Cort Black Beauty Les Paul Custom Copy Electric Guitar

I haven't yet qualified to join in Reverb's big sale promotions (holidays etc.), but if you know of one going on currently, please feel free to shoot me a commensurate offer before buying. I have a perfect record and hundreds of positives on the "other" auction site.

This is a 90's take on copying the essential elements of a Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty, as realized by Korean manufacturer Cort. Probably the best Les Paul Cort ever made, it was part of the Traditional Series, on the same catalog page as their renowned jazz boxes (see last pic). Solid mahogany with a maple cap. It retailed at around $800 at that time. When I tried this one out, around 1997, it was a slightly used guitar at Daddy's Junky Music in Connecticut, I knew I had to have it just by how it felt in my hands. Great, precise, fast neck. Just from the feel, I didn't even need to plug it in, or think much about how about beautiful it was and still is. It wanted to sing in my hands. But it is indeed a beauty, In addition to full rectangular fret markers in mother of pearl (as far as I can tell), the guitar has up to seven ply binding all around, including the headstock and the back of the body. You don't get this even on Cort's high end LP's anymore. The original tuners were a weak point, so I changed them out to gold plated Kluson-style Grovers, and tuning stability is now rock solid with properly installed strings. All 6 strings are on there, btw, although I think I was missing an "E" during part of the photo shoot.
Great pickups. I don't know what's in the neck, but it is warm and fat. I've had Gibson Patent pups, and this one is right there with them. The Dimarzio in the bridge position has a unique crispness that's great for crunchy rhythms, and makes me think of Aerosmith in a round about way. The styling is gorgeous. I'm sure it used to have gold covered humbuckers, so both of them could be upgrades, not just the Dimarzio. Or the neck may be the original Mighty Mite with the cover removed. Anyway, these guys look great in black, and the sound is worth sacrificing a little glitz. The finish still looks great, but you will find light swirls and a handful of dings, not so much that I was even particularly aware of it before actually going over it for this listing, though. Slight buzz in the low E, but not so it effects your amp'ed sound. The switch tip is missing and apparently requires an unusual diameter, so that was never replaced. If you can't find one, and it matters to you, the whole switch could be changed out fairly easily. Or drill out some good looking bauble to screw on there. Also, please note that the controls for neck and bridge are reversed from what you would normally find on a Gibson. But other than that, they work perfectly, and again, really really sound great.
This guitar feels heavy, which is one reason I'm giving it up, as my back is getting old. I'm not, but my back is! I don't think there's much chambering going on to lighten up the solid body. Back in the day, we used to believe that heavy Les Pauls meant great sustain. I don't know if it's true, but if it is, I think this is an example of that. You'll love it. Comes with a quality, used, hard case that's in very good condition. If for some reason you'd rather have a Gibson gig bag, just let me know. I have a couple of those lying around and can swap that for the case.

Note: the last pic is from the "Wayback Machine" Internet Archive, "snapshots" of websites taken since 1996, and can be accessed directly by going to the February 18, 1999 entry for Cort dotcom then clicking "Traditional Series". Cort's website does not currently show this model.
The pic should answer many questions.

Shipping to the Continental USA only.