5-way lever switch for selecting each pickup individually, as well as having access to in-between pickup positions. On top of this, you have a coil-tap function on the tone knob (as a push-pull switch). With the coil tap, you can split the bridge humbucker, have it as a single coil as well and blend it with the middle pickup! 
As you will see this guitar in action very soon below, the CFA-III tremolo is an excellent tremolo, and it never caused any tuning issues even when I used it very often while making the video! Cort G-Custom also comes with locking tuners. I don’t exactly remember the brand,d but I think these were Cort-branded ones. No issues with tuning, perfect set of tuners! Before I share the Cort G-Custom review video, let’s quickly have a look at the tech specs chart down below!
Tech Specs
| Cort G-Custom | Tech Specs |
|---|---|
| Construction | Bolt-on |
| Cutaway | Double Cutaway |
| Body | Swamp Ash Body w/ Quilted Maple Top |
| Neck | Bird's Eye Maple Neck (1st Fret : 21mm, 12th Fret : 23mm) |
| Fretboard | Rosewood Fingerboard |
| Frets | 22 Frets (Large) |
| Scale | 648mm |
| Inlay | Abalone Dot |
| Tuners | Locking Tuners |
| Bridge | CFA-III Tremolo |
| Electronics | 5 Way Lever Switch, 1 Volume 1 Tone (Coil Tap) |
| Pickups | EMG SA-89 / SA / SA (HSS) |
| Hardware | CR(Chrome) Hardware |
| Nut | Graph Tech TUSQ XL |
As you can see, there is no imprecisely selected component or parts on this instrument! As I have mentioned above, it was one of the top-segmented electric guitars by Cort back in the day. Before I give you more details about Cort G-Custom, let’s listen to the sound samples.
Sound Demo (no talking)
As you can hear from the video, Cort G-Custom has excellent and sweet-sounding cleans as well as distorted guitar tones! If you are familiar with EMG active pickups, you can easily tell these EMG pickups have distinguishable active guitar sounds that some of us love and some of us hate. To me, EMG pickups are great, but unless you are okay with their compressed sonic qualities, you may not like them. I currently own a Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 featuring EMG 57 and EMG 66 humbucker pickups, and I love the sound of them!
Check out my EMG57/66 active pickups review here
The only thing I don’t like about EMG active pickups is that slightly overdriven sounds tend to feel a bit tasteless to me. I like them either in crystal clean or slightly boosted or in high-gain settings.
Cort G-Custom is definitely a high-value purchase based on my experience with hundreds of guitars while working in the industry. The craftsmanship was flawless! There was no single issue that we could detect during our guitar testing procedures. As I have mentioned in the beginning, G-Custom is a unique G series guitar. Back in the day, there were not many mid-segmented G series guitars by Cort. But recently, they have started manufacturing a lot of variations of the G series. But none of them features EMG 89/SA/SA configuration.
Check out all available Cort G series guitars here
I highly recommend you try one (if you can find one!) and see for yourself!
Pricing & Availability
Unfortunately, G-Custom is no longer available. I don’t understand why the company discontinues some of its flagship instruments, such as the G-Custom or M-series electric guitars. I understand there’s been huge competition in the guitar market. However, these instruments are very well-known for their crazy value/money ratio. So I would expect them to keep pushing these with some variations, just like many guitar manufacturers have been doing for ages!
Your best bet is to sign up with Reverb.com and set up a notification alert with a G-Custom search query. This way, you can get notified of G-Customs once they are listed by some sellers on the internet globally.
***There’s actually a single one available here below the link!
Check out Cort G-Custom on Reverb here
Overall, I would recommend this guitar to anyone who is after a serious super Strat with modern touches. I hope you have enjoyed this brief article. Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
