Cort Gold Edge

This is one gorgeous guitar. As mentioned in the other review, the Myrtlewood is not a beautiful as I was expecting, but every piece is different. The depth of the flame is amazing, and mine had a big variation between dark and light wood. The top is nice, with a slightly roasted colour down the centre. The fretboard is the nicest piece of ebony I've ever seen. Fretwork is perfect, inlays are perfect, it's flawless as far as I can tell.

The sound is excellent, as expected. It has a very tight, punchy midrange, with exceptional articulation , and a big, but not boomy bottom end. I initially didn't think it had quite enough bottom end, but I adjusted my picking position, and it sounded great. Over-compensating for the round-overs. My favourite acoustic guitar is a 25 years old Cort Earth 500, and this guitar is as good as it is, trading a little bottom end for better articulation. This is no small praise, as I picked this guitar out of a group of Martins, Guilds, etc. I haven't actually tried the pickup system yet.

The playability is the best I've ever tried. The nut is cut perfectly and the intonation is spot-on. The action is very low for an acoustic, with a perfect buzz-free setup. because of the comfort cuts, I I find myself wrapping myself around the guitar almost, when playing quietly. The slightly smaller than Dreadnought size probably contributes to this as well. I haven't yet tried it playing in a standing position.

An added bonus is the smell. I love the smell of the wood. It smells like Walnut to me, but it might be the Myrtlewood.

I think my only "complaint" about this guitar has to do with the strings. They're a very high quality coated string, but the resonant frequency of the guitar *really* amplifies and finger slide noise. It's piercing. I'm guessing a different set of strings will be enough to tame this a bit. It may also have to do what that "wrapping myself around the guitar". You get a very good position for your ear relative to the sound hole.