Cordoba C5 CET Limited Electro-Acoustic Classical Guitar

I am big fan of the Cordoba brand (pronounced Córdoba, with the accent on the first 'o'), not just the overall quality but also because most of their classical guitars include a truss rod, which is a must-have for me.

Putting that aside, this C5 CET Limited edition is a bit of a beauty, so thin (only 6.5cm deep) it is so easy to handle. The 50mm neck makes a significant difference and seems easier and somewhat faster to play compared with a 52mm one. The fishman pickup feels absolutely top class, the response and quality are superb.

The spalted maple side and back make this guitar a bit of a piece of art. It is an absolutely beautiful pattern to look at with a rather strong but sleek character. And the sound on its own, despite the thin body is second to none. You can play this guitar without using the pickup and will still sound like a full body classical, with the tone perhaps a bit on the sharper spectrum. It is still a classical sound.

My only issue with this guitar was with the factory setup, it seems the action play was setup a bit too high, around 3.5mm, so I did carry out the duly neck and bridge nut filing to bring this down, but due to the design I also had to tighten the truss road a bit to achieve an action play around 2.5-2.75mm. However this made the neck ever so slightly convex, this is more noticeable on the neck side close to the soundhole. I believe this is down to its build with a cutaway, not sure. In general terms, it felt a bit more difficult to set up than a standard C5 without cutaway. This is the reason for the 4x stars rather than 5. I am sure some trationalists could disagree with the action play parameters, but this is down to preferences, if I can bring the action play lower, I will certainly aim for that. It makes a huge difference when playing.

I am afraid the delivery service used by Bax in the UK, is not that great, frequently late and there is no way of actually having at least an estimated window for delivery (am or pm). Having had two below-standard deliveries previously, it is unfortunately something that I will certainly keep in mind when deciding to buy another product.

De gitaar ziet er goed uit en de afwerking is ook goed. Qua afstelling hoefde ik er bijna niks aan te doen. De frets zijn mooi egaal (iets wat polijsten doet wonderen). De hals is erg fijn en vergeleken met mijn klassieke gitaren een stuk makkelijker en sneller te bespelen. Het geluid is ook goed. Het is helder en meer geschikt voor bijvoorbeeld flamenco stijl. Volume droog is voor een thin body ok (een ideale oplossing als je later op de avond wilt oefenen) over de PA of versterker is het een totaal ander instrument en komt het beter tot zijn recht. Met een goede eq kan je van klassiek, flamenco tot wat je ook wilt spelen.

Twee minpunten. Een beschadiging in de lak op de zijkant van de toets. Wat echt lelijk oogt.
En de snaren waren werkelijk verschrikkelijk. Oud, gebruikt en beschadigd.
Voor de €10 minder als een niet B-stock had men bij Bax op zijn minst kunnen vragen welke snaren ik er op zou willen en de lakschade even wegpoetsen.
De 4 sterren zij. Echt voor de gitaar in dit geval.