Video Timeline: - I’ve Never Heard of this Guitar Ever.. @ 0:25 - To Buy or Not Buy…? That is the Question.. @ 1:15 - Why are there Chinese Words on a Japan Guitar? @ 2:10 - Why does this remind of a Martin D-41 + D-28? @ 3:10 - So is this a True Laminate Guitar? @ 4:00 - What’s the Neck Profile Like? @ 5:30 - The Weakest Part of this Cortez.. BY FAR @ 6:15 - OVERALL GUITAR SCORE + FINAL THOUGHTS @ 7:10
Can you please do a review on Martin Lee guitars? They are in all over Asia and very cheap but build quality looks awesome and sounds good. These looks like Lawsuit guitars of Martin. All reviews are in Thai language, so if possible do a review in English please. czcams.com/users/results?search_query=martin+lee+est+1975
You're not thinking it through. There were indeed Martin, Gibson copies coming out of Japan in the 60s, 70s.. Some of which can be valuable. Current crooked Chinese mfg's picking up on that.. and making guitars under "Cortez" or other Lawsuit guitars names can essentially make money off selling "fakes of fakes".
It's a typical 1970's Japanese copy of a Martin acoustic. These guitars were very well built. I have one made by Morris with similar abalone in lays around the binding and soundhole. Mine was made in 1976 and is like new still. Many where made in the same factory. I agree the tuners are crappy but that can be replaced.
so what do you like more, the new techniques and materials that sell you a branded cheese that´s not real cheese if you look closely or a "no brand" product that reeks like the real thing? let me take a wild guess.
I'm pretty sure i used to come across morris acoustic guitars regularly like 15-20 years ago, back when I had no idea they were any good, but today... nothing
Most of the Japanese makers of the 60' and 70' started copying Spanish guitars (classic with nylon strings). Hence the Spanish sounding names... Ibanez, Cortez, Alvarez... In some point they started with acoustics, Les Paul copies... By the 80' they were building their own lines rivaling the brands they started copying.
The Cortez brand was given (by Westheimer) to a line of good-quality Martin-style dreadnoughts manufactured in Japan by the Hiyashi (or Yashi?) factory.
I have cortez j6000 from what ive read cortez was a company that was one of the first to import guitars from japan and maybe china as well. They made copys of martin guitars and were also sued hence the name lawsuit guitars. Mine has a different headstock as well as abolone inlays im assuming yours is a newer one. From my understanding they eventually became cort guitars.
There is NO way to tell if it is laminated by looking at the "grain" because what you are seeing is in fact a solid piece of wood...it is possibly a thin veneer but, none the less, it IS a solid sheet of real wood...the only way to tell if it is a laminate back is to look inside the instrument and try to visually match up the inside grain pattern with the outside pattern...sometimes it's really obvious...the inside might be mahogany while the outside is rosewood...
@@everysingleguitars Hi...I think you are confusing some common terms for guitar construction... Lamination typically means 2 or more pieces of REAL wood being glued together to fabricate either the top, back or sides of a guitar...you are talking about the builder using a DECAL or WATER TRANSFER that LOOKS like real wood to cover the actual wood used to make a particular piece...in the graphics industry that would be called a laminate but in guitar world it's not the correct term...sorry for the confusion :)
My Tama 3558S is a kind of jacaranda glued on rosewood for sides and back. So "high quality" laminated and a solid top. The latter is a must to my believe!
I just got A Cortley Japanese guitar from the Seventies . These were supposedly made by the same factory in Japan that made Cortez . Its a quality guitar that cost 300 dollars back in the seventies .
Cortez was originally made in Japan, and eventually moved to Korea. There should be a serial number on it. It is not Chinese. The reason the name is Spanish, is because classical guitars used to be sometimes called "Spanish" guitars, back in the day, and they started the brand selling classical guitars...I think in the 60s. I think this might Jack Westheimer's brand but I'm not sure....Now, many many brands were made in only a handful of factories. I think this guitar might be a Matsumoku....(that's a guess), and I would put the mfg date at probably early 70.s. The build is quite high if you know how to set them up. Cortez, also spun off cortley, and eventually had their own factory, and shortened the name to Cort. Yes, the same Cort. They are now the largest guitar manufacturer in the world. They make Fenders, and I don't know how many other brands........ I have 5 very rare high end build Corts, and have had two Cortez guitars in the past, both of which I played live on stage. I played a Cort Strat copy with the same script logo as yours, but it was mother of pearl or abalone inlaid, and it was a white strat, and I played it at the Mark Twain in Tampa, Fl in around 1983. I also had a Cortez Acoustic blonde Martin D45 copy with the even better abalone inlay....ooooh they were both sooooo nice. I played that guitar solo acoustic and vocals at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas, CA....it's a famous place....google it....so anyway, yeah, don't sell that guitar.....it is worth about 600.00, and will go up in value. Peace.
looks like one of those older asian lawsuit type guitars. probably 60s? most likely laminate body though but still these are pretty good guitars from what I've read
I have a similar guitar made in Japan in the late 70’s from a company that no longer exists called “BECKMEN”. It’s Dreadnought very similar to yours but with aesthetic differences.
