GEAR OF THE YEAR
A milestone year for some industry big-hitters brings even more stylish designs
Cort G300 Raw
The Indonesian-made G300 has featured in our Gear Of The Year selections before, but it’s hard to argue with the quality of the forwardlooking bolt-on with this enviable spec. Along with the posher new Glam version, the Raw goes boutique with a figured walnut top and moody natural satin finish. But the body is chambered, resulting in a light 3.25kg (7.15lb) weight, while the neck is graphite-reinforced mahogany with a compound radius rosewood fingerboard, Luminlay side dots and stainless-steel frets. Then there’s that smart Cort CFA ‐III two-post vibrato, locking tuners and the classic Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz humbuckers. We said: “A simply great guitar that covers a very wide range of sounds and styles.”
Price: £799 Website: www.cortguitars.com
PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut Standard
The 594 platform is about as vintage as it gets from PRS and, now available in the Indonesian-made SE line, this all-mahogany single-cut ticks a lot of boxes. There’s the shorter 625mm (24.594-inch) scale length for starters, which gives the 594 its name, along with the Pattern Vintage neck profile and PRS twopiece bridge and tailpiece. Then you get vintage-y PRS 58/15 LT ‘S’ humbuckers that chase the voicing of the USA-made versions, plus those good-sounding partial coil-splits. Our sample weighed in at the perfect 3.6kg (8lb) mark, and it’s hard to argue with the build, feel or classic sounds.
Price: £899 Website: www.prsguitars.com
Epiphone 150th Anniversary Wilshire
It really has been a year of big birthdays, and our round-up of 150th Anniversary Epiphones reminded us just how good these Chinese-made replicas have become. Like the originals that appeared at the end of the 50s, the Wilshire – which comes with a 150th Anniversary hard case – remains a viable alternative to a Les Paul Special and features USA-made Gibson mini-humbuckers, another visible trend for this year. We described its sound as “gutsy and bright but with a hefty middle thump, especially if you knock the tone control back a couple of notches… think of Johnny Winter on his Firebird and that’s not a bad ballpark.”
Price: £919 Website: www.epiphone.com
I LEARNED FROM THAT
“It should have been simple: a function gig in the corner of a small London park, the sort of thing I’ve done many times before. But the solar-powered PA person was delayed and everything was a bit of a rush: no soundcheck, barely time to check everything was working. The outdoor on ‘stage’ sound was, ahem, a little unusual, but then outdoor gigs often are. With the first set done we took a bre
