Cort FLOW-OC NS — Flow Series Electro-Acoustic Guitar

The Cort FLOW-OC NS is designed to feel as fluid as its name implies: an orchestra-concert body that flows against the torso, a satin neck that flows beneath the palm, and a CE304T electronics suite that lets unplugged inspiration flow straight to the PA. The narrative below (≈ 3 000 words) explores every element—series philosophy, tonewood chemistry, bracing topology, ergonomics, amplification architecture, care routine, and real-world use-cases—before distilling the essentials into a white-and-gray specification table.

1. Flow Series Vision — Effortless Play, Effortless Sound

Cort’s Flow Series was conceived for players who migrate fluidly between couch, coffeehouse, rehearsal room, and Sunday-morning stage. The design mandate sounded simple: everything must feel easy. That edict drives every choice—lightweight open-pore finish, forgiving neck carve, onboard tuner, and a body size that balances lap comfort with front-row projection. The FLOW-OC NS distills those decisions into the series’ flagship orchestra-concert cutaway.

2. Dimensional DNA — Orchestra-Concert Comfort, Cutaway Reach

Lower-bout width is 15 ⅛″, waist 11″, upper bout 11 ½″, and tail-block depth 4 ⅛″ tapering to 3 ⅞″ at the neck block. The silhouette borrows the punch of a dreadnought’s lower bout but nips the waist, so the guitar hugs the rib cage instead of sliding off the thigh. A rounded Venetian cutaway (4″ radius) leaves the 14th-to-20th-fret corridor wide open for melodic work. The result: a compact footprint that travels easily yet projects confidently when mic’d 12″ off the 14th fret.

3. Tonewood Chemistry — Classic Sitka & Mahogany

Top. Solid Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) harvested from sustainable Pacific Northwest stands and graded for tight, uniform grain. Sitka’s high stiffness-to-weight ratio turns string energy into broad-spectrum output—sparkling highs, present mids, and supportive lows.
Back + Sides. Laminated African mahogany (Khaya) provides a warm midrange and lightly compressed transients that glide through live PAs without mud.
Neck. One-piece mahogany shaped to a slim C profile and fitted with a dual-action truss rod for reversible relief tweaks.
Fingerboard + Bridge. Ovangkol (Guibourtia) offers rosewood-like density with streaks of caramel grain—dense enough for crisp attack yet visually distinctive under satin finish.

4. Bracing Layout — Advanced Scalloped X

Under the spruce top, Cort’s advanced scalloped X pattern thins brace wings to release the lower bout while leaving a sturdy spine beneath the bridge. The result is quicker initial displacement (transient attack) and longer, even decay. Players notice notes bloom fully during quiet fingerstyle yet avoid “rubbery” flab when strummed hard in dropped tunings.

5. Neck Feel & Playability

Depth measures 0.83″ (1st fret) to 0.88″ (9th fret)—substantial enough to support barre chords without cramping but sleek for thumb-over embellishments. Rolled fingerboard edges mimic dozens of fret-levelings, and 20 medium nickel-silver frets are crowned mirror-smooth. The 25.3″ (643 mm) scale yields balanced string tension: light enough for bends on .012s, firm enough for dropped-D without flubby E-strings.

Specifications