The hay day of japanese guitar Manufactore was the 1970s A guy named jack wesheimer started the import the Cheaper laminated budget japanese guitars to the west in the late 60s. Cortez are still in Business today as Cort Guitars. Some of the top End solid wood hand made Japanese guitar of the 1970s were better build quality than both Martin & Gibson Dreadnaughts of the same period. ( most martins need a neck reset after 10 minites of use 😆 ) Yairi Tama Ibanez Takamine & Yamaki made some of the finest dreadnaught guitars of the 1970s Including world renowned Classical guitar Luthiers Masuru Kohno, Masaki Sakurai
The old Cortez I have seen the labels are in English but made in Japan . mabye this was made for the Hong Kong market ? All vintage 60 and 70's Japanese guitars made for the USA market had english labels and sometimes the model numbers indicated the suggested cost the higher the model number the more it was sold for.
@ 4:38, the outer surface of any laminate guitar or any plywood at home depot will always look like solid wood, every single time, because what you are looking at is only one solid layer of wood, you just can't see the layers behind it, so that is absolutely no indication or identification of whether it is solid or laminate. You have to look at it from the side view cross section to see any layers. If the inside grain pattern matches the outside grain pattern then it is probably solid, if it does not match, then it is a laminate.
I have a Takamine lawsuit guitar that is a copy of a Martin. I also have the Martin it is copied from (Takamine actually was supposed to produce guitars in Japan for Martin but the deal was cancelled and Takamine used the factory that was setup to build “exact” copies.) They feel the same but the real thing is light and rings like a bell. The Takamine is just other laminate guitar. Worth the $200 I paid for it.
The later Martin like models from Takamine ARE very good once they used at least solid woods for the top. When the Grateful Dead guitarist used them, they can't be that bad....
Man~ It was made in Taiwan where I live now. It's a local guitar brand in Taiwan, and I got one, too. Before 2003 yamaha used to has a guitar factory in Taiwan though.
@@everysingleguitars I did. Its just a small local acoustic store and brand here. It used to had not bad reputation in Taiwan, but now all the guitar is made in Chinese factory. I think all the Cort, Yamaha, and other big name are better now.
Check out the Reverb site, you should find a Cortez guitar fir sale and the info provided should be helpful. Reverb is a great site for all sorts of instruments. Good luck! I have a MIJ FG301-B, which was made in 1978 and it’s a great sounding guitar. I lucked out I got one in excellent condition!
I just purchased a mint TAKA Model No.TAW-600 Dreadnought Acoustic guitar. Sounds great but I can't find any info on this model or year it was made. I'm thinking maybe mid 70's Any help would be greatly appreciated!
The characters are Chinese because the Japanese adopted Chinese writing centuries ago. It has evolved and changed over the years, but the Japanese written language is mainly based on Chinese characters. My girlfriend, who is Chinese, can read a lot of Japanese but can't understand it, because it's like an Englishman can read German or Italian, because they use the same characters, but can't understand what the words mean, that's why your Chinese friends cannot translate it, ask someone from Japan..
You make it sound like a guitar being old is usually a bad thing? Usually guitars built between the 50s to late 60s in the US were the best. Now in terms of the quality of MIJ guitars that were made between the mid 70s to early 80s were of close to equal quality to the 50s to 60s made US instruments.
Japan uses Chinese characters very heavily. Also lots of countries that makes guitars name their brand using Spanish Bc they Bc f the world wide in fluid Spanish guitar.
I worked in a pawn shop as guitar tech or whatever you want to call it I had my eye on a Cortez Ferrari so I did my research and yeah it was a sleeper and I should have bought it when I knew about it but Cortez is the Japanese company who turned production to Korea and elsewhere after that after they moved it out of Japan
i would guess this is made in the matsumoku factory alongside aria acoustic guitars but branded for another company, probably a spanish or mexican one judging by the name. i have an aria 9411, yellow label, the only sunburst model of the aria 9410 i have ever seen. it is exactly the same from the dot inlays and headstock shape to the unusual v shaped neck profile and body dimensions. the only thing different is the sunburst finish and the tuners. hope this helps. cheers.
