Cort Guitars announces the release of the KX600 Infinite, a new addition to its acclaimed KX Series of modern electric guitars. Built for players who demand exceptional sustain, modern tone, and uncompromising performance, the KX600 Infinite combines advanced tonewood construction with premium components to deliver a boutique feel in a production instrument. Available now worldwide through authorized Cort dealers and online retailers, the KX600 Infinite is designed for the stage, the studio, and beyond.
The KX600 Infinite features neck-thru-body construction for superior sustain and tone, with a basswood body that provides a balanced foundation and a smooth, resonant midrange response. Its 5-piece roasted maple and walnut neck ensures enhanced stability and resonance, while the roasted maple improves both feel and durability. The neck’s sculpted profile and 25.5” (648mm) scale length provide a fast, comfortable playing experience. The guitar is equipped with stainless steel jumbo frets on a precisely radiused fingerboard for effortless technical playability and long-lasting performance. Added refinements include Graph Tech® Black TUSQ nut (43mm width) for improved sustain and harmonic richness, and two striking finishes, Orange Crush Satin (OCS) and Black Satin (BKS), offering players a choice between bold and understated aesthetics.
For electronics, the KX600 Infinite is armed with a set of Fishman® Fluence Modern pickups, delivering innovative tonal versatility with clarity and punch suited for today’s players. The control layout is simple yet powerful, featuring a single volume knob with push-pull functionality and a 3-way selector switch, allowing seamless access to a wide tonal palette for both rhythm and lead work.
Hardware appointments include Cort Locking Tuners for quick, precise, and stable tuning, and a Cort Hardtail bridge that also enhances sustain and tuning reliability. Combined with the durable stainless-steel frets and the Graph Tech® nut, the KX600 Infinite is engineered for precision under demanding live and studio conditions.
The new KX600 Infinite is the next evolution of the KX Series — a perfect balance of sustain, power, and precision.
When people say things like, “They don’t make ’em like that anymore,” I think of two production runs that began in 1974: the Volvo 200 series, which lasted until 1993, and the Roland Space Echo, which saw its final unit manufactured in 1990.
One afternoon 15 years ago, I packed up my VW Golf and was on my way to record a trio gig somewhere in the hills of Los Angeles. I pulled up behind a Volvo station wagon and Nels Cline got out. He opened the giant semi-rectangular trunk and took out his amp, guitar, and pedals. I was visibly amazed at the space inside. “The Swedish pickup truck!” Nels proclaimed as he slammed the metal door shut and we loaded in for the afternoon.
A while later, I bought my own 1989 Volvo 245 wagon (the four-door sedan model was the 240). One benefit of a 19-year production run was that you could drive to a local pick-a-part and take whatever you needed from a junker unit, and it just worked. Need a new rear-tail-lamp assembly? Ten dollars and a screwdriver will solve that problem. Missing the plastic cover over the emergency brake between the front seats? There are plenty out there to choose from. My old mechanic Russell (who also worked on Josh Freese’s Volvo 240) told me that he loved working on them because after 20 years, parts were still easy to find and he could easily move around inside the engine compartment.
One summer workday, my Isuzu box truck broke down and I loaded more than a dozen produce orders into the back of my 245 wagon. I left the South Bay and drove into the Valley. I finished the route, and by the time I was heading down Ventura Boulevard toward the freeway, there was smoke coming from under the hood. I jumped on the 405 South and kept an eye on my hovering temperature gauge. After a Sorcerer-like two hours in the slow lane, I was back home. The Swedish pickup never overheated or died on me. A day later, Russell told me there was a quarter-sized hole in the engine compartment, and then he repaired it.
“There are few sounds that could not be improved by adding a little tape echo, chorus, and/or spring reverb.”
Similarly, a Space Echo might not work perfectly, but it will still get the job done. Worn-out tape? Unscrew the top plate and replace it yourself. Echoes not self-oscillating? Try adjusting the trim pots. No high end on the echo? Get some 90% isopropyl alcohol and Q-tips on those tape heads! Broken spring reverb? Open it up and throw a new tank in there. Plenty of room to move around.
Like the Volvo 200 series, the Roland Space Echo came in a few simple variations: the classic three-head RE-201; the stripped-down RE-101 and 150, which omitted the spring reverb, EQ, and a tape head; the RE-301, which added a chorus circuit; and, finally, the RE-501/SRE-555. I have owned all of them, and the one I’ve used the most is my beloved SRE-555 rackmount unit.
