The Best Classical Guitars of the CORDOBA brand

I am in two minds on this one.

I like this guitar, and I really wanted to buy it for quite a while now. But it has some fundamental issues in my opinion. I cannot confirm if those issues are applicable to the particular guitar I received, or the entire GK Studio Negra series. I expect the time will tell if the purchase I made was worth it.

PROS

1) It is a beautiful looking guitar. 2) It is Fishman amplified which is essential for gigs and recordings (but do read on). 3) The finish on the guitar is fine, and 4) the front, neck and the fretboard are well delivered despite this guitar is made in China. 5) The fact it has a truss-rod is a wonderful extra, and one of the reasons I bought it.

It is unfortunate I needed to correct the neck immediately after unpacking, it needed about half a turn, which is a significant correction on a brand new neck (but hey, that’s why the truss-rod is there so we’re all good).

However, there are other issues I cannot fix.

CONS

This is supposed to be a Flamenco "Negra" model, with warmer and bassier sound comparing to traditional "Blanca". Back and sides being "veneered", or perhaps the way it was put together, is a downside as it practically cancels out the sustain and warmer and deeper sound expected from rosewood. I do not know what is the wood beneath the rosewood veneer, in respect of the sound I doubt it is rosewood (although it should be). The specs just say "Back and sides: Rosewood, veneered".

Ultimately what you get is the Negra looks, with the sound of standard flamenco blanca guitar, loud and snappy, sharp, but no warmth or depth that comes with rosewood body.

I compared it with my inexpensive ¤400+ EUR Spanish flamenco negra guitar which has infinitely more warmth and depth in the tone. So I am pretty disappointed with Cordoba GK Studio Negra in that respect. If you truly need a "Negra" sound qualities this guitar is not for you, despite its name.

Summary

GK Studio Negra is a bit overpriced as well as misleading by name in my opinion. Is it worth ¤649? I would say the build quality is more in the range of ¤450 to ¤500 max, remembering it comes with Fishman and let’s not forget the gig bag.

It is ok for practice, perhaps dabbling in Flamenco (if that’s what you want to do), and playing around with friends and at parties. Sadly I do not think I can use it for gigging or recordings – which sadly defeats the whole purpose of having Fishman amp onboard.

I have played this model over three years, therefore I believe that can comment this product with confidence.

In a manner of speaking, the Cordoba GK Studio Negra is very versatile and can be used in many situations: the ”negra” model itself offers sustain of sound while providing swift volume changes required in flamenco music, the inner microphones are satisfying and can be used when playing live and the materials chosen are quite typical in negra guitars and could be stated as safe and reliable decision.

The product has proven to be pleasant to play and practice with. For myself this is the reason why I haven’t proceeded and changed this model to more expensive guitars with better quality.

The problems, ”the cons”, of this model comes from the aspect of sound.
The buzzing sound is desirable in flamenco guitars but not in this extent. Using required amount of force to create the small buzz from notes is hard with this guitar. It can be experienced especially when you can play different models on same occasion.
The tone doesn’t have much depth, but then again one can’t require too much from a guitar with this price tag.
What I and some other people have noticed is that this guitar can produce relatively great volume, which can be seen as good or bad.

To mention something about the price – it is surprisingly low for what you will receive: ”multifuntional” negra guitar with built in mics. So it is a definite advantage.

As I said in the introduction, the materials chosen for this guitar are typical. The same could be stated from the design as well. So there isn’t any peculiarity in this model to be commented.

It could be just my luck, but the final trim in my guitar contained some failures. The
nut and slug holding the built in microphone were loose, there was some glue left near the bridge and I am bit worried of how the cords of the microphone will stay on their position and will they resonate in the future, I don’t know yet.

I believe I won’t record any compositions with my product, the model isn’t adequate for that purpose. On the other hand I won’t resell it to anyone and the product was relatively cheap. I could say, in the end I felt that i didn’t waste any money and I was able to enjoy the pros of this product.

To summarize it all up, well… for this price I could say that you can’t really loose and Cordoba GK Studio Negra is a convenient purchase if you aren’t sure what kind of situations you will face with your guitar. You can play classical or flamenco music and you don’t have to worry about the mics in jam or live sessions etc.
Only inhibiting factor would be the sound which wasn’t, at least for me, the most alluring quality of this guitar model.

Firstly, a little background… I am a luthier with more than 30 years experience, so if my comments seem like I’m nitpicking, it’s only because my job is assessing, building and setting up guitars. Flamenco guitar is a new style for me and it made sense to research and buy a decent intermediate-priced instrument to start with.

The guitar was supplied in Thomann’s usual excellent packaging and arrived undamaged. On careful examination, I was able to identify a couple of minor finish flaws and some under-polished lacquer but certainly nothing that was cause for concern. The alignment and fit of the neck was perfect, the tuners properly fitted, frets well seated and for a guitar at this price point I would say that the finish quality was very good – well above average, in fact. Some of the fret ends were a little sharp and several would clearly benefit from some polishing as roughness could be felt where the strings passed over them. The golpeador did have an air-bubble under it, but this was easily sorted out. Anyway, I see none of this as negative and would rate the guitar extremely highly at the price paid.

Naturally, the guitar needed a few days for the strings to settle in and a few hours playing before evaluating the performance. I have to say, the factory setup was very good indeed. For my own purpose, I knew I would set the action a little lower, deepen and polish the nut slots and perfect the string-to-string balance of the transducer, as well as addressing the issues mentioned in my initial assessment. In short, everything would fall into a proper professional setup, which I guess many folks buying a guitar online would expect to have done once they had played the instrument for a few weeks.