The Cortez brand was given (by Jack Westheimer) to a line of good-quality Martin-style dreadnoughts manufactured in Japan by the Hiyashi (or Yashi?) factory.
Video Timeline:
- I’ve Never Heard of this Guitar Ever.. @ 0:25
- To Buy or Not Buy…? That is the Question.. @ 1:15
- Why are there Chinese Words on a Japan Guitar? @ 2:10
- Why does this remind of a Martin D-41 + D-28? @ 3:10
- So is this a True Laminate Guitar? @ 4:00
- What’s the Neck Profile Like? @ 5:30
- The Weakest Part of this Cortez.. BY FAR @ 6:15
- OVERALL GUITAR SCORE + FINAL THOUGHTS @ 7:10
Can you please do a review on Martin Lee guitars? They are in all over Asia and very cheap but build quality looks awesome and sounds good. These looks like Lawsuit guitars of Martin. All reviews are in Thai language, so if possible do a review in English please.
czcams.com/users/results?search_query=martin+lee+est+1975
You're not thinking it through. There were indeed Martin, Gibson copies coming out of Japan in the 60s, 70s.. Some of which can be valuable. Current crooked Chinese mfg's picking up on that.. and making guitars under "Cortez" or other Lawsuit guitars names can essentially make money off selling "fakes of fakes".
I live for this channel’s intro
It will be on every .... video ... intro
It's a typical 1970's Japanese copy of a Martin acoustic. These guitars were very well built. I have one made by Morris with similar abalone in lays around the binding and soundhole. Mine was made in 1976 and is like new still. Many where made in the same factory. I agree the tuners are crappy but that can be replaced.
so what do you like more, the new techniques and materials that sell you a branded cheese that´s not real cheese if you look closely or a "no brand" product that reeks like the real thing? let me take a wild guess.
I have a cf mountain a Shiro and a yamaki and they are phenomenal
I'm pretty sure i used to come across morris acoustic guitars regularly like 15-20 years ago, back when I had no idea they were any good, but today... nothing
EVERY SINGLE GUITAR!!! If you get over even 1000 guitars that’s impressive
Most of the Japanese makers of the 60' and 70' started copying Spanish guitars (classic with nylon strings). Hence the Spanish sounding names... Ibanez, Cortez, Alvarez... In some point they started with acoustics, Les Paul copies... By the 80' they were building their own lines rivaling the brands they started copying.
The Cortez brand was given (by Westheimer) to a line of good-quality Martin-style dreadnoughts manufactured in Japan by the Hiyashi (or Yashi?) factory.
I have a J6000 love mine!!!!!!
I have cortez j6000 from what ive read cortez was a company that was one of the first to import guitars from japan and maybe china as well. They made copys of martin guitars and were also sued hence the name lawsuit guitars. Mine has a different headstock as well as abolone inlays im assuming yours is a newer one. From my understanding they eventually became cort guitars.
I have a j6000 as well 1970 with abalone inlay like D-41 with the 3 piece back. Love it great sound I have it drop D tuning sounds superb.
There is NO way to tell if it is laminated by looking at the "grain" because what you are seeing is in fact a solid piece of wood...it is possibly a thin veneer but, none the less, it IS a solid sheet of real wood...the only way to tell if it is a laminate back is to look inside the instrument and
try to visually match up the inside grain pattern with the outside pattern...sometimes it's really obvious...the inside might be mahogany while the outside is rosewood...
U can definitely tell if a guitar is laminated or real wood by looking at it closely….
@@everysingleguitars Hi...I think you are confusing some common terms for guitar construction...
Lamination typically means 2 or more pieces of REAL wood being glued together to fabricate either the top, back or sides of a guitar...you are talking about the builder using a DECAL or WATER TRANSFER that LOOKS like real wood to cover the actual wood used to make a particular piece...in the graphics industry that would be called a laminate but in guitar world it's not the correct term...sorry for the confusion :)
My Tama 3558S is a kind of jacaranda glued on rosewood for sides and back.
So "high quality" laminated and a solid top. The latter is a must to my believe!
I just got A Cortley Japanese guitar from the Seventies . These were supposedly made by the same factory in Japan that made Cortez . Its a quality guitar that cost 300 dollars back in the seventies .
