"Just as good as many affordable Squier, Epiphone, or Yamaha guitars I’ve played": Cort G200SE review

What is it?

The Cort GS200SE combines a retro-inspired paint lineup with a thoroughly modern build quality, aiming to deliver the ideal beginner electric guitar for new players. Crafted in Indonesia at the Cor-Tek factory, which has cultivated a reputation for manufacturing instruments for PRS, Fender, Ibanez, Jackson, and many more, it’s a busy market to enter, so can the GS200SE set itself apart from the competition?

Delivering a roasted maple neck and fretboard combo at this price is certainly an eyebrow-raising prospect, a feature that just a few short years ago would only be found on more expensive and boutique guitars. With the roasting process now becoming more accessible and more importantly, a lot cheaper, for a lot of manufacturers it’s actually now cheaper to roast a neck than varnish it.

There are a lot of plus points to doing this beyond cost though, as roasting a neck rids it of any excess moisture, which results in a much more stable product. Down the line, this also prevents any oils or moisture from entering the wood, theoretically increasing its lifespan. Once the torrefaction has taken place, the neck will then resist humidity changes better than a varnished neck, so to have all of this on what is a budget guitar is a real boon for new players.

For me, a HSS pickup configuration is a great choice for a beginner player as it is arguably the most versatile lineup you can get. A covered humbucker resides in the bridge position of the G200SE, with two single-coil pickups in the middle and neck positions. These ‘Powersound’ pickups are manufactured by Cort themselves to help reduce the overall cost, and have a single tone knob and five-way pickup selector to control the sound selection. A six-point tremolo and die-cast tuning machines complete the hardware offering.

Specs

• Launch price: $249/£170/€285
• Made: Indonesia
• Type: Six-string electric guitar
• Body: Poplar
• Neck: Roasted maple
• Fingerboard: Roasted maple
• Scale length: 25.5″ (648mm)
• Nut width: 42mm
• Frets: 22
• Hardware: Die-cast tuning machines, six-point tremolo bridge
• String spacing at bridge: 51.7mm
• Electrics: Cort Powersound humbucker and 2 single coils, master volume, master tone, 5-way pickup selector
• Weight: 6lbs 5oz (2.86kg)
• Left-handed options: No
• Finishes: Scarlet Red, Seafoam Green, Aged Cream (as reviewed)
• Case: No
• Contact: Cort

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

Cor-Tek manufactures a lot of different guitars, so I’m not surprised when I pull an immaculately constructed example out of the box. What is a surprise, however, is the colour. Described as ‘Aged Cream’ on the website, the guitar that comes out of the box is very much a ballet shoe pink, and not really anywhere close to the cream I envisioned, so buyer beware. There are a couple of small dings in the paint where the neck bolts have been put in, but aside from that, it’s flawlessly finished.

The neck is stunning too. It’s a deep brown that makes it look very boutique, with a lovely figuring across the front and back. The fretwork is phenomenal too. As good as I’ve seen on a guitar at this price point, and better than I’ve seen on some guitars costing a lot more. The hardware is applied really well, with everything looking neatly in line and securely installed.

The body is the classic S-style, with a very modern forward shift that makes the top horn stick out a lot further than the bottom one. It gives it a decidedly contemporary look when combined with the roasted maple neck, so there’s more than a hint of super-Strat vibe here. The sculpted neck heel on the reverse adds to this modern aesthetic, as does the tummy cut for additional comfort.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★☆

Cort doesn’t state a neck profile on its website, but I compared it to my Player Plus Telecaster and it feels very much in line with the Modern ‘C’ on that guitar. Using my Tele as a comparison, the frets on the G200SE feel ever so slightly smaller than the medium jumbo I usually play. The bottom cutaway is very generous, which, combined with that sculpted neck heel, means there’s plenty of room to move up to the higher frets.

The G200SE comes with a set of D’Addario 9s, and my review model was very well set up. The string height sits at 1.7mm and 1.5mm at the 12th fret whilst I fret the 1st note, on both the low and high E strings respectively. Nothing chokes out when I bend up beyond the 12th frets either. The intonation is good, so this guitar is ready to rock straight out of the box.

The fretboard feels really comfortable in my hand with a 9.45” radius, and it doesn’t take me long to get up to speed, my typical arsenal of licks flowing freely within minutes. The frets feel fantastic to bend against, and although the guitar does go out of tune when I start leaning into some two-step bends, it holds up admirably for the most part.

Leaning on the tremolo I find the action of it is quite nice, despite not being much of a fan of six-point trems. It moves smoothly enough that you can do some nice subtle work on it, but once you start leaning more heavily it does send the guitar out of tune. This is typical of tremolos on lower-priced guitars in my experience, and if you’re careful with it you won’t have too many problems.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

I begin my tone testing with the humbucker position and the Universal Audio Lion amp model, playing through my UA audio interface and studio monitors. Not expecting the world given the price, I find a pleasingly fat and full tone that immediately gets me laying into some power chord riffing. There’s plenty of mid-range energy here, and when I augment my power chords with some lead playing and a little spring reverb, it sounds very compelling.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the single coil sounds. There’s not much warmth in the neck position; it sounds a little uninspired, especially compared to how good the bridge humbucker is. The in-between sounds don’t deliver those classic honky Strat tones either. There are some subtle hints of quackiness when playing clean, but they quickly get covered up as soon as I start adding any overdrive or distortion.

For beginners, these tones will be absolutely fine, but anyone with more experience will likely want to swap the single coils out for something more invigorating. I manage to eke out some decent quackiness in position 4, but position 2 doesn’t really deliver at all, sounding really dull when the bridge humbucker is combined with the middle position.

Verdict

With so many beginner guitars out there at the moment, the level of competition has really elevated the quality across the board. It’s interesting because a Cort guitar is never going to have the same pull as the bigger brands, but the G200SE is just as good as many affordable Squier, Epiphone, or Yamaha guitars I’ve played. It's certainly a world apart from the beginner instruments I cut my teeth on over 20 years ago.

It’s not perfect of course, especially with the colour, which I think is a bit of a clanger. Anyone expecting a cream guitar is going to be very disappointed if they receive this instrument. The tremolo isn’t phenomenal either, particularly when you lean on it, but then that is pretty common across beginner instruments so I can forgive it that particular sin.

MusicRadar verdict: Delivering fantastic build quality and a truly captivating humbucker tone, the Cort G200SE is incredibly good value for money, and demonstrates just how good the beginner guitar market is right now. The roasted maple neck makes this guitar feel a lot more premium than it costs, and although the single coils are a little lackluster, these can be upgraded in time.

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