I wore out the first set of strings and then setup the guitar as described above, on new Savarez high-tension strings. In summary, it plays superbly and, considering it is an electro-acoustic instrument, it has really respectable purely acoustic tone and volume too. The surprise has been how well the Fishman transducer / mic / preamp work though. Through a decent acoustic amplifier (Fishman Loudbox Artist) it sounds really good, with great dynamics and that dry, raspy flamenco voicing when you dig into the strings. If you are thinking of spending this kind of money on a flamenco guitar to use with an amplifier, you should really check out this model. There are several useful performances on YouTube and I would say that they fairly represent the capabilities of this instrument.

I use the GK Studio for gatherings and small performances (e.g. in bars).

Beside its very nice appearance, this guitar has a very clear, smooth and comfortable sound.

It has a low action, just like how a Flamenco Guitar should be. The low action makes it very nice to play with minimal effort, which makes it also easier to play fast!

I am very satisfied with it, and I felt very comfortable playing it from the first couple of days.

This guitar offers you a professional quality for a budget price!

Ps: I am also very satisfied with the Thomann customer service!

This is my first serious classical guitar, I used to have one that was all laminate which was built very poorly, I always had trouble getting a good sound out of it, this problem does not occur with this guitar. It came out of the box with the perfect action height (for me). The finish is absolutely beautiful, and the solid cedar top makes for such a lovely sound, as well as the guitar strings. The guitar needed to be tuned but that was fixed in no time. I’m very satisfied with my purchase. The guitar is easy to play, sounds great and truly a sight to behold.

Given its price range, the guitar is a great value for money. I have been playing mainly at home and approximately an hour per day. Sure its sound is not like a 1000+ euros instrument, however impressively close given its price. Totally recommend it.

I play this guitar mostly alone, sometimes jamming. But I basically haven’t used the mic.

I find the finition quite good, the action is low, the guitar ready to play out of the box. The sound is full, I think that an awesome item considering the price.

The guitar is just fine. Nice wood and finish, beautiful sounding. But what I particularly didn’t like is the fake gold plastic on the tuners side. Would have been way better without it…

This was my first venture into the world of classical guitars, having always played electrics previously. I gig with electrics, but the classical guitar is only intended for home use.

My first impressions on taking the Cordoba C10 guitar out of its nicely made plush velvet lined and lightweight polyfoam case, was its high quality fit and finish.

Four types of wood in use here ; Canadian Cedar top, Indian Rosewood sides and back, mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard.
Excellent book matching to the Rosewood on the back of the guitar, complemented by a wood purfling stripe down the middle and base, and further purfling to the top and sides.

The finish is beautifully even and highly glossy. Faultless in fact, and the neck heal joint and headstock carving is lovely.

It is a very lightweight guitar and plays beautifully too. A very warm sound with excellent resonance and good sustain from the evenly fitted frets. The action is possibly set a little high, but that can easily be rectified.
It also holds tune very nicely once the Savarez strings are fully stretched, so the prettily decorated gold Cordoba tuners are certainly doing their job well.

Some will turn their noses up at an American brand having many of their guitars produced in China, including this one, even at this price level, but where it’s produced doesn’t matter. It’s care and quality of manufacture and above all, playability which are most important, and these guitars prove this.

I am very happy indeed with this guitar, it is a joy to hold and play and I would definitely recommend anyone looking at classical guitars to perhaps consider a Cordoba guitar.

The only minor criticism I have (and it is only minor), is that Cordoba claim the Rosette pattern to be made of genuine Mother Of Pearl, but upon close inspection it looks much more like some form of pearloid. It just doesn’t catch the light like genuine Mother Of Pearl. There is Mother of Pearl on the rosewood bridge piece, but not the Rosette.
So in that respect, I think the people at Cordoba are being a little bit naughty.

There is also a very subtle whiff of manufacturing glue still wafting up from the sound hole, but I am hoping that will soon disappear to let the scent of Cedar come to the fore!

This guitar is one of the best you can get for this price. Processing is at a perfect level. Very clean. Inside the guitar, the work is also very clean and precise. Sound warm, colorful, relatively strong. Typically cedar.
Do you mind production in China? Absolutely not me. I am glad that this is another proof of precise and quality products. Chinese craftsmen can also be as good as German or American. My third guitar from the Cordoba Luthier series. All absolutely perfect for the price. I recommend !

I’m a long time steel string player but have always preferred the tone of a classical guitar. This hybrid is beautifully made with a stunning tone.

I did take a risk in buying without playing (after much research) and went for this option over a Martin or Taylor acoustic. I’m delighted with my decision – the feel of the guitar is stunning and in no way inferior to a steel Martin or Taylor within this range.

The guitar is versatile enough for Jazz (my usual style), classical, and general rock styles – I especially like the slim neck.

My research did warn that the fret edges were a touch sharp and this has proven to be the case (thought nothing major at all – wear and tear will of course remove this); the finish on this guitar is otherwise spectacular. Beautifully made and detailed.

I can’t recommend this guitar enough; it’s time to start taking real notice of Cordoba guitars.

An excellent guitar for the price , great tone and playability. I had don a lot of online research this guitar came up to all expectations. I like the light weight of the guitar great sustain and ease of playing . I had read the fret finnish was in need of dress but I believe cordoba have stepped up quality control on this issue. it would have been preferred if the guitar came with a hard case but the soft bag is passable.