Cortez was originally made in Japan, and eventually moved to Korea. There should be a serial number on it. It is not Chinese. The reason the name is Spanish, is because classical guitars used to be sometimes called "Spanish" guitars, back in the day, and they started the brand selling classical guitars...I think in the 60s. I think this might Jack Westheimer's brand but I'm not sure....Now, many many brands were made in only a handful of factories. I think this guitar might be a Matsumoku....(that's a guess), and I would put the mfg date at probably early 70.s. The build is quite high if you know how to set them up. Cortez, also spun off cortley, and eventually had their own factory, and shortened the name to Cort. Yes, the same Cort. They are now the largest guitar manufacturer in the world. They make Fenders, and I don't know how many other brands........ I have 5 very rare high end build Corts, and have had two Cortez guitars in the past, both of which I played live on stage. I played a Cort Strat copy with the same script logo as yours, but it was mother of pearl or abalone inlaid, and it was a white strat, and I played it at the Mark Twain in Tampa, Fl in around 1983. I also had a Cortez Acoustic blonde Martin D45 copy with the even better abalone inlay....ooooh they were both sooooo nice. I played that guitar solo acoustic and vocals at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas, CA....it's a famous place....google it....so anyway, yeah, don't sell that guitar.....it is worth about 600.00, and will go up in value. Peace.
Yes it turned to Cort when they left Japan
Great info. Thanks
looks like one of those older asian lawsuit type guitars. probably 60s? most likely laminate body though but still these are pretty good guitars from what I've read
I have a similar guitar made in Japan in the late 70’s from a company that no longer exists called “BECKMEN”. It’s Dreadnought very similar to yours but with aesthetic differences.
interesting.. never heard of beckmen
Cortez turned into Cort music Co I believe
The hay day of japanese guitar Manufactore was the 1970s
A guy named jack wesheimer started the import the Cheaper laminated budget japanese guitars to the west in the late 60s.
Cortez are still in Business today as Cort Guitars.
Some of the top End solid wood hand made Japanese guitar of the 1970s were better build quality than both Martin & Gibson
Dreadnaughts of the same period. ( most martins need a neck reset after 10 minites of use 😆 )
Yairi Tama Ibanez Takamine & Yamaki made some of the finest dreadnaught guitars of the 1970s
Including world renowned Classical guitar Luthiers
Masuru Kohno, Masaki Sakurai
The old Cortez I have seen the labels are in English but made in Japan . mabye this was made for the Hong Kong market ? All vintage 60 and 70's Japanese guitars made for the USA market had english labels and sometimes the model numbers indicated the suggested cost the higher the model number the more it was sold for.
@ 4:38, the outer surface of any laminate guitar or any plywood at home depot will always look like solid wood, every single time, because what you are looking at is only one solid layer of wood, you just can't see the layers behind it, so that is absolutely no indication or identification of whether it is solid or laminate. You have to look at it from the side view cross section to see any layers. If the inside grain pattern matches the outside grain pattern then it is probably solid, if it does not match, then it is a laminate.
I have a Cortley guitar supposedly made by same factory as Cortez , Its an amazing sounding guitar .
I have a Takamine lawsuit guitar that is a copy of a Martin. I also have the Martin it is copied from (Takamine actually was supposed to produce guitars in Japan for Martin but the deal was cancelled and Takamine used the factory that was setup to build “exact” copies.) They feel the same but the real thing is light and rings like a bell. The Takamine is just other laminate guitar. Worth the $200 I paid for it.
The later Martin like models from Takamine ARE very good once they used at least solid woods for the top.
When the Grateful Dead guitarist used them, they can't be that bad....
@@2011Noud James Taylor toured with one for a year or two.
I have a Takamine F307. Made in 75. Unbelievable sound quality.
It's a copy of a Martin 00018.
That is a great guitar you got there
I have a 1976 Cortez J 200 .. Handsome Guitar .. Plays better than any Gibson J 200 that I have played in the stores !! Jimmy ...
Really? It plays better than a J200???
@@everysingleguitars Yes , Got it as a gift for my birthday in 1976 ... Like it just as much as my Martin J 40 ...
They do, I have two Cortez J200's and they are incredible guitars.@@everysingleguitars
You can use google assistant to translate something using the camera, it overlays the translated words
Wtf...... didn’t even know this existed
@@everysingleguitars I know, same until recently
Man~ It was made in Taiwan where I live now. It's a local guitar brand in Taiwan, and I got one, too. Before 2003 yamaha used to has a guitar factory in Taiwan though.
Do you know what the label exactly says ?
