- Cort Guitars
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Cort Guitars 
Type Private Company Industry musical instruments Founded 1960s Founder(s) Jack Westheimer Headquarters 660 Dungchon 3 Dong
Gangseo-gu, Seoul 157-030
South KoreaArea served Worldwide Products Electric guitar
Bass guitar
Steel-string acoustic guitarWebsite www.cortguitars.com Cort Guitars is a guitar manufacturer centered in South Korea. The company is one of the largest guitar makers in the world, and produces instruments for many other companies.
Contents
History
Jack Westheimer set up business connections with Japanese guitar makers in the 1960s with the intention of importing Japanese made guitars into America. Some of the many brands that Jack Westheimer is associated with were Teisco, Cortez, Pearl, Silvertone, Kingston, Cort and many others. In 1973, Jack Westheimer founded the Yoo-Ah company (“you-and-I”) in South Korea with Yung H. Park as a business partner. The Yoo-Ah company would eventually be called Cor-Tek which was named after Jack Westheimer's Cortez brand name. Yung H. Park eventually acquired the operations of the Cor-Tek company. Cor-Tek manufactures Cort branded guitars as well as engaging in concha OEM manufacturing for numerous brands such as Lotus.
Models
Cort M600, green flamed maple
Cort does not have a model of guitar that could be called their “signature,” like Fender and the Stratocaster or Gibson and the Les Paul. Instead, Cort produces a very large line of guitars to fit different guitarists and genres of music. Cort produces a wide variety of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, acoustic bass guitars, and electric basses, with the main emphasis being on producing a good product at a competitive price.
Electrics
Cort Z-Custom Open Pore Natural Burst, from Zenox Series- EVL series
- G series
- KX series
- M series
- X series
- Viva series
- Zenox series
- Jazz box series
- Masterpiece series
- Signature series
- VX series
- 1988 Panther
- Potty series
- Stature series
- CR series
Acoustics
- Limited Edition series
- Earth series
- SFX series
- NTL series
- CJ series
- MR series
- Classical series
- Standard series
- Bass Series
- EVL Series
- Alternative Series (Solid Wood)
- S series (90's)
- Jade series
- Luce series
Basses
- Masterpiece series
- Signature series
- GB series
- Artisan series
- Curbow series
- PB1L series
- Action series
- EVL series
- T Series
- Gene Simmons Axe
- Gene Simmons Punisher
In addition to the models currently being made, Cort has produced many others, such as the S series guitars, the Viva, MGM (Matt Guitar Murphy),Freedom Bass(Billy Cox),Neil ZaZa, Larry Coryell, Elrick Bass, Triggs, Katana, Effector and numerous others. Several of the earliest Corts were direct copies of popular models such as the Stratocaster.
Parkwood
Up until 2006, Cort manufactured a line of high quality guitars under the name 'Cort Parkwood'. In 2006, Cort turned Parkwood into a brand of its own and now does not feature the Cort name or logo. This is a brand sold exclusively through big box stores such as Guitar Center. Cort continues to manufacture the Parkwood Brand in South Korea, the Hybrid series coming from Indonesia.
Contract production
Cort’s main production focus is not on Cort-brand guitars, but rather on contract work for numerous other companies. Generally, large companies contract Cort to build lower-priced guitars that have that company’s brand on them. Ibanez, Parkwood, Squier, G&L Tribute series line of guitars are among the most well-known brands that Cort produces. In recent years, small companies known for extremely high quality (and high-priced) guitars have begun contracting Cort to produce budget line models. Avalon, based out of Northern Ireland, sold 8,000 guitars and more than doubled their income from the previous year when they contracted Cort to build a lower-priced guitar for them.
Controversy
Since 1997 controversy has surrounded Cort and Cor-Tek due to its alleged mistreatment of factory workers. Grievances include the closing of its Daejon factory with no advanced warning on April 9, 2007, mass redundancies of all staff from its Incheon plant on April 12, 2007, and the firing and mistreatment of union officials and members.
On July 12, 2007 a Cort worker set himself on fire in protest, and on October 15, 2008 workers conducted a 30-day hunger strike and sit-in occupation on a 40 meter electricity tower. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian - both partners in the Axis Of Justice - joined representatives of the Cort workers in a protest concert against Cort and Cor-tek on January 13, 2010 at the Nanum Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Morello said "I fully support the Korean workers' demands for justice in the workplace. All American guitar manufacturers and the people that play them should hold Cort accountable for the awful way they have treated their workers."
Notable players
- Larry Coryell
- Matt Murphy
- Neil Zaza
- Billy Cox
- T.M.Stevens
- Ettore Rigotti
- Ricky Garcia
- Francis Dunnery
- Hiram Bullock
- Brendon Urie
- Yağmur Sarıgül
- Juraj Jankech
- Matthias Jabs
- Gene Simmons
- Joe Beck
- Pedro Pardo
- Kirp Stammet
- Slash
- Christopher Duska
- Al X
Sources
- Cort History(broken link)
External links
- Cort's official website
- Cort UK Distributor Website
- Westheimer Corp. website
- Jack Westheimer's history at Vintage Guitar.com
- CNN article about Avalon/Cort contract
- www.wopeclub.kotef.or.kr
- Cort's Japan official website
- Article on Tom Morello's Protest Concert
- Cort Guitar Workers Action Website
- Documentary on Cort Workers
Categories:- Guitar manufacturing companies
- Electric bass guitars by manufacturer
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