Cort KX700-EVERTUNE-OPBK (Open Pore Black) Electric Guitar

The Cort KX700-EVERTUNE-OPBK merges the battle-tested DNA of Cort’s KX Series with the mechanical wizardry of the EverTune constant-tension bridge system. Wrapped in a resonant open-pore black finish and fortified with roasted maple construction, stainless-steel frets, and Seymour Duncan Nazgul & Sentient humbuckers, it is a purpose-built workhorse engineered for guitarists who demand immaculate tuning stability, commanding modern tone, and long-term reliability at a musician-friendly price.

1. Design Intent & Heritage

When the first Cort KX model appeared in the early 2000s, it championed two principles: contemporary aesthetics that broke free from vintage clichés, and fearless adoption of bleeding-edge hardware normally reserved for boutique luthiers. Two decades and countless artist tours later, the KX700-EVERTUNE-OPBK represents a culmination of that spirit. Cort’s product team canvassed metal, prog, and session communities for a single, recurring pain point: tuning drift under extreme stage, studio, and climate conditions. The answer came in the form of the EverTune bridge—a mechanically balanced marvel that actively maintains string tension within ±2 cents no matter how hard you bend, pick, or how humid the backstage becomes. Packing that into the KX chassis required fresh body routing, bespoke neck-angle math, and a complete revision of string-to-wood energy transfer. The resulting instrument isn’t merely a KX with an aftermarket bridge; it is an ecosystem developed around unyielding pitch precision.

2. Tonewood Architecture

Cort begins with a slab of lightweight swamp ash. Chosen for its airy mids and flared top-end, ash keeps the guitar’s average weight to a shoulder-friendly ≈ 7.9 lb (≈ 3.6 kg) while furnishing a crisp attack that complements down-tuned riffage. The pores remain deliberately unfilled; instead, a thin satin Open Pore Black coating penetrates the grain without entombing it under polyurethane plastic. This “half-dressed” finish saves nearly 150 g of cured paint mass, letting the ash breathe and maximizing acoustic output.

A five-piece roasted maple & walnut neck bolts on via Cort’s sculpted All-Access Heel. Roasting caramelizes hemicellulose, darkens the surface to a vintage amber, and bakes out moisture that would otherwise expand or contract with seasonal swings. Walnut stripes provide contrasting rigidity, acting like laminated I-beams that resist torsion over decades. The dual-action truss rod anchors under a pau-ferro skunk stripe, granting ±2 mm neck-relief authority without removing strings.

3. Fingerboard & Fretting

Topping the neck is Macassar ebony, prized for its high density (≈ 1 050 kg/m³) and glass-smooth pore structure. Twenty-four jumbo stainless-steel frets (.048″ crown; 2.7 mm width) are hand-polished to mirror finish, yielding near-frictionless bends and an operational lifespan that dwarfs nickel-silver equivalents. The 15.75″ (400 mm) radius straddles shred-flat and chord-curved territory, accommodating sweep-picked arpeggios and first-position open chords alike. Position cues come from offset white dots plus Luminlay side markers that glow electric green after a 30-second charge under stage lighting—lifesaving for dim club gigs or orchestra pits.

4. EverTune Bridge: Mechanics & Musician Life-Hacks

The EverTune F-model bridge is a passive, spring-balanced network hidden beneath the sleek matte cover plate. Each saddle rides a tiny lever-armed cam paired with a tempered spring calibrated to a predetermined pull force (≈ 12–15 lb, depending on string gauge). Once the saddle reaches the “sweet spot,” minor fluctuations—whether thermal expansion, aggressive picking, or whammy-inspired bends—are absorbed by micro spring travel instead of altering speaking length. The result is pitch constancy. To execute wide vibrato or dive-bomb bends, players simply tune the desired string to the edge of Zone 2 (EverTune’s player-defined bend threshold). The system rewards technique-driven dynamics while eliminating dreaded “drift” during double-tracked rhythm sessions.

For touring musicians, the EverTune translates to fewer between-song tune-ups, faster guitar changes (roadies no longer scramble with clip-on tuners), and bulletproof intonation from sweltering outdoor festivals to air-conditioned studio booths. Producers adore it because a perfectly in-tune take truly stays that way through comping, re-amping, and mix revisions weeks later.

5. Seymour Duncan Nazgul • Sentient Electronics

Cort outfits the KX700-EVERTUNE-OPBK with a duo designed for modern metal breadth:

• Nazgul (bridge) — Ceramic magnets, overwound coils, and a mid-scooped EQ curve deliver feral attack, brutal low-string definition, and searing harmonic overtones without the sterility often associated with active pickups.
• Sentient (neck) — Alnico V magnets provide fluid legato and articulate chord voicings, echoing classic PAF clarity but expanded for high-gain settings. Coil geometry accentuates upper harmonics, ensuring leads sing without getting glassy.

A push-pull master tone pot splits both humbuckers into true single-coil mode—ideal for funk comps, Nashville-style “chicken-pickin’,” or taming high-gain fizz for cleans. A single master volume keeps the control layout intuitive, and a sturdy 3-way blade toggles pickup combinations. Wiring harnesses employ shielded Gavitt cloth-over-PVC and star-ground topology for whisper-quiet idle noise, even under saturated amps or pedal stacks.

Specifications