NGD: Cort X700 Duality.

grayn

For a number of years, I have been impressed with the higher end models in Cort's range of electric guitars and basses and have owned a fair few.  One model I have been keen on but has never quite come into my grasp, is the X700 Duality.  Now the X700 has come in a variety of formats.  This Duality, as it has 2 pickups.  The Mutility, which is a multi-scale model and the Triality, which 3 pickups, in the HSS format.  There is even a Duality II now, which has a mahogany body and Fishman Fluence pickups.

This preowned Duality has a swamp ash body, with a maple top and Seymour Duncan SH2N & TB4 Humbuckers.  And as much as some Fluence pickups have impressed me, I do prefer these Seymour Duncans.  The spec on this guitar is impressive, with stainless steel frets, ebony fingerboard, luminlay dot markers along the neck, a high quality, 2-point, Cort tremolo, with a recess underneath to give very smooth pitch changes, both up and down, with a good range too.  Locking tuners, which to my way of thinking, are essential these days, both for holding tune and easing string changes.  The 3-peice neck of maple and panga panga, has a lovely, organic look and feel.  Control wise, it has one tone, one volume and a 5-way pickup selector, which gives you 2 single-coil options.  Coil tapped humbuckers never quite reach the heights of a high quality SC on a Strat but these do sound a lot closer than many others I have owned, some of which were a lot pricier.

So, brought home and plugged into my gear, what's it like.  Well, it balances perfectly on a strap and the pickups are very nice indeed, whether clean, crunchy or heavily distorted.  The shop have set this up just right, IMO.  The neck is very comfy and the fingerboard is a real pleasure to play on.  No acclimatizing necessary here.

The looks of the X700 are fairly unique and show the different woods used in the body.  Some will hate it, I am sure but I like the looks and as with many guitars, it looks better in the flesh, than it does in photos.  so, it looks good, plays beautifully and sounds pretty awesome.  Not bad for not a lot of cash.  Well done Cort.

Grumpyrocker

Nice guitar. I like the Cort models too. I have a rather nice seven string from the company.

skullfunkerry

Nice! I had an X300 until recently, it was a very good guitar. Always liked the look of the Duality, and nearly bought a Mutility at one point. I think my Jackson was made by Cort too, and that is also an excellent guitar