Cordoba Koa CE

Beautiful solid koa with perfect glossy finish. Cutaway body with onboard pickup and tuner.Controls for bass, treble, volume and "presence" (I think that's reverb). Ebony fretboard, rosewood overlay on headstock, mother of pearl floral inlay around the rosette. The label says "handmade in Portugal." Mine is a 2007 model that came with a humicase from Guitar Center for $760.

I play mostly Hawaiian slack key, and that fits this guitar perfectly. There is a warmth and presence across the full range of strings, with nice overtones in the lower register. The cutaway makes playing up the neck easy. The guitar sounds great unplugged, if a bit muted, but really opens up with a little amp. I use an inexpensive Crate amp which is fine now that I have it dialed in (dialing down the bass and giving a boost to the treble). My wife plays our Martins, and when we play together, my trebles tend to get lost without the boost. I'd give 9.5 if I could.

Nicely set up from the factory. Easy to play, but no buzzes or rattles. Finish is perfect. The koa is beautiful and well matched (mine doesn't have that gaudy sunburst pattern I've seen on some of the internet retailer sites - Thank God). The tuners are solid. The only complaint I have is the onboard tuner.First, it's off by about a quarter of a tone compared to my external tuners. Second, when you use the tuner, it disables the pickup for a period of time, which always makes me think there's something wrong with the electronics or the amp. I just stopped using it.

I don't play live or gig, but I wouldn't hesitate to play this guitar in public if I did.

Haven't needed it so far, but the guitar comes with a limited lifetime warranty through Guitar Salon International as long as it is stored in the humicase while not being played. Of course, I like to keep my guitars out on stands so I can just pick them up and play them without making it a major production.

I've been playing off and on for forty years, mostly folk. We have an early 1990's Martin J-40 (which sounds and plays as well as any guitar I've ever come in contact with), a late 1980's Martin D-41 (very nice), and a 1973 Yamaha FG-300 (a durable and surprisingly good guitar). I broke my left index finger a number of years ago, and the narrow steel string necks are hard for me to navigate, so I started playing the wider necked nylon string guitars about 9 months ago. It makes a real difference. My first nylon string was a LaPatrie Concert, a nice guitar, but no match for the Cordoba (and it didn't cost that much less). It's now my knockabout. I'm very happy with the Cordoba Koa CE. The only drawback is the eccentric onboard tuner, and I don't really need that function anyway. I'd definitely buy another if something happened to this one.

Single cutaway KOA Classical guitar, standard approx 50mm nut width. Ebony fretboard. Finnish B-Band onboard electronics are adequate. Glossy finish is riddled with imperfections. Otherwise a really nice looking guitar.

For a classical it is very mellow. Some classicals (especially spruce top) have a brighter, almost flamenco sound, this one is soft and sweet ... the other end of the spectrum from flamenco. Not dull, but more full bodied and complex tones.

Finish is poor as I stated above. I saw another one at Guitar Center that looked like the finish was so thin, the top seem was visible (like a crack almost). This guitar is probably best seen before purchased. I steered away from the one at Guitar Center and bought online ... mine has a nice coat on it, but many minor flaws and nicks. It looks like a floor model or something. I was very let down by this (but thankfully nothing that looked as bad as the apparent "crack" in the top side of the one at GC). The label says hand made in Portugal ... hmmm.

One positive note ... the wood grain is awesome and the ebony fretboard is nice. Frets are super nice too, very well rounded off at the edges.

The hardware seems fine. The tuners are fancy and seem substantial. They are certainly smoother than the "el cheapos" on my Ramirez. The electronics work well except volume is a little weak on the low E string.

N/A

I've played since 1967; been through a lot of guitars; this one is beautiful and nice to play, the finish is a letdown though.

Wow! What a beauty and sounds fabulous. I own a $5,000 custom Taylor steel string, if that tells you something. And I am very happy to own this as my nylon string classical guitar. I love playing this guitar.

All-Koa wood electric cutaway classical ("nylon-string", if you prefer). Top is solid; I'm not sure about back and sides. 650mm scale, ebony fingerboard. B-Band 3.2 active pickup. Made in Portugal. Label says, "hecho a mano", but I have my doubts, @ $800.00 bucks w/Humicase. The finish is glossy, and the figure in the wood is outstanding. The tuners are top-notch. 21 frets (C#)

I play fingerstyle jazz, etc. The guitar sounds very good amped, even through my JUNK Peavey transtube combo. The sound takes some tweaking, but is excellent, once dialed in. The amp is so noisy, I can't say if the B-band is noisy, or not! I'll probably pick up another Ultrasound amp; I liked it very much (evidently, someone else did, too).

The guitar really shines in this department. The finish was nearly flawless-I only found one little "oops" in the neck binding, after close inspection. Action was great-a little high (which I like), but with lots of saddle to work with. Not one fret buzz or rattle could I find! The wood used in this guitar is simply beautiful.

Looks well-made; time will tell. The Gipsy Kings travel non-stop with them, and some of the guitars look like they were drug behind a bus, but they keep working.

Just got it; don't put much faith in any warranties, so I'll take my chances.

My first gig was on The Ark, if that tells you anything. I now primarily write columns in guitar magazines, as well as arrange for Mel Bay. I would buy this guitar again in a heartbeat-very impressive!