ugly truth behind Cort/Cor-tek guitars

[alexander371zxd]

ahora se pro que son tan baratas esas guitarras... es de muy buena calidad paa su precion... ya se por que 8 / me quiero comprar un ampli cort

[tinfdsp]

ver estas cosas me quita las ganas de comprar cualquier cosa, incluso los pantalones que visto y las camisetas que me pongo... ¡¡qué asco!!.

[alexander371zxd]

@tinfdsp Yo tambien me doy asco T_T pero no! el consumismo primero!

[FinalCurve]

Terrible.

[iivan1966]

I have been worked in Korea and got in close relationship with Koreans.

I know them better than probably most western people do.

They are tough and hard working people and if they start to complain about their conditions that means they treated in really mean and humiliating way.

I have owned a Cort before and was impressed by the quality and now I really feel bad that it probably made by these poor guys.

[fadenjesse]

My Cort Pro Custom is the most amazing sounding guitar I've ever played...i guess because you can hear the factory children's screams in every resonant note, truly a beautiful thing. I had no idea it was sweatshop labor...makes me proud to own one. Yay Cort!

[stonedmental]

@fadenjesse LOL

[daveyspider]

i sent my cort m900 back because i will not support this kind of corporate bullying what is it work 100hrs a week or fuck off home. i will never buy another cort guitar.

[HGArchis]

I ordered a Cort X-1 spme days ago...And after seeing this I don't think how I will be able to play it. This is really a disgrace if it's true.

[ace69er]

This is truly disgusting but unsurprising, Nearly all workers are treated like this in Korea!

I lusted after an M900!

NEVER will I buy a Cort guitar again!

[MeinKomponist]

This is Capitalism .. Maximum Profit with Minimum Effort .. Human lives are irrelevant in this game .. When Chinese or indonesian workers are too expensive they'll go to Africa

[ace69er]

@MeinKomponist LOL Africa? Forget about EVER getting a playable guitar then! Chinese workers are treated far better than Koreans. Its just the old Korean way, the employer is cruel to his employees. Reeks of the old feudal system the Koreans have yet to shake off.

[mygad]

You know, it's only clueless folks who are either shocked or surprised by the way factory work is. Like any other work you are expected to perform work, you are expected to work at a pace to get things accomplished etc. Any and every job has these features. Get a job and find out for yourself.

[uberscheisse]

the world already knew a massive, flaming reason to not buy cort guitars - they were CORT GUITARS. now we have more reasons to not buy cort guitars. i lived in SK for 3 years, and these people are real - in every manufacturing industry. it's what keeps korea from being a real nation.

[elmariachi109]

to all the workers... find some money... bought those machines and tools needed... produced your own guitars... or... hahaha... make some counterfeit with good quality... fight them back...

[bedofrazorsqwerty]

Yeah, you guys do know that Cort makes more than just the Cort brand right? They make guitars for ESP, Schecter, Squier, Ibanez, Lotus, Avalon(you UK guitarists) and many others. When you buy the lower end model from these and more companies you are buying a Cort with a different name. Most of Cort's production is for other companies. Google it.

[MrMorelloJr]

@bedofrazorsqwerty Yeah, this is so sad. I can`t look at guitars in stores, even other products, without thinking if they were produced under inhuman conditions. :(

[bedofrazorsqwerty]

@MrMorelloJr And yet small Luthiers are some of the lowest paid highest skilled people on the planet. I'm spending one day a week doing a part time apprenticeship with a local luthier about 20 mins from me. It's just for fun and so I can build for myself. Cort is a reminder of how fucked up the world is. Nowadays we hide these things. Most people only see products, images and logos, not what it takes to produce them. Imagine how many dumb hippies are jamming out on Cor-tek guitars though, lol.

[1Lunatic1]

I distributre theese guitars in Russia. After this video I'am shocked a bit... Let the God save them...

[GregarasGR]

thats why i went FENDER :P (that and the fact i love my strat)

[MrMorelloJr]

@GregarasGR actually cort produces lots of parts and guitars for Fender, GIbson, G&L and Ibanez...

[VonSeux]

now go asking how your clothes are made

[vaderhausen]

@VonSeux

+1000! And also your PCs, cell phones, Blackberries, light bulbs and most of the applainces and utensils we use today! I believe it's unfair to focus JUST on Cort in this way... Haven't people heard about child labor and amputees from Chinese factories that have been let to their own devices for many years??

[berserker213]

Screw you, Cort. Screw you.

[SlaughteredDecay]

Welcome to Capitalism, people!

[masterofmorphine92]

I hope the other companies are not like this :(

[lukenshin]

I have a Cort guitar since 2003. It's a good guitar, but now i feel a bit sad and shame for it.

Lucas,

Brasil

[CMSpida]

Im sorry but this could be manipulated. I dont speak Indonesian so how would i know if its true. If it was that bad they shut down.

