CORT EARTH 200 3TS (3 Tone Sunburst) Acoustic Guitar.

Hello and Namaste to you all from Nepal!

Well I can only vicariously show my love for Seagull Guitars by seeing the pics, watching them being played on the YouTube, and reading reviews about them! You know why!? In Nepal we don't get Seagull or any Solid Top good brand for that matter! With 13% VAT, high Customs Duties/Fees slapped on the imports, and the alarming shipping charges swell the cost making it impossible to afford for general Nepalese!

The market is flooded with cheap (very) Chinese and Indian guitars. Even if you get a popular brands there is 99.99% chance that it would be a Chinese knock-off ones!

Even with my limited budget( i.e., CAD 270 max) I dared to contact many Online Music Stores (in the US and Canada) asking for best final quote for Seagull Entourage Rustic (very close to my heart) and/or Yamaha FG730S TBS (a Birthday gift to someone close). I did get some best offers and was ready to have it bought there but there were shipping issues! All of these stores said that neither of these guitars are permitted to be shipped to Nepal (outside of the US/Canada)! That option closed I tried another one! I requested one of my relatives in Canada (who's heading to Nepal coming November ) to hand-carry it inside the Cabin (of the Plane). She said she'll do it as long as her Airline (JetAirways) permitted it! So before buying the guitar I thought it would be wise to first learn about the JetAirways policy regarding Musical instruments. So I asked my relatives back there to check that out with JA. When contacted about it the Airlines said they will not allow it to be taken inside a Cabin but will permit it to be checked-in for $ 200! why $ 200 !? Because the dimension of original shipping boxes of either of this guitar is bigger than the JA's "allowed free" baggage dimension (62") making it "over-sized" and thus the "penalty" of $ 200 !

Again my heart sank when I learned that the FedEx/DHL/UPS also charge minimum $200 to ship it till Kathmandu, Nepal. Want to know the total cost of Seagull Entourage Rustic when it reaches here?

Street Price in Canada, CAD 319 + 13% HST Canadian Tax + Shipping Charges 200 + 13% VAT in Nepal + A high rate of Customs Duties/Fees = !!! (It'll cost somewhere between CAD 600-700) Simply unaffordable! There fore just a "day dream". :-) Unbelievable! There ends my story! No guitar for myself or no birthday gift! :-(

A little ray of hope though:

Anyways, I'm sure someone here is familiar with CORT brand and can help me if CORT EARTH 200 (3 Tone Sunburst) is a worthy guitar at all for CAD 350. I'm asking this because just two days back, out of the blue, I came to know that one of the least known Music Stores in Kathmandu has a couple of these in stock for the above mentioned price! This is uncommon because all of the the Music Stores only carry the Laminate Guitars! It's a rare treat to even see Solid Top Guitar here! So, Should I forget my Seagull Entourage Rustic/Yamaha FG730S TBS and seriously consider buying this model.

Cort Earth 200 3TS Dreadnought has the following Specs:

Top: Solid Spruce

Back: Solid Mahogany

Sides: Laminate Mahogany

Nut Width: 43mm (1 11/16") ...Bone? (don't know)

Saddle: Compensated (Yes) / Bone? (can't tell)

The displayed Specs on Cort's website may not match the specs of the one I tried in that store. The Soundhole Rosette looks different! This is because the Cort has recently (don't know how recently) upgraded this model.

Please find the attached pic.  

Any help regarding the same would be highly appreciated!

Thanks!

Love and Peace from Kathmandu, Nepal

Shant

P.S:

Just remembered something that might be of interest to you guys. About a couple of months ago, I stumbled upon this website when I had been searching for some info about Godin Guitars!

http://www3.sympatico.ca/tony-k/Products.html

That Custom Pick-Guard on Godin Guitar looks neat! :-)

Since I'm two-days new in this community I don't know whether I'm allowed to share the websites here. Just thought I'd share it with you all anyways.

Enjoy!

Love and peace