Cort ukuleles

Jerwin

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Messages
147
Reaction score
0
Location
Czech Republic
Hello there,

anyone had an opportunity to try this? What's that like?

Looks cool and is very cheap. Solid blackwood, they say. Never heard of the wood.
 
Is there supposed to be a picture or link? Blackwood used a lot in Australia and is a relative of acacia. It's all solid wood and I suppose it's relatively inexpensive for an all solid wood uke with a gig bag included. Southern Ukulele sells them for 209 pounds..not terribly "cheap." The demo on youtube has a guitarist using a pick, so hard to get an idea on how it sounds when strummed with fingers.
 
Last edited:
They look OK and if lite build and not overbuild may be OK. I have a Cort parlour guitar with solid spruce top and laminated back/sides and it is well built and sounds good. It would be interesting to hear an HMS quality/ Cory sound sample but that is unlikely to happen since all retailers seem to be in Australia. Wood looks fine and it says bone nut and saddle but doesn't mention Grover tuners by name! IMHO without playing or hearing a quality sample I'd pass.

Just noticed that Maton now is making a solid Blackwood tenor. They make good guitar but same thinking on them.. I'd like to play both tenors to decide for myself I lieu of some quality sound samples!

My .02 worth!
 
Blackwood is NICE. Don't be put off by the wood. It is well-known here in Australia. I have no idea about the maker, though.
 
Cort and Samick are two of the largest stringed instrument makers in the world! They build for brands you know....Fender, Gibson, Alvarez, Ibanez...for example Gibson's Epiphone brand was built by Samick for over a decade. My Ibanez SR Basses, which I love, are made by Cort. These companies are called OEM, Original Equipment Manufacture, companies. At times, there can be contracts that limit the number of OEM branded instruments that they can distribute in the US. For example if Gibson commits to buying 70,000 Epiphone labeled Samick products and they buy that many, then Samick, by contract, may be prohibited from importing any Samick branded stringed instruments into the US! Also, Cort and Samick are both Korean companies.

That said, normally OEM instruments are really good buys. You cut out the middle man! That said, these companies are better at building than marketing! Fender/Gibson are brands with marketing depts. If it plays and sounds good, I'd buy it!
 
So I played the concert version of Cort uke. What a nice sounding and pretty looking uke. Quite a bang for the money.
 
Good to hear someone played one. I'm glad they sound good and look good. Move played solid wood Gretchen Ukuleles and they were all overbuild. My Cort guitar is nice for what it is. Doesn't seem to be any retailers in North American handling Cort which is a shame if it's a good option. I've always wanted to playa Australian Blackwood built ukulele.
 
"I've always wanted to playa Australian Blackwood built ukulele."

My luthier built an Australian Blackwood uke. I didn't sound much different than the "Oakuleles" he built, but it sure was pretty.
 
Agreed on the wood looking nice. Lots of building in Australia seem to build with Blackwood. I'm sure builder had a lot to do with how good a Ukulele sounds and some can make any wood sound good!
 
I was just browsing the Southern Ukulele Store's webshop, and the cort ukes caught my eye, particularly the concert size.
I hope I can get more info here than on the rest of the web :)

Any sound examples of the concert cort online?
Google doesn't help, but perhaps there is a youtube clip that doesn't have the ukulele brand mentioned but still use it.

How is the fretboard size compared to other ukuleles, such as the Kala models?
I am mostly concerned with the depth, which I prefer small, but the width is also interesting.
 
I've played one in a store. It's a great uke. Seen 2 pieces both very well made.
 
As no sound examples are available for the Cort concert, I am trying to get an idea based on the wood. Perhaps not plausible.

So blackwood is a sort of akacia, and so is koa. Does that mean that it will sound more like koa than like mahogany or spruce?
 
If you contact S.U.S. they can likely give you the info. :)

Edit: Here's a couple of clips that might interest you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji0jGwrst-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91-ZiTVWWSg

Thank you for the links Keith. Seems that Koa and Blackwood sound pretty different.
I should probably wait a few month before buying one, I have a lot of moving and traveling scheduled and won't have time to play it. If no sound examples show up online before then, I will ask the store to compare it to some ohanas that also look nice.
 
"Seems that Koa and Blackwood sound pretty different."

Probably not as different as you'd think if judging by those clips. There's a lot of overlap and shared characteristics between the two. You'd discern more difference between different pieces of each, than from two similar pieces of different species.

I haven't played the Cort ukuleles, but they make really great mid priced guitars that compare well against similar offerings from the top names that cost 2x - 5x as much.
 
I think you'd need the same builder to build 2 similar ukes out of koa and blackwood, to see if the wood sounds all that different.
 
I think you'd need the same builder to build 2 similar ukes out of koa and blackwood, to see if the wood sounds all that different.

Well, one of the videos show pretty much that.
Not an all Blackwood uke, but one where some koa parts are replaced with Blackwood. And it sounds less "warm"than the similar looking koa uke.
 
These Cort ukuleles are apparently built to Martin blueprints, as are Sigma Guitars range of Mahogany ukuleles.

I own a Sigma tenor and concert, and these are damn fine intstruments, full and resonant. The concert is quite spectacular actually.
So the new Corts are another alternative to the Mexican Martins. Now you can chose between Koa, Blackwood and Mahogany (if you are not concerned about the sticker).
They all come with the same gigbag even.
A great deal, especially for Europeans. For people in the US, the price gap to the Mexican Martins isn't quite as big.

If Cort has the wood under control and didn't go conservative with the thickness, these should be good.

Btw. these aren't rip-offs by any means. Sigma Guitars builts their ukuleles in license with Martin, and Cort will surely do likewise.
 
Shimmy,
Where did you buy the Sigma ukulele. I inquired a tear ago in Canada with a dealer claiming to represent them and nothing. I heard the tenor samples on You Tube from UK dealer. As far as I can tell no dealers in North America yet they look like good value. I would thing the same about Cort. Only dealers advertising are in Australia. No sound sample but the Blackwood looks great. I gave a Cort acoustic guitar and they are good value and sound good. Same with some of the old Sigma guitars from the 70's. Just curious why these two be brands are not more widely distributed
 
Top Bottom