Beginner-Intermediate guitar - Cort Earth vs Maestro Elite?

[cherylkeit]

Hi guys, I'm looking at getting my first legit (not-$70) guitar. I've had a look around and so far I'm quite drawn to Cort (Earth Grand, Earth 100) and Maestro Elite (ED-1/2/3 and Beta). What are everyone's opinions on these guitars? I'm hoping not to spend over $400-500 and I'm not opposed to buying secondhand if they're in good condition.

 

[zesn]

Speaking from personal experience,

Cort's build quality is consistent. However when the guitars reach the stores and adapts to our climate the factory setup is usually quite out of whack with high action and a slightly warped neck. Otherwise the construction is fairly good. I've played the Earth Grand, Earth Mini, and particularly favour the L100C.

Maestro is hit and miss. Am currently using a ED-2 that i've borrowed from a friend. It sounds good but the construction is crap. Frets are not inserted properly nor filed down properly at the sides, the rosewood not filed properly causing the radius of the fretboard to be slightly uneven. Maestro is inconsistent, but some guitars still manage to shine.

4 out of 5 times I walk into Maestro to try a mid-range priced guitar it doesn't seem to fair very well.

Then again we can say the same thing about Cort guitars or any guitar that that is not set up well.

Sometimes the right one comes to you, other times you'll have to search for it, and yet other times you may find one with the potential to be great that only just needs a little set up work for it to shine.

Take into consideration whether you need a guitar with on-board preamp pickup or without. Because if you buy one without the pickup and decide that you actually need one then you'll have to shop for a aftermarket pickup / perform modifications to insert a pickup.

I would recommend Swee Lee Katong for a good range of acoustic to try from and also Luthermusic for their attention and detail to setting up the acoustic guitars making them very very playable
before they put it up for sale.

I wish you all the best in finding the right one.

 

[cherylkeit]

Thanks so much Zesn!

I tried the Earth Grand and Earth 100 - I thought the Earth 100 was a bit overly resonant for my liking but the Earth Grand was surprisingly good especially for the price (at $200 is there anything I'm missing???) What was your opinion on the Earth Grand?

I agree with you about Maestro - the inconsistencies seem to be something that keeps coming up over and over again. I tried and loved the sound of the Maestro Beta, but even for a $800 guitar I couldn't help but notice that the neck finish didn't seem like a perfect joint with the body - whether the lacquer was improperly applied or something.

For Maestro would you recommend buying secondhand especially since it's such a finicky brand?

I'm looking for a practice guitar more than anything right now - if (and hopefully when!) I start performing I'll probably look into a better-playing guitar with a pickup then. Is that a good idea or would it be better just to go for a guitar with a pre-installed pickup?

I've been to Swee Lee Bras Basah a few times but I'll have another look at Swee Lee Katong.

Also been looking into Custom Acoustic and I've heard good things about them. Any opinions on their stuff? A lot of their guitars don't seem to have the right combination of fit and sound for me, but I'm somewhat drawn to their MJ2E. Would you be able to say anything about the Mini Jumbo size? The guy at the shop did mention that going from a Mini Jumbo to a larger (full?) size later on would be difficult. For reference, the GS Mini sits nicely with me and the Maestro Rosetta/dreadnought sizes were pretty much on the money for fit.

Thank you so much!

 

[zesn]

The Earth Grand is quite big and warm sounding. Chords ring out and projects with it's dreadnought body.

You can purchase anything second hand as long as you like what you're hearing and getting out of the guitar. The buy/sell section here at soft is quite active and filled with goodies if you can some good deals.

It's ideal to head straight for something with a pickup if you think you might have a use for it in the future. You can save time and money looking for another guitar, unless you have spare cash and like collecting more guitars then of course go for it =D. Alternatively you can always purchase aftermarket add-on pickups that you can stick it on before you perform and then remove it afterwards but to me that's a little troublesome and not aesthetically nice but well it does what it does.

Yes, once you get used to playing a mini guitar you might need some time to get used to a bigger one.

Custom Acoustic and Takamine make cheap and good stuff but I lean towards Takamine personally.

My advice and outlook is that you should buy something that you don't regret buying and feel comfortable with playing.

 

[subversion]

any chance a Takamine in a similar price bracket would be on your consideration list?