MusicRadar Verdict
A great value and tonally adept multiscale 7-string with oodles of mid and low-end clarity thanks to those Fishman pickups, which, from afar, looks great - but it might be a bit too rustic for some tastes.
Pros
- +
Fishman Fluence pickups doing the business again
- +
Great value multiscale 7-stringer
- +
Bags of tone with the three voice options
Cons
- -
Pots feel too cheap at this price point
- -
Inconsistent finish
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What is it?
The KX507MS Pale Moon is the latest 7-string, multiscale electric guitar in Cort’s KX range. This newest version takes its name from the Pale Moon ebony top which is backed up by the same mahogany body found in the rest of the lineup.
The KX series is one of Cort’s thoroughly modern guitar ranges, aimed at the heavier end of the musical spectrum. The KX507MS is the third multiscale model to land since the KX307 dropped back in 2018.
The Pale Moon ebony with a natural black burst is quite a striking finish, which has divided opinion in the office since its arrival, but more on that a bit later. The veneer is quite the departure from the burl tops we’ve encountered recently and it’s nice to see a manufacturer mix things up in this department.
Specs
- Launch price: $949/£799
- Made: Indonesia
- Type: Seven-string multiscale electric guitar
- Body: Mahogany w/Pale Moon ebony top
- Neck: Bolt-on 5-ply maple and purpleheart, D-shape
- Fingerboard: Macassar ebony
- Scale length: 25.5″-27″ / 648mm-686mm (multiscale)
- Nut/width: Black PPS / 52.3mm
- Frets: 24 frets, jumbo, stainless steel
- Hardware: Cort locking tuners, individual bridge saddles w/string-through body
- Electrics: Fishman Fluence Modern Humbuckers, volume push-pull: voice 1 (push), voice 2 (pull). Tone push-pull: humbucker (push), voice 3 (pull) (coil-split)
- Options: N/A
- Left-handed options: None
- Finishes: Natural Black Burst
- Cases: Softcase
- Contact: Cort guitars
Build quality
Build quality rating: ★★★★½
On first inspection, the ebony Pale Moon top looks great from afar, but up close, I wasn’t too enamored by it. Determined to look past my preconceptions on open-pore finishes, something didn’t seem quite right.
The grain looks too busy and the excessive staining makes it look unnatural. To me, it seems to distract from the beauty of the wood choice. If you're not familiar with Pale Moon, some of the best examples are quite wide-grained and the blonde wood really accentuates the darkness of said grain.
Elsewhere, the tone pot doesn’t sit as flush to the body as the volume, which is needlessly irksome. More importantly, both pots feel quite cheap and are ever so slightly bent, delivering that annoying wobble on rotation.
The remaining hardware package of locking tuners and bridge is reassuringly robust and well-made. Generally, the rest of the build is solid, with hardly any imperfections and the set-up is nice and low, inviting plenty of riffage.
Playability
Playability rating: ★★★★½
On first picking up the Pale Moon, the neck didn’t feel as fast or smooth as I hoped. Mostly down to the fact that the matte finish felt so dry, almost too natural-a-finish, so it took a while for my grubby digits natural oils to form a smooth and swift barrier to the finish. Once they did, it delivered the much-needed comfort and speed I was hoping for.
I would class myself as an ocassional multiscale guitar player, but every time I’ve picked one up, I have found it easy to adapt to the change. With the wider neck of a seven-string guitar, the improved access on the higher frets is most welcome, although I do have to switch up my hand position a tad at the other end of the fretboard.
It’s a combination that sings even under the great duress of distortion.
Give it a couple of hours, and you’ll not notice the difference, until you go back to a regular six-stringer and frets, that is. Everything just feels weird chopping between the two. But that's not a fault of the guitar, rather a learning curve for any guitar of this style.
The neck is super flat and doesn't feel too unwieldy, even in my diminutive palms, aided by the low action, adding to the comfort overall.
Sounds
Sounds rating: ★★★★½
Despite my misgivings with the aesthetics of the top wood choice, you cannot fault this guitar’s resonant qualities, especially when paired with the mahogany body and through-body string arrangement decked out with the EXL110-7 strings from D’Addario. It’s a combination that sings even under the great duress of distortion. Of course, much of that is down to the pickups.
The Fishman Fluence Modern Humbucker pickups provide three voices, courtesy of the push-pull controls. The volume features selection between voices one and two, while a pull of the tone pot will unleash the coil-split option.
The differences between voices one and two are subtle and offer different characteristics when playing through clean or distorted tones. The latter really responds well to voice one and delivers real clarity in the mids without losing out on low-end power. To my ears, voice two has a more vintage feel, and I found it suited cleans with a smattering of overdrive very well.
The coil-split option allows you to cut straight through any mix and delivers that Strat-like spank you expect from single coils. Aside from the humbucker voicing options, the three-way toggle switch adds even more tonal variance into the mix.
Verdict
It was only when I had a look at the Cort website that I could see what it's trying to achieve with the finish on this guitar, because the model I received does not look quite as striking, in my opinion.
It's both a blessing and a curse with this type of wood veneer. On one hand, no two guitars will look alike - brilliant. On the other hand, ordering one before clapping eyes on it will be a bit of a potential lottery.
This is the second Cort guitar I’ve reviewed recently where I have taken umbrage with the open-pore finish. Now, this is not to say that I’m fully against this type of thing; it’s just that I think you have to spend a bit more to get good, consistent results.
If you like your guitars a bit on the rustic side, then you’re quids in. Like most open-grain finishes, this open-pore style will also relic quite quickly, and I have a feeling that the Pale Moon ebony will age very nicely.
The dual push-pull pots, while uncluttered and neat to the eye, are actually less practical while playing. The last Fluence-shod guitar I played featured a toggle switch for voice-selection and I've only now realised I much prefer the ease of flicking a switch over trying to grab a pot mid-song. Not to mention, it would be nigh on impossible under sweaty, live conditions.
I warmed up to the neck once I got a few hours of playing in and those Fishmans are just beautifully brutal - you cannot fault the sonics on the Pale Moon. It is very capable in the tone department and will give you the confidence to stray further from the metal path, but the allure of the heavy will swiftly entice you back in.
At the end of the day, this is a Cort and we're accustomed to the no-nonsense build quality, which is backed up by excellent value in the features stakes. Proving that this is one of the best value 7-string, multiscale guitars around.
Test | Results | Score |
|---|---|---|
Build quality | The finish is objectively divisive, but another solid build from Cort | ★★★★½ |
Playability | A flat neck and low action equals speed once you've adjusted to the multiscale format | ★★★★½ |
Sounds | Coil-split and dual voicing from the Fluences gives you a lot of tonality to play with | ★★★★½ |
Overall | A cracking value for money prog/metal slaying machine | ★★★★½ |
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