What’s up Gear Mortals, Trey Xavier here! On today’s edition of Gear Gods Quality Control, we’re gonna be taking a look at the KX500 MultiScale from Cort.
The KX500MS is Cort’s first foray into the wide world of multi-scale guitars, and there’s a lot here to consider. It’s an Indonesian import, comes in two different finish options, and currently is only available as a 7 string model.
Right off the bat, you can probably tell that this guitar is pandering REALLY hard to the djent crowd. Ain’t nothing wrong with that! We’ve got a poplar burl burst top atop a swamp ash body, with a maple and purple heart 5 piece bolt-on neck, and a Macassar ebony fretboard with offset little guitar pick-shaped inlays. It’s got a matching headstock which I like, and locking tuners which I REALLY like.
The fan is the most popular one I’ve seen in the last couple years, 27” to 25.5”, which is great for string tension but not uncomfortable to play. The parallel fret seems to be at the 13th fret, and although I generally prefer it to be a bit lower, like around the 9th, it doesn’t seem to be a problem.
I think this guitar has a lot going for it for around $750, and considering similarly priced competitors, it’s a killer start for a brand just dipping their toes into the modern metal market. It played great right out of the box, although the intonation was wildly off, not sure how that made it past QC, but once I’d adjusted that it was good to go. It comes stock with EMG 707s, which are pretty far from my first choice, but they’re definitely metal as fuck.
My main criticisms are that the guitar is a bit heavy, and although the neck has a nice flat spot on the back which is one of my favorite shapes, it’s thicker than I think a guitar for metal should be. I also think they should swap the volume knob and pickup selector switch, because I’m for sure gonna need to access the switch way faster than the knob.
This is definitely a guitar aimed at a very particular market (djent kids), and I think they nailed their market research on that. Luckily for us, they then also put some time into making sure the guitar was good. I’d be much more likely to personally buy one if they made a version with more comfortable body contours and a different choice of pickups, but those are just my personal preferences. I think they should also consider making the same design with maybe solid colors or plainer tops for even less money, I think they’d sell even more.
If you dig the demo track, you can download it from me here.