I’ll tell you why:
I am one of those people who thinks there are few sounds that could not be improved by adding a little tape echo, chorus, and/or spring reverb. Once, when recording electric guitar overdubs on singer-songwriter Eamon Fogarty’s song “Utopia In Blue,” I set up a mic on the amp and a mic in the lobby of the studio, and I sent that distant microphone into the Chorus Echo. The result was a beautiful triangulation: the immediate amp guitar panned just off center, the distant mic panned left, and the tape echo’d distant mic panned hard right. For every strum, I was rewarded with three distinct sounds. For my purposes, the balanced XLR ins and outs of the 501 and 555 facilitate ease of use. I always have them operating at line level on an auxiliary send from a mixer or console, and it’s always “Aux 1.”
Sometimes a tool is so well made that even the routine feels inspired. The Volvo 245 wagon was outfitted with an optional rear-facing third row seat. I can’t tell you how fun it is to take a road trip with kids who are looking into the eyes of the driver behind you. Likewise, the Roland Chorus Echo invites you to experiment with combinations of sound. During a session for Cherry Glazerr’s cover of Leonard Cohen's “I’m Your Man,” I solo’d the drums and used the repeat rate to sync the Chorus Echo to the song’s tempo. Then, I took the echo off the drums and put it on Clem [frontwoman Clementine Creevy]’s electric guitar. She loved the sound and it transformed the guitar part. I printed the echo and went back to use a short slap on her lead vocal, which you can hear in the final mix (if you can find it).In this digital age, I will be the first to admit, “If it sounds good, it is good.” That said, there are a few pieces of analog outboard gear that I find irreplaceable. My Volvo 245 has long since retired from the road, and yet, the Roland Chorus Echo SRE-555 carries on.
We travel to the southwest Chicago suburbs to visit Best-Tronics to see how they design, build, and assure premium quality for their pedalboards, pro audio racks, input splitters, cables, big-rig setups, and all things tone. Join along as John Bohlinger gets the full breakdown of everything they do at BTPA.
Peavey Electronics® is always thinking about the customer and this time, they’ve made touring life a whole lot easier with their new MegaBass 410 and 115 speaker cabinets. With reduced weight, more durable construction, and pop-out casters included, these new cabinets are compatible with any bass head and deliver bass the way it is supposed to be…felt. Not stale through a digital modeler or direct to the board.
The long standing miniMEGA™ series of bass amplifiers from Peavey® have always been a staple of bass rigs worldwide for a number of years. These new cabinets are an extension of that design philosophy and bring new building techniques for a more convenient experience. Four heavy-duty 10” neodymium woofers deliver that nice tight, bottom end at a nominal impedance of 8 ohms and a power handling of 1200 watts program and 2400 watts peak. A 1” diaphragm compression driver, horn-loaded tweeter with adjustable level control delivers full range bass performance.
The MegaBass 115 houses a 15” BW speaker and includes a 1” diaphragm compression driver, horn-loaded tweeter with adjustable level control to allow the cabinet to be used as a standalone unit or in combination with the MegaBass 410. To deliver the gut punching low end, the MegaBass 115 also runs at a nominal impedance of 8 ohms and a power handling of 1200 watts program and 2400 watts peak.
The ultra-light weight ported cabinet design uses a reinforced plywood construction to keep weight down and long-lasting performance up. Black vinyl covering, heavy-duty steel hardware, and an eye-catching power coated metal grille will keep these cabinets performing night after night for years on the road. And with recessed, spring-loaded handles and pop-out casters included, load-in and load-out is a breeze. Two twist-lock combo inputs ensure solid signal performance every time.
For more information booth 210A at NAMM, or online at www.Peavey.com
Vintage Verified founders Jon Roncolato (left) and Zach Ziemer
We don’t often talk about Renaissance high art and ’50s rock ’n’ roll guitars in the same breath, unless we’re forming a new rockabilly-prog band called Hot-Rod Maximus. (You’re welcome.) But in the modern world of art and guitar collecting, items reputed to be the work of either Leonardo Da Vinci or Leo Fender are subject to much the same scrutiny from experts in the field, are known for fetching vast prices from discriminating buyers, and, given the millions of dollars potentially involved in even a single sale, are likewise expected to stand up to the most rigorous high-tech scientific analysis, as well. Right?
Well, almost. While the worlds of high art, medicine, astronomy, police forensics, and environmentalism have all taken that last cue to heart by making data-driven determinations with the latest tools of chemical analysis, the vintage guitar market—and its many rightfully respected authorities—has generally proven resistant to sharing the process of authentication with the likes of spectrometers, microscopes, and 3D imaging, tools that have long proven their worth in identifying the material composition of everything from planets to polyps to paint thinners. Black lights on the backs of headstocks have typically been about the latest “tech" in the room.
Until now. In a story that feels ripped from The Da Vinci Code or Cold Case Files, two remarkably down-to-earth—if undeniably intrepid—guitar-shop guys from Nashville, Jon Roncolato and Zach Ziemer, have quietly upended the vintage-guitar market in a matter of months. Fueled by rotating batches of fresh-ground coffee, an abundance of nerve, and a stomach for study, they’ve tapped some of the most advanced and expensive analytical machines available to capture, catalog, and compare hundreds of thousands of data points from countless vintage and modern instruments—their lacquers, pigments, pots, pegs, pickups, and parts—building the largest dataset for guitar-component and finish comparison in existence.
