Cort Seven Star Limited TBK — Limited-Edition Electro-Acoustic Guitar

The Cort Seven Star Limited TBK merges boutique craftsmanship with celestial-inspired artistry. Produced in a strictly numbered run of 300, this trans-black grand-auditorium cutaway pairs a torrefied Sitka spruce soundboard with solid African mahogany, then sprinkles a seven-point abalone constellation across its ebony fingerboard. A player side-port, ergonomic bevel, carbon-reinforced neck and LR Baggs VTC electronics convert star-gazing aesthetics into tour-grade functionality. What follows is an in-depth, roughly 3 000-word examination: design intent, tone-wood chemistry, bracing science, ergonomics, amplification, sustainability and ownership experience, concluding with a concise white-and-gray specification table.

1. Origin Story — From Constellation Sketch to Stage Instrument

Cort’s design team wanted a limited acoustic that told a literal story in the dark. They sketched a seven-point star cluster that, under theatre lights, would sparkle like an evening sky. That motif now spans frets 3-17 in abalone and mother-of-pearl, mirrored by a star-burst rosette and a milled heel-cap plaque engraved SS-TBK ###/300. A portion of each sale funds astronomy education grants for rural schools, tying the “Seven Star” name to community stargazing nights hosted with portable telescopes.

2. Body Architecture — Grand-Auditorium Power, Cutaway Reach

Dimensions: 16″ lower bout, 11½″ waist, 4⅝″ tail depth tapering to 3⅞″ at the neck block. This silhouette yields dreadnought-level headroom, yet its tighter waist focuses mids so singers aren’t masked by harmonic fog. A Venetian cutaway—with a generous 3″ radius sweep—opens permanent residency above the 14th fret, essential for jazz-chord embellishments and high-register melodic work.

3. Player-Port — Hearing Every Nuance

An angled teardrop port on the upper bass bout is chamfered to 5 mm. CFD simulations predicted, then lab measurements confirmed, a 2.8 dB near-field bump with less than 0.3 dB forward loss. The port’s spruce wing-brace divides airflow 65 / 35 (front / player). Fingerstylists can thus lower pick velocity, reduce fatigue and hear ghost notes without hot wedges.

4. Tonewood Symphony — Torrefied Sitka × Solid African Mahogany

Top. AAAAA Sitka spruce torrefied at 175 °C for four hours in an oxygen-curbed kiln. Volatiles exit, lattice stiffens, and tap-tones mimic 40-year-old spruce.
Back & Sides. Book-matched Khaya mahogany stained Trans Black, letting ribbon grain glow through the UV gloss. Mahogany’s quick decay and meaty mids offset Sitka’s high-end shimmer.
Neck. One-piece torrefied mahogany, carbon rails flanking the dual-action truss rod, delivering ±0.001″ relief drift across 15-90 % RH.

5. Bracing Science — Scalloped Forward-Shifted X + Maple Flying Bars

Primary X-braces in Adirondack spruce are forward-shifted 5 mm toward the neck block, liberating the lower bout for deeper bass. Feather tips taper to 1.9 mm. Maple “flying” bars compensate the asymmetric mass of the port, keeping top vibration symmetric. Resultant free-plate mass: 180 g (±2), about 12 g lighter than non-port prototypes, equating to faster transients—crucial for percussive thumb slaps and dynamic swells.

Specifications