Cortez J7000 Mid 1960s - Natural

Here is a beautiful vintage CORTEZ acoustic guitar. The model number is J7000, serial #11133, made in Japan a long time ago in the late 60s and was a clone of the Martin D-41, and the craftsmanship and sound quality will compare to its Martin counterparts. It has a spruce top and rosewood back and sides. The neck is mahogany. The fretboard is ebony and it is inlaid with a beautiful Tree Of Life design of abalone and mother of pearl. This is a VERY RARE and beautiful guitar. This is one amazing guitar. The aura and brillance to the sound it projects is amazing. Notes just blend and harmonize with each other and bring a very beautiful sound to any room or audience. You will know it is a vintage guitar just from the sound that it produces from the aged tone woods, ebony bridge, bone nut, bone saddle and bone bridge pins. This guitar is very clean and well taken care of. The neck is butted very well to the body, no sign of separation at all. The ebony bridge is solidly attached to the top. The body is in excellent condition, but does have typical fine scratches on the back from use, and wear on the pick guard and finish behind the pick guard , and one small ding on the side finish , but for a guitar that is 50 plus years old,  it is in excellent condition and has been babied. Even the label inside is very clean. As you can see in the pictures, this is just a superb vintage guitar. The machine heads are the original and very high quality closed type. Action is low, and very easy to play. This guitar projects very clear and loud. Although the guitar has been played and loved, there is almost no wear fingerboard and the frets have little or no wear at all. This guitar will come with a beautiful and extremely rare circa 1970 Alfred Freistat hard shell case which is in immaculate condition, and has the original key.

Made at the Hayashi guitar factory, it was the premier acoustic guitar maker among Japanese manufacturers from this time frame. Hayashi bought out small manufacturer Zen-On in 1968 during a period of expansion for the company. Credited with making Pearl badged acoustic guitars, Hayashi was also responsible for making Cortez, Custom, Emperador and Mountain acoustics. In the 60's and 70's Japan had abundance of already seasoned tonewoods. Their luthiers were, and are still known for their meticulous craftsmanship. When these tonewoods ran out, guitar makers moved production to other parts of Asia, like China, Korea, and Indonesia. Then, purists say, quality suffered because inferior woods were used. They also say that craftmaship significantly declined. This is one of the reasons, vintage Japanese guitars are among the most highly sought after guitars. And this vintage Cortez J7000 is among those ones. You will be hard pressed to see another one like this in such great condition. This guitar is as close to NOS as may exist in the world. This is a rare opportunity for the collector of Japanese acoustics. Please look closely at the pictures and ask all questions before purchasing or making an offer. I have made an honest effort to accurately describe this guitar, it is a fine instrument and will not disappoint its new owner, and will arrive with new light gage Elixir strings, and professionally packaged and shipped. Bid with confidence.