[MrMorelloJr]

@CMSpida "f it was that bad they shut down". Almost every international brand manufactures its products in countries like Taiwan, Indonesia, Afghanistan; treating their "employees" as slaves in inhuman conditions. And still, they don`t shut down.

[maneatingtoilets]

And yet people still support capitalism....

[Nameless164]

Dat language. It takes like 30 seconds to spit out 5 english words.

[IsnatchedUrHero]

@Nameless164 prolly they didnt translate every single word, but more likely just the core of what they said

[ALEXTHEALEXNATOR2]

how do we know that what they are saying its the actual subtitles...

[FrozenSparky]

i have an electric cort and it kicks ass

[ihatenjoi]

@FrozenSparky Burn it.

[FrozenSparky]

@ihatenjoi fuck you :P im selling it because Cort's floyd roses are lame and ill buy another cort

[ihatenjoi]

@FrozenSparky Do you have to be suck an ass hole about it? lol.

[rurounisld]

its really great how corporations treat humans like cheap expendable tools with no feelings.....the great gift of capitalism ...and dont be fooled it a global thing and its geting worse

[HitaroX]

@rurounisld capitalism doesn't do that...

[rurounisld]

@HitaroX capitalism is not suposed to do that yes but unfortunately it did... im living in a capitalistic country and this economic model has failed us badly...

[PedrosMusic]

I love cort guitars....I hate that they are doing these things but I think that the best we can do as musicians is go to korea and kick their asses and demand that a worker become a manager THAT WAY he knows how to and how not to treat a hard worker. Is that not illegal?

[lwzh88]

DON'T buy the COCK (cort) guitar

[tokyosan1]

@lwzh88 and also Fender, Ibanes, Carvin and many other brands built by Cor-tek

[tokyosan1]

@blankthisone did I write Carvin electric? did I perhaps write ALL Carvin instruments? NO. First learn how to read properly, then think before typing stupid answers on a youtube video comment.

[damrak1969]

That's NAFTA for you - make it as cheap as you can and sell it as cheap as you can. No one wants quality anymore - just low cost and they don;t can how they get it. The world is moving backward - and the standard of living seems to be getting worse. Now, Americans are being expected to compete with these tactics - we can;t.

[lmfap79]

Do you really think that fender's emplyees are treated better ????

[allahbigbollocks]

sad to hear and know about this..gee where can i buy one of those cheap cort guitars????

[hendrykicksass]

maybe the subtitles are fake

[walkermuz]

@hendrykicksass Unfortunately, they're not

[hendrykicksass]

@walkermuz you understand korean?

[walkermuz]

@hendrykicksass I'm Korean lol...

[hendrykicksass]

@walkermuz i see u should have said it earlier

[walkermuz]

@hendrykicksass hehe...sorry ;) I usually check people's channel before posting reply so I thought others would too... lol..

[peniosasdasd]

Hey Ameripigs.

Look down at the tennis shoes you're wearing. Look at the shirt and pants you're wearing. Very possibly the computer you're using. Built your own computer? Then look at the parts.

You all act as if Cort is the only company that outsources and treats workers poorly. IF you own a pair of Nike's, take for a moment to think about how many children were forced to make those shoes for 10 yuan a month.

One thing I will say is that those underpaid chinese make good guitars.

[jesterbass]

it's good to stop buying cort guitars, but if you check the cort page in wikipedia you will realize they make guitars for many other brands like ibanez, g&l, schecter and so on... these are all made in cort factories...

[philsnk]

With the economic rise of South Korea burning a niche in affordable in not well known brands of electronics and engineering, comes the burdening cross of modernization and now clearly big business interests are slighting; to use kind words, the civil rights and liberties of workers.

[FahimMotoGP]

I have a cort, they make good gutiar but how can u like them for the ugly truth.

[junNohara]

fuck the employers,man,poor workers

[darkstar3x16]

I think you're being too hard on them, I doubt any of these guitar factories made in asia are nice to work in but still we buy them because it's cheaper.

[darkstar3x16]

Why boycot Cort branded guitars? Ibanez RG's made in korea are made by Cort if I remember correctly and many other major brands. 

[UmbrellaFitzgerald]

gooks! hahah! get back to work!!!  haha! i need more shitty guitars!!

stupid gooks!..HAHAHA!!!

[sensibleken]

I was literally about to walk out the door to hand over €500 for a Cort banjo when i heard about this. no way they're getting my money

[brianwurst1234]

Who the hell would buy a Cort anyway? You could get an Ibanez or something else, same price. Cort looks cheesy anyways.....

[bossfrog]

@brianwurst1234 Who do you think makes the Korean made Ibanez's? Cort does!

BTW, I have a Cort M600 and love it. Great guitar. Much better than any Epiphone or Mexi-Strat.

[leifnoto]

@brianwurst1234 cort makes a lot of ibanez's and most schecters, and a bunch of other brands its a fucked up situation.

