Cort L60MCE-OP — Luce Series Cutaway Electro-Acoustic Guitar

The L60MCE-OP folds Cort’s vintage-leaning Luce concept into a short-scale, all-mahogany folk/OM chassis crowned by a graceful Venetian cutaway and amplified by Fishman’s Presys II preamp. Below is a deep-dive (~3 000 words, headings included) that unpacks its design DNA, tone-wood chemistry, bracing maths, ergonomic subtleties, electronics architecture, environmental footprint and lifelong care, then condenses everything into a white-and-gray specification table.

1 | Luce Philosophy — Old-Soul Aesthetics, Modern Reliability

Cort’s Luce family channels Depression-era guitars—modest bouts, short scale, lean finishes—while weaving in 21st-century neck stability, micro-adjustable truss rods and stage-friendly pickups. The OP suffix (Open-Pore) confirms an ultra-thin finish; MCE adds a cutaway and onboard electronics to the original L60M. The guiding question: “How do we give a songwriter the recorded warmth of a pre-war mahogany box and the gig convenience of a modern electro-acoustic without boutique prices?”

2 | Body Geometry — Folk-OM Footprint, Cutaway Reach

Lower-bout width 15 ⅛″, waist 9 ⅞″, tail depth 4″; these dimensions nestle between Martin’s 0 and 00. A 3″-radius Venetian cutaway removes the 14th-fret wall that once limited parlour stages, letting players voice upper-register harmonics or capo-free modulations. The smaller box:

• Reduces right-shoulder torque for long couch-writing sessions.
• Fits overhead bins when touring by air.
• Projects a mid-centred EQ curve that pairs naturally with spoken vocals.

3 | Tone-Wood Matrix — All-Solid African Mahogany

Top. AA Khaya mahogany, air-seasoned eight months, kiln-finished to 8 % MC.
Back & Sides. Book-matched Khaya ribbon sets reduce cross-grain runout for strength; no laminates here.
Neck. One-piece mahogany, dual-action truss rod, volute-free for vintage silhouette.
Fingerboard & Bridge. Indian rosewood, 7+ annual growth lines per cm, topped with 20 medium frets and bone saddle.

4 | Bracing Science — Scalloped X Tuned for Short Scale & Cutaway

Short-scale tension (24.75″) allows lighter bracing. Cort trims the spruce main X to 2.4 mm height, feathers wings to 1.7 mm and nudges the intersection 4 mm toward the sound-hole. A transverse brace behind the sound-hole stiffens the cutaway side to avoid “sag.” Tap-tone fundamentals rise to G#, yielding a dry, quick decay prized for double-tracked acoustics.

5 | Open-Pore Finish — Breathing Wood, Vintage Visual

The finish stack totals ≈ 70 µm: one water-borne pore sealer plus matte polyurethane clear. Pores remain tactile; weight drops about 90 g relative to gloss. Players report:

• Faster attack and greater perceived loudness at equal strum energy.
• No stage-light mirror glare for livestreams.
• A “broken-in” neck feel from day one.

Specifications