Cort

Cort Guitars is a guitar manufacturer centered in South Korea. The company is one of the largest guitar makers in the world, and produces instruments for many other companies. They have factories in Indonesia, Korea and China where as Cort Guitars made in Indonesia is ranked higher than other factories in term of quality by Cort Community around the world. Jack Westheimer set up business connections with Japanese guitar makers in the 1960s with the intention of importing Japanese made guitars into America. Some of the many brands that Jack Westheimer is associated with were Teisco, Cortez, Pearl, Silvertone, Kingston, Cort and many others. In 1973, Jack Westheimer founded the Yoo-Ah company (“you-and-I”) in South Korea with Young H. Park as a business partner. The Yoo-Ah company would eventually be called Cor-Tek which was named after Jack Westheimer's Cortez brand name. Young H. Park eventually acquired the operations of the Cor-Tek company. Cor-Tek manufactures Cort branded guitars as well as engaging in contract OEM manufacturing for numerous brands such as Lotus.

Cort does not have a model of guitar that could be called their “signature,” like Fender and the Stratocaster or Gibson and the Les Paul. Instead, Cort produces a very large line of guitars to fit different guitarists and genres of music. Cort produces a wide variety of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, acoustic bass guitars, and electric basses, with the main emphasis being on producing a good product at a competitive price. Up until 2006, Cort manufactured a line of high quality guitars under the name 'Cort Parkwood'. In 2006, Cort turned Parkwood into a brand of its own and now does not feature the Cort name or logo. This is a brand sold exclusively through big box stores such as Guitar Center. Cort continues to manufacture the Parkwood Brand in South Korea although it is printed "Handcrafted in China" inside the guitar body. The Hybrid series coming from Indonesia. Cort’s main production focus is not on Cort-brand guitars, but rather on contract work for numerous other companies. Generally, large companies contract Cort to build lower-priced guitars that have that company’s brand on them. Ibanez, Parkwood, Squier, G&L Tribute series line of guitars are among the most well-known brands that Cort produces. In recent years, small companies known for extremely high quality (and high-priced) guitars have begun contracting Cort to produce budget line models. Avalon, based out of Northern Ireland, sold 8,000 guitars and more than doubled their income from the previous year when they contracted Cort to build a lower-priced guitar for them.

www.cortguitars.com