Cort The Puzzle LE NAT — Limited-Edition Electro-Acoustic Guitar

The Cort Puzzle LE NAT weaves a literal jigsaw theme into boutique-grade lutherie: interlocking purfling, a puzzle-piece twelfth-fret inlay, and a numbered heel plaque commemorate the idea that music and life find wholeness when individual pieces click. Limited to 200 instruments worldwide, each grand-concert cutaway pairs torrefied Sitka spruce with solid African mahogany, adds a monitor-style player port, and relies on LR Baggs VTC electronics for stage-ready fidelity. The 3 000-word dossier that follows unlocks every facet—design story, tonewood chemistry, bracing science, ergonomics, electronics, sustainability, and life-time stewardship—then distils the essentials in a white-and-gray specification table.

1. Design Story — When Jigsaw Meets Lutherie

Cort’s custom unit received a customer sketch showing puzzle pieces running around a sound-hole. The idea lingered until R&D sculpted maple-and-walnut purfling that literally “locks” at each bout seam. The rosette reproduces the motif in concentric rings, and a single abalone puzzle piece crowns fret 12. A brushed-brass heel plate, laser-etched PZ-NAT ###/200, tracks each build. Proceeds fund music-therapy programs where patients assemble art puzzles while learning guitar rudiments—the instrument and cause forming the final interlock.

2. Body Geometry — Grand-Concert Comfort, Cutaway Freedom

Lower-bout width 15″, waist 11″, tail depth 4⅛″, neck-block depth 3⅞″: a true orchestra-size voice that records easily and nests on a couch. The Venetian cutaway (radius 3″) grants effortless access to fret 20, essential for jazz voicings and modern chord-melody. A satin maple/mahogany arm bevel removes the forearm pinch that smaller bodies sometimes exacerbate during long fingerstyle sets.

3. Player-Port — Self-Monitoring Minus Wedges

Milled on the upper bass bout, the teardrop port is chamfered 5 mm and stiffened by a spruce wing brace. Acoustic tests show a 3 dB near-field increase with < 0.3 dB forward loss. The performer hears ghost notes without over-picking; FOH retains the guitar’s full projection.

4. Tonewood Palette — Torrefied Sitka × African Mahogany

Top. AAA Sitka spruce baked 175 °C for 4 h in nitrogen; colour warms to honey, cell walls stiffen, attack quickens.
Back & Sides. Solid Khaya mahogany, ribbon-grain book-matched, air-dried two years then kilned to 7 % EMC. Mahogany adds woody mid-push and tight low-end, countering small-body “boxiness.”
Neck. One-piece roasted mahogany, dual carbon rails, dual-action truss rod. Relief drift ±0.001″ across 15–90 % RH.
Fingerboard/Bridge. Macassar ebony, dense enough for crisp transients yet visually complements dark purfling.

5. Bracing Science — Forward-Shifted Scalloped X + Mahogany Tone Bars

Adirondack spruce main braces sit 5 mm nearer the sound-hole, freeing the lower bout for bass bloom. Wings feather to 1.8 mm. Two mahogany tone bars align plate velocity with back resonance, yielding even decay. Free-plate mass ≈ 168 g, perfect for rapid harmonic response.

Specifications