Cordoba choose help need :crossover;Fusion;Gk studio negra?

[Guido_59]

Acoustic guitar forum

Hello from Italy
I want to restart to play guitar with nylon string
I look to various Cordoba model , but I’m a little bit confused , also due to impossibility to found all model in the same shop so it’s very difficult to decide.
Order a guitar without see it and play it it’s a great risk.
Someone say that cutaway guitar sounds worse than non cutaway
Model I look are:
- GK STUDIO NEGRA ( 50mm neck flat good profile and lowest action ; thin body) good Fishman blend preamp ) price ~780€
Many says it’s good sound and feeling other has a bad sound
- Fusion 12 ( natural cd or dp or maple ? What are the best or what are the differences?) 48mm radius neck ; steel string feeling ( this is good for me) body a little bit deep than studio negra
- Fusion 12 orchestra CE top 48mm radius neck standard body depth than classical guitar
I will play classical music rarely, more frequently pop, songwriter song ( Leonard Cohen, Sting) but my idea should be restart to play a sort of acoustic jazz like I play many many years ago when I was young, now I’m 64 years old
With guitar that I gave write above is possible to have low action ?
How low ?
Cordoba sends my their spec of factory set by mail , but says that is a starti point and a good luthier shoulder lower yet action
Doc is in attachment

If you can help me I thank you as of now
Have a good music
Bye from Italy

Guido

[TBman]

I have a Cordoba Fusion 12 Orchestra, a Cordoba C5 and a Cordoba C12. All are fine guitars. The Fusion 12 has the cutaway and it sounds fine. Whichever guitar you buy bring it to a good guitar shop to have it setup for you.

[Guido_59]

Thanks TBman
Like Fusion orchestra ce over the other.
It has the highest price
The fact is that is quite impossible found it and play before buy in a shop also far from me.
Sincerely spend about 800€ ( ~860$) in a blind purchase it worry me

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Guido_59

Thanks TBman
Like Fusion orchestra ce over the other.
It has the highest price
The fact is that is quite impossible found it and play before buy in a shop also far from me.
Sincerely spend about 800€ ( ~860$) in a blind purchase it worry me

Cordoba makes a good guitar. You can always return it if you don't like it.

I do not like the strings that Cordoba ships it's guitars with. I've always changed them after receiving the guitar.

[Guido_59]

I buy it from a real shop and they order guitar by my request, I ask if I can change it after try in the shop

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Guido_59

I buy it from a real shop and they order guitar by my request, I ask if I can change it after try in the shop

Your english is better than my Italian. My grandparents never spoke it around us kids so we wouldn't get an accent. Here's some grammatical help.

I will buy it from a real shop. They will order the guitar at my request. I will ask if I can change the strings after trying it in the shop.

[Guido_59]

Fusion 12 natural cd vs Fusion orchestra ce ;
what are the real differences? Mean relevant differences in terms is playability and sound ,
Amplification is sure better in Orchestra it has Fishman Presys blend with piezo+condenser mic and this is a part of higher price.
The differences justify the price?
Fusion 12 natural cd 570€-612$
Fusion orchestra ce 800€-858$
( in Italy we have vat named Iva of 22% over the price)
Really Fusion Orchestra ce worth the extra charge of 230€-256$ ?
What do you think ?

[MigueldeMaria]

I play a GK Pro, which is the same thing as the Studio except for woods and some minor features. I play all my gigs on the GK Pro, and it has been a great guitar for me. The action is quite low, the neck feels great. It is a wide fingerboard, like a normal classical/flamenco, so be advised. The Fusion fingerboards are thinner, like steel-strings. (please double check on the specs)

[Guido_59]

Thanks all for suggests
GK PRO. is sure better but out of budget
I have found a second hand Gk studio and I’ll