Cort G250 HSS | Part 1

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First Impressions

Here's a Cort G250 HSS that's come in all the way from Maran. The owner bought it brand new about a year ago, and has had the electronics worked on at a music store in Temerloh. He's brought the G250 to me today as he's unhappy with the way it plays and sounds. A quick look at some specs, then. It says "Made in Indonesia" on the back of the headstock, so we know where it comes from. Next, the serial number "IE210401588" tells us that it was manufactured in 2021.

Headstock Label

Serial Number

  

This guitar is finished in what Cort terms "Silver Metallic," and features a basswood body, bolt-on hard maple neck and jatoba fretboard. The jatoba fretboard is radiused at 14 inches, with a standard S-style scale length of 25-1/2 inches, 22 medium-jumbo frets, white pearloid dot inlays; and white dot side markers.

Silver Metallic Finish

Basswood Body

Hard Maple Neck

Jatoba Fretboard

The bolt-on neck joint on the G250 is not your run-of-the-mill square-cut heel and rectangular neck plate combo. Instead, it is of the "contoured heel" variety, secured by four neck screws and bushings. According to Cort, this feature enables "easier and smoother access to the frets in the high register" of the jatoba fretboard.

Bolt-On Neck Joint

Neck Heel - Top/Left

Neck Heel - Top/Right

Neck Heel - Back/Left

Neck Heel - Back/Center

Neck Heel - Back/Right

  

Electronics-wise, the G250 is outfitted with a set of "Cort® Alnico V H-S-S" pickups comprising, you guessed it; two Alnico V single-coils and a humbucker. The pickups are wired to a five-way blade switch, master volume, master tone, and output jack. Pulling up on the master tone engages a coil-cut switch, enabling the humbucker to operate in single-coil mode. The coil-cut switch isn't functioning at present, despite being worked on at the aforementioned music store. It does, however, still function as a master tone. In any case, the owner seems to have lost interest in coil-cutting, so we might be replacing the faulty component with a plain and simple 500K audio pot.

HSS Pickup Configuration

Selector Switch/Master Volume/Master Tone

Coil Cut Switch Engaged

Output Jack/Jack Plate

Hardware on this instrument is predominantly chrome, and this includes the die-cast tuners, "butterfly" string trees, "mushroom head" strap buttons, output jack plate, pickguard and back plate screws, two-point tremolo bridge; and screw-in tremolo arm. Speaking of string trees, closer inspection reveals that the "wings" have curved bottoms. This is quite unlike the flat-bottomed wings one is used to seeing. My take on this is that the curved bottoms minimize the area of string tree/string contact, thereby reducing the chances of snagging.

Die-Cast Tuners

String Trees - Curved Bottoms

String Trees - Top

Mushroom Head Strap Buttons

Mother of Toilet Seat Back Cover

The two-point-tremolo bridge is currently out of whack, leaning backwards against the body with the strings in tune. We'll be doing something about that, rest assured. This tremolo features twin pivot posts, bent stainless steel saddles, a steel base plate, and screw-in tremolo arm.

Tremolo Bridge - Top

Tremolo Bridge - Right

Screw-In Tremolo Arm

Arm Installed - Left

Arm Installed - Top

Arm Installed - Right