00:00The best acoustic you've never heard under $600.
00:09This is the Cort Essence GA4.
00:12This thing has showed up a couple weeks ago for me.
00:14I've had it for a little bit.
00:16And here's my thoughts as I've played this guitar.
00:18First of all, I should lead with it sounds freaking amazing.
00:22It is the thing that has kept me up at night
00:26is how much sustain this guitar has,
00:29how long these notes ring out.
00:32I've played with it a little bit.
00:34I've recorded with it a little bit.
00:35And I'm just shocked at how long these notes last.
00:47I also am really happy with how bright and clear this guitar is.
00:53But it also does a thing that affordable guitars usually don't get to do.
00:57It has this warmth and low end and bass
01:00that most of the time guitars that have a lot of glue in the back and sides
01:04have a cheapy kind of way they attach the neck to the body.
01:07Usually those guitars, they just get robbed of the thing that you love most,
01:11that you want bass and clarity and low end.
01:14So I was surprised at this guitar, at how long these notes rang out.
01:18I was surprised at how comfortable this guitar is to play.
01:21It's not an unusual shape.
01:22It's a Grand Auditorium.
01:24It's a triple-O-ish kind of size, but it's really comfortable.
01:28I think the big hang-up for most people is going to be the headstock,
01:31the fact that this says Cort.
01:32Now, the reason why, because, listen,
01:35all this part is amazing, really exciting, really well-made.
01:39Cort knows how to make great guitars
01:41because they're making guitars for other brands.
01:44Like, they're making PRS Acoustics.
01:45They're making Orangewood Acoustics.
01:48They're making lots of acoustic guitars that I like,
01:51and I've put my name behind, and I really enjoy those.
01:54The really sad reality of a lot of guitar culture
01:57is that we hear guitars with our eyes.
02:00We look at the headstock.
02:02We look at the inlays.
02:04We look at the name on the label inside the guitar.
02:07And then we make decisions on whether that guitar sounds good or not
02:10by what we have seen.
02:12One thing that I admire so much about younger guitar players
02:15is that they don't listen to older wisdom,
02:19and I think that's great.
02:20Younger players, what I'm finding is,
02:22they play what sounds good,
02:24and they play what they can afford.
02:25And so this thing fits both of those really, really well.
02:28It sounds great.
02:43Now, some of the things that make this guitar sound so good,
02:46that torrified spruce top.
02:48It has this really rich, beautiful color
02:50that normally this is going to take, like, 50 to 70 years.
02:53Like, you look at my old country western.
02:55I mean, that thing took a long time
02:57to get that kind of beautiful amber-darky color.
03:00And then this thing.
03:02So you're getting a jump on some of just the aesthetics,
03:05because we listen to guitars with our eyes.
03:08But also, it just sounds really good.
03:10Sounds really warm and bassy.
03:12Has so much clarity.
03:14Aesthetically, it's a lot.
03:15So there's a lot of herringbone around the sides
03:17and then around the rosette.
03:19But I think being around the rosette
03:22doesn't force this guitar.
03:23It's not a very vintage thing.
03:24And it pulls it into 80s, 90s,
03:27to where this guitar still feels.
03:29I feel like most modern guitars, as we know them,
03:31kind of arrived in the 1990s.
03:34But it continues to kind of capture
03:36this classic essence of the guitar.
03:38So that's one of the thoughts I wanted to talk about,
03:41is, okay, it's a bold claim
03:43to say this has the essence of a proper vintage guitar.
03:46This is a new guitar with an old soul,
03:49or at least the torrified top
03:50kind of steers you in a direction
03:52that gives you these warmer, more vintage-y tones.
03:54Think back to Eric Clapton
03:55and his guitars that you've seen him play forever.
03:58Or Sitka spruce top,
03:59and those have a rosewood back and sides
04:00compared to the mahogany.
04:02But those guitars,
04:03the essence of a pre-war guitar
04:06is both the quality of the materials going into it
04:09and the skills and procedure
04:12by which that thing's put together.
04:14And so great materials
04:16partnered with excellent execution and construction
04:19make for a great guitar.
04:21So I can see in my brain,
04:24I can see a pretty straight line
04:25between the goal of this guitar
04:28and the execution of this guitar.
04:30It sounds really, really good.
04:32Again, I was so surprised
04:34by the resonance and the clarity.
04:36And I really like this guitar.
04:38And man, I think it lives up
04:41to what I'd hoped it would be.
04:43And I think it is worthy of the name Essence.
04:46This does have that vintage essence
04:48that feels like an old guitar.
04:50And I'll close with this thought.
04:52The best guitars are the guitars
04:54that become invisible.
04:56When you're singing,
04:57when you're playing,
04:58when you're performing,
04:59you're not thinking about the guitar.
05:00They just become part of you.
05:02The best version of you
05:04is not the one that is sitting there
05:06thinking about gear
05:07and how you're playing
05:08and what your right hand's doing
05:09and is this guitar comfortable
05:11and do people like my guitar tone.
05:12No.
05:12The best version of you
05:14is the one that is just creating.
05:17Not thinking about it.
05:18You're just present.
05:20You're just there.
05:21You're making music.
05:22And you are expressing
05:23what's in your heart
05:24into the world.
05:25And so that's what this thing,
05:27I think this thing is able to do that.
05:30Thanks for watching this video.
05:31I'm Jeremy.
05:32I'm Guitar Hunter.
05:33And I'm very thankful
05:34that I got to be part of this video
05:37and this partnership
05:38talking about the court,
05:40GA4.
05:40Good work.
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