South Korean guitar giant Cort has revealed an overhauled X500, dubbed the Menace – a none-more-metal six-string with a host of heavy appointments.
Underneath the black satin paint job, the latest addition to the X Series offers a traditional tonewood pairing of maple-capped mahogany, which is shaped with deep cutaways and an ergonomic profile.
Then there’s the neck. It’s a seven-piece construction of maple, purple heart (similar to hard maple, but slightly warmer in tone) and panga panga (AKA wenge) in a neck-thru build, with an ebony fingerboard.
That might sound a little complex on paper but visually at least, the result is quite stunning - just check out that shot of the back of the instrument...
There’s also a 12-16” compound radius fingerboard and a reverse headstock design to top it off.
In terms of electronics, the headline feature is probably the Seymour Duncan Nazgûl and Sentient humbucker pairing, both of which are high output but passive pickups.
Controls are kept simple with just one pot each for volume and tone and a three-way pickup selector.
Finally, there’s the hardware which is mostly unbranded and all-black, in keeping with the X500’s metal credentials, the notable exception being the Floyd Rose 1000 Series tremolo.
Cort says the X500 has an MSRP of $1,349 and a likely street price of $849.
Head over to Cort Guitars (opens in new tab) for more info.