In the process, they’ve issued a gentle nudge to dealers, appraisers, and collectors—and yes, they’ve even shifted the status of some long-held vintage “treasures.” Although they no longer appraise or sell instruments themselves, they’ve still managed to ruffle a few feathers and attract more than a few legal threats. At the same time, they’ve leveraged their diligence and strong reputations to assemble a trusted advisory team made up of some of the most respected minds in guitars, art, and hard science: icons like repair guru Joe Glaser, cultural-heritage scientist Dr. Tom Tague (who authenticated Da Vinci’s “lost masterpiece” Salvator Mundi), Music City session legend Tom Bukovac, pickup mastermind Ron Ellis, and analytical chemist Dr. Gene Hall, among others.
Vintage Duco reference/research materials
Jon and Zach are guarded about the technology, as you might expect. They don’t post selfies, they don’t have a podcast, and they won’t be starting one. As Ziemer puts it, they’d much rather “keep our heads down and keep hammering away” with laser-based spectrometers, plumb the deepest secrets of Fullerton red Strats, and compare the chemical makeup of Duco paints (ironically, both Pollock and Fender’s mutual go-to.) In their scrupulously clean Nashville HQ—which will expand to offices in L.A. and N.Y.C. in 2026—they seem pretty resigned to their current controversial status, and remain motivated primarily by going after, y'know, the truth.
Okay, that and a good cup of coffee.
What was the genesis of this idea to apply these types of cultural heritage sciences to vintage guitars? Is the problem with inaccuracies, refinishes, and forgeries really that widespread?
Jon Roncolato: We met while I was the GM at Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville. We initially hired Zach as part of the inspection team. It’s difficult to find people who have logged enough time examining vintage instruments to truly know what they’re looking at, but Zach had spent a couple years at Glaser Instruments—the go-to shop for repairs on high-dollar pieces.
When Zach became Head of Authentication, we began seeing questionable instruments come through with six-figure price tags that other experts had already signed off on. When you have a six-figure instrument and multiple experts all saying different things, you’ve got a problem. That’s when we realized there had to be a better way to do this—something grounded in science, not speculation.
Zach Ziemer: Everybody misses now and again. Most dealers are trying their absolute hardest with their experience, eye, and gut to tell an original from a fake or a refin. There’s simply some things you just can’t know unless you look at them with the kinds of tools that we’re bringing to the table. And it shouldn’t be that controversial: after all, literally every other collectible industry has a third party unassociated service like ours. The most obvious one is PSA with collectible sports cards. PSA is a little different than it used to be, but everybody still sees a sports card and a PSA box and if it says, “PSA 9,” for instance, you know you’re probably in good shape.
“In the art world, scientific validation has long been standard practice—pigment analysis, canvas fiber studies, dimensional scans. Sometimes it changes the story. That’s not an attack on tradition. It’s the pursuit of truth.” —George Gruhn, Gruhn Guitars
Jon Roncolato: In the art world, if you don’t have both iron-clad provenance and scientific analysis, it’s not possible to certify a piece as unequivocally “by the hand” of a given artist. Art dealers are very specific about their language, and there’s a whole hierarchy of degrees of certainty that directly correlate to the price of the piece. In the world of dealing guitars, though, even if you’re not 100% sure, you have to absolutely stake all your credibility on a guitar, even if there’s some doubt. You're not going to sell a $250,000 custom color Fender if you come out and say, “Well, I think it's a custom color. It looks good to me.” So that's just been the structure of the industry. Being in the underbelly of the whole thing, as we were, we realized what a big problem this was.
There must have been a ridiculous learning curve. You guys are guitar dudes, not scientists. Takes a bit of brass to bite off something like that, no?
Jon Roncolato: We have a framed quote in the kitchen from Wilbur Wright: "There are two ways of learning to ride a fractious horse: one is to get on him and learn by actual practice how each motion and trick may be best met. The other is to sit on a fence and watch the beast awhile, and then retire to the house." We chose the former.
That said, we spent the first year and a half offering no services at all—just studying the science. That included week-long training seminars where everyone but us had a doctorate attached to their name, and consulting with the top experts in the cultural heritage field.
We also didn’t get here alone. We caught a major break by connecting with Dr. Tom Tague and Dr. Gene Hall, two of the world’s leading experts in analytical chemistry. They took us under their wing and gave us a crash course in PhD-level material analysis.
