Sigma CS1

The CS-1 has a wide, flat-radius neck with medium frets and a rosewood fingerboard. Its bridge and nut are made from a dense plastic, apparently designed to replicate ivory. The bridge is connected to a wide resonator that helps produce a tone quality better than you'd expect from a mid-line guitar.

The CS-1 has no electronics.

The CS-1 sounds best when tuned a step down (DGCFAD). However, the body acheives true sympathetic resonance closer to C, rather than A or D, so tuning to CGCFAD results in a surprising boost in volume, as well as providing improved sustain.

If you are weak-fingered, you probably won't like the stock action, which is medium height for a traditional cat-gut guitar. Dressing the bridge and frets results in the CS-1 taking ona an entirely different personality, by which it becomes easier to move upon, but loses some percussiveness.

I found my CS-1 in a pawn shop for 45 dollars. The neck is straight and the hardware is sound, but it looks to have been dropped at some point, which resulted in a small crack on the side. That said, for a 15-year old guitar which looks to have seen a lot of use, my CS-1 has held up nicely.

I've been a working professional guitarist and singer for over 17 years and have owned three or four different classical guitars during that time. Comparatively, the CS-1 is no premier instrument, but with a little work, I've gotten it to sound and play quite well. I use it primarily for giving guitar lessons, as my live shows are all electric. It's also great for finger exercises and practice, since it requires more physical effort than my Stratocasters.

Pick one up if you can find one, especially in the 50-dollar range.

www.TimKreitz.com
Midland, Texas

Classical Guitar, 650mm
Early 90's, made in Korea (for import by Martin)
Cedar Top, Mahogany Back & Sides
Strap buttons provided

Adequate bass, thin treble, not much projection

Action is very poor; its high and requires a lot of effort in the first position requires considerable effort. I've been tempted to tune it low and put on a capo. Attempts to adjust the action result in heavy buzzing. This is not a guitar for classical or jazz.
It hold tuning well, and isn't particularly sensitive to temperature/humidity changes. Finish quality is good.

Appears to be quite strongly built

I've been playing this guitar as a re-entry to classical play after a number of lapse years. Can't wait to replace it with something that has better playability and sound. I can't really recommend it for anything but casual strumming.