[rub800]

@brianwurst1234

Some of the Ibanez guitars were made in Cort

[wisesatyr72]

Hey they treat me like this at Safeway and its in the US,,Theres alot F-up shit in S.Korea..Im not surprised y this documentary..Why dont these workers unite and start their own guitar company..its possible

[fearless317]

wow.. :(

[fwnm8]

That's just the way the capitalistic economy works...The western standart is based on the cheap labour somewhere else. You can't have both.

[fendermaestro]

CORT....lift your game...the world is watching and will quickly judge you...!!

Content workers will produce better products....its that easy..!!!

[wowspare]

Most mass production guitars regardless of the "Name" brand are made in the Cort factory these days. So unless your guitar is a U.S. model that costs close to $2000, odds are you already are playing a "Cort"

Paul Reed Smith budget SE line of guitars... some mid-range ibanez RGs.... some mid-range ESP LTD guitars.... just to name a few.

[martingerup]

I will never buy a Cort guitar or bas for me, my daughters or my musicschool.

[tomatofly7]

I'll make it a point never to buy a guitar that has come from this factory or any like it. Thanks for posting this video.

[motophoto55]

@mcj3691

Just googled "cort factory workers"....5,460 hits

[peroslowned]

all the other big companies are just as bad.

[GubaJones]

While I do agree, I highly doubt any other company is any better. And the Cort factory builds alot of other manufacturers guitar's too.

[beeonda]

If you read guitar history, American and other guitar companies ALWAYS outsourced the budget guitars in Asia since the 1970s. The budget lines were never made in the US, because US workers would never accept making less than $25 a day.

[digigami]

I know alot about guitars I even have a squire bullet made in 81 from fullerton cali

[digigami]

Now they know what American workers felt like

when they lost there jobs 30 years ago to cheaper Korean workers

[Fstpicker]

If this is indeed true, it is so wrong!

[dmanandcmac]

Oh, and one other thing... a comment on the last statement made in the video.

If you were being mistreated and all of this jazz, why in the holy mother of fuck would you ever want your job back!?!? That's retarded!!!

[ihavenoname93]

because they dont have any other options. its not that simple over there

[hillysats]

@dmanandcmac

You're fucking stupid.

Not everyone has the freedom to pick and choose where they work. These people need to make a living, making Cort guitars was their job.

Noone has the right to mistreat anyone regardless where they're from, where they work.

[dmanandcmac]

"you're fucking stupid..."

That's about as far as I read before I stopped because I realized that I was being attacked.

[Andrexthor]

Fuck Cort! They deserver death!

[szidorbass]

if its true than why only 245 views in 5 mounths?

[mcj3691]

@szidorbass go to google news and search for "cort factory workers". you'll likely not find anything.  THAT is why there is such a low number of views.

[szidorbass]

i never sad that's not true. i just wanna know why people dont know about that.

[ivaniceangle]

Cort/Cor-Tek are a disgrace to the entire guitar industry. I admire these honest and skillful workers in their struggle for justice - and every guitar player the world over now has an obligation to shun Cort branded guitars until this company fairly compensates their Korean employees. Until then, Cort has no right to stand among the giants of the guitar industry - after watching this video, it seems Cort are just an evil and exploitative employer with no morals. Shame on Cort/Cor-Tek!!!!!

[kuyuletul]

@ivaniceangle i hope you know almost all guitars except usa made(and they use mex's probably) and luthier guitars are made with modern day slave labor. IT sucks but cort makes decent and inespensive guitars

[ZeeKat]

@kuyuletul There's plenty of non-budget guitar manufacturers outside the US you know.

[kuyuletul]

the ideea of us non us does not mea a god damn thing to me ,because i'm from central europe.....

[ivaniceangle]

@kuyuletul I'm sorry to disagree, but you clearly are not aware of the many excellent guitars that are made by responsible employers, some of whom operate in China as well as the hundreds of small enterprises in Europe & N. America who not only shun slave labor, but also most of the faceless modern technology used by the corporate giants of the guitar business. Cort/Cor-Tek stand apart as particularly shameful as they exploit both and then discard skilled craftsmen & women, telling them lies.

[kuyuletul]

@ivaniceangle i am verry aware but htose guitars are costly ass hell aka fucking expesinve

[bossfrog]

@ivaniceangle "Every guitar player has an obligation to shun Cort"

Pfff... speak for yourself. I own one and I'm keeping it. BTW, if you own any guitar that cost you less than $1000, you probably own one too.

[ivaniceangle]

@bossfrog Sorry to disappoint you, but I have made certain that I do not own a single guitar made by Cort/Cor-Tek. What makes you think that a sub-$1,000 guitar can only be made by Cort/Cor-Tek? You should get out more. The best guitars made in China are made many hundreds of miles from the Cort/Cor-Tek factory. They're not even the best guitars made in Korea - Crafter make far superior guitars, most under $1,000. Play your Cort if you want to but check for blood on your hands every time you do!

[Meatlooaf]

@ivaniceangle i totally agree, but they do make really good guitars.