Zach Ziemer: I can't even express how difficult it was to make heads or tails of any of this at first. Jon and I were not chemists, and a lot of what we do now is largely analytical chemistry. So the learning curve on that was incredibly steep. We always joked that we were smart enough to have the idea, but dumb enough to think we could do it. And while this process exists in other industries, the finished instrument industry is totally unique. The instruments are so modular, and you have finishes, plastics, hardware, pickups, and so you have to have an answer for all that information.
Jon Roncolato: That’s right. The process is designed to have an answer for anything and everything on the instrument. The headstock decals, the finish, the hardware, the fret wire, the fingerboard inlays—we have a data-driven answer for everything. That was really critical, because we didn't want to give incomplete information. Another absolutely critical principle for us was that anything we put in one of these reports has to be defensible in court. If we get subpoenaed to go to court, which inevitably we will, we need to know that Zach or I can show up and we can defend this and prove this. Our other guiding principle is that we remain completely independent, and not touch the buying and selling of the instruments.
“Vintage Verified is doing what we couldn’t do 20 years ago. They’re bringing in real tools—from forensics, from art conversation, from aerospace—and applying them to guitars. And it’s not about replacing experience. It’s about supporting it.” —Joe Glaser, Glaser Guitars
The workshop
Fair enough. So, what’s the most difficult or highly sensitive area of your analysis?
Jon Roncolato: Finish is easily the most complicated part of what we do, an absolute maze of information, and it’s also where you see the biggest value swings. Traditionally, if a guitar’s been refinished, the rule of thumb is that it cuts the value in half. Nowadays, it probably cuts the value by 40%. But if you start talking about custom colors, like a Fender Sonic Blue Strat, or the Fullerton red we have in our lab right now, this Strat here is probably a $250,000 Strat, assuming the finish is original. If the finish is, in fact, not legitimate, then potentially you’re looking at a $20,000 Strat.
And to determine this, you don’t just need that guitar’s own fingerprint, if you will, but you need to be able to conduct comparative analysis against a bulwark of trustworthy data. Where does that come from?
Jon Roncolato: We’ve been very fortunate to have guys like Joe Glaser and George Gruhn in our corner, who put their own cred on the line to help us scan and analyze literally thousands of vintage guitars, plus Dr. Gene Hall, whose work decoding Jackson Pollock paintings means he has the largest collection and database of period-correct Duco, Ditzler, R-M, Sherwin Williams, etc. paints on the planet, the same paints Fender used in their golden era. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We now have millions of data points across several different machines, a good $500,000 worth of spectrometers alone. We spent eight hours a day, all day, every day, collecting data as much as we possibly could.
So is it very much a one-to-one comparison? “This finish’s chemical composition is true to the year this guitar purports to be, so we’re good”? Or is it more complex than that?
Zach Ziemer: A little of both. Sure, the data that I just grabbed matches the aggregate of the given model/era pretty well, so therefore we can say with a high degree of certainty that it’s a period-correct material. But what really blew the doors open for us was when we got past that level, and started to have a fundamental understanding of these lacquer formulations, how various formulations over time were degrading, and how the different components in a lacquer formulation—plasticizers, pigments, etc.—all interact and evolve. How did those components morph over time?
If the government set regulations, what was the regulation attached to? If you look at a spectrum of a given lacquer, you’ll have hundreds of chemical compounds. A ton of information in there. What we had to do was figure out which chemical compounds were going to be chief identifiers of who was using what, and when. Building out this timeline for the major manufacturers was the bulk of our work, just as much as developing an understanding of the complexity of the materials. In other words, the data is only valuable if you understand the materials that are producing the data.
You’ve encountered some backlash, and even dealers who later became supporters initially had their lawyers on the phone. What’s your message to dealers, appraisers, collectors, working players, and the business as a whole?
Jon Roncolato: We knew there would be a significant amount of skepticism and backlash early on, just as there always is around a new service or technology. It’s like the wagon wheel salesman in the age of the automobile. Zach and I think they’ll come around eventually. One positive aspect of our service is that it allows buyers who would otherwise not feel comfortable spending large amounts of money on a piece to now buy with confidence. For years, many people at the top of the market wouldn’t buy custom color Fenders, wouldn’t buy Flying Vs. Because they were largely under the impression that many of them are refins or counterfeit pieces. So, already we’ve seen that many of these people who previously were not buying custom colors, bursts, or whatever, are now joining that market again because they have the trust that these are authentic.
Zach Ziemer: Our mission is to make sure that the data and the information we provide is absolutely correct. That’s our lane. We're not the guitar police. We are not policing transactions, and we do not appraise or assign any type of valuation, monetary or otherwise, to any instrument, ever. We’re hoping that we can help dealers begin to understand that this is designed to be an asset. It’s designed to help you protect yourself. And look, as soon as we print out a report, and I hand it to you, you can throw it in the garbage if you want. But it’s an option for you. Ultimately, it’s something that we believe helps give people the confidence to buy and sell high-value instruments, and know exactly what they’re getting.
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