@@everysingleguitarsthe two words 名匠 means "famous luthier". It's just the brand name. Those smaller words below is the shop's address.
You visited the shop address in Taiwan?
@@everysingleguitars I did. Its just a small local acoustic store and brand here. It used to had not bad reputation in Taiwan, but now all the guitar is made in Chinese factory. I think all the Cort, Yamaha, and other big name are better now.
@@bboyging very interesting
meaning of the Chinese character : Ming Jiang ( famous craftsman ) made in taiwan
It has the address written with chinese. It is from Taipei, Taiwan.
It seems that this guitar is made in Taiwan, as the address on that label is in Taipei.
===============
名匠 master craftsman
台北 Taipei
Very strange guitar ….
**Leans into the microphone and clears throat** 'Yes!'
I found a cortley with BRW back and sides fo 110 bucks, just a few days ago
Check out the Reverb site, you should find a Cortez guitar fir sale and the info provided should be helpful. Reverb is a great site for all sorts of instruments. Good luck!
I have a MIJ FG301-B, which was made in 1978 and it’s a great sounding guitar. I lucked out I got one in excellent condition!
I just purchased a mint TAKA Model No.TAW-600 Dreadnought Acoustic guitar. Sounds great but I can't find any info on this model or year it was made. I'm thinking maybe mid 70's Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Magnum model 5002 any information?
Cortez guitars were made in Korea. Some of them were made by well known Japanese luthiers,
Cortez were made in Japan they turned it to Cort when they moved production out of Japan
The characters are Chinese because the Japanese adopted Chinese writing centuries ago.
It has evolved and changed over the years, but the Japanese written language is mainly based on Chinese characters.
My girlfriend, who is Chinese, can read a lot of Japanese but can't understand it, because it's like an Englishman can read German or Italian, because they use the same characters, but can't understand what the words mean, that's why your Chinese friends cannot translate it, ask someone from Japan..
You make it sound like a guitar being old is usually a bad thing? Usually guitars built between the 50s to late 60s in the US were the best. Now in terms of the quality of MIJ guitars that were made between the mid 70s to early 80s were of close to equal quality to the 50s to 60s made US instruments.
I've only bought one brand of guitar in my life I think an old guitar age is the best I love used music stores
I would guess the guitar was originally made for the Hong Kong market, that would explain the Chinese writing.
no, the Japanese adopted Chinese characters for their written language centuries ago.
Laminate just means laminated. As in plywood. It’s still real wood. Haha you can see just as far into solid wood as you can plywood 😂
Japanese are the best luthiers in the world.
Yo keep that quiet
@@ricowhoo1313 Why
Japan uses Chinese characters very heavily. Also lots of countries that makes guitars name their brand using Spanish Bc they Bc f the world wide in fluid Spanish guitar.
jack westheimer? anyone?
Ditch the background music.
そのサウンドホールから見えるラベルに台北🇨🇳の文字があります。 よって🇯🇵🙅♂️で、それは中国🇨🇳は台北（Taipei）の製作ようです。サウンドホール内のから見えるそのラベルは60年代の日本のギターで見たことがありませんし、その時代に日本へ中国から輸入した歴史はありません。また日本の方がスチールギター制作は中国より先駆的です。日本製なら例えば名古屋Nagoya Japan等の文字が必ずあります。譲り受けた彼の言ったことは間違いですし、日本の60年代〜のギターでそのラベルは見たことも聞いたこともありません。
Chinese and Japanese is the same written language
Lol
It's a japanese copy of gibson.
You mean Martin lol
I worked in a pawn shop as guitar tech or whatever you want to call it I had my eye on a Cortez Ferrari so I did my research and yeah it was a sleeper and I should have bought it when I knew about it but Cortez is the Japanese company who turned production to Korea and elsewhere after that after they moved it out of Japan
i would guess this is made in the matsumoku factory alongside aria acoustic guitars but branded for another company, probably a spanish or mexican one judging by the name. i have an aria 9411, yellow label, the only sunburst model of the aria 9410 i have ever seen. it is exactly the same from the dot inlays and headstock shape to the unusual v shaped neck profile and body dimensions. the only thing different is the sunburst finish and the tuners. hope this helps. cheers.
Yes Cortez is Japanese ,,,Cort is not but they're the same brand if you find a Cortez it's a good one goodbye
Jap=Quality
The Cortez brand was given (by Jack Westheimer) to a line of good-quality Martin-style dreadnoughts manufactured in Japan by the Hiyashi (or Yashi?) factory.