“Cort G200SE Review: Comparable to Many Budget Squier, Epiphone, and Yamaha Guitars I’ve Tried”]

The Cort GS200SE combines a retro-inspired paint lineup with a thoroughly modern build quality, aiming to deliver the ideal beginner electric guitar for new players. Crafted in Indonesia at the Cor-Tek factory, which has cultivated a reputation for manufacturing instruments for PRS, Fender, Ibanez, Jackson, and many more, it’s a busy market to enter, so can the GS200SE set itself apart from the competition?

Delivering a roasted maple neck and fretboard combo at this price is certainly an eyebrow-raising prospect, a feature that just a few short years ago would only be found on more expensive and boutique guitars. With the roasting process now becoming more accessible and more importantly, a lot cheaper, for a lot of manufacturers it’s actually now cheaper to roast a neck than varnish it.

There are a lot of plus points to doing this beyond cost though, as roasting a neck rids it of any excess moisture, which results in a much more stable product. Down the line, this also prevents any oils or moisture from entering the wood, theoretically increasing its lifespan. Once the torrefaction has taken place, the neck will then resist humidity changes better than a varnished neck, so to have all of this on what is a budget guitar is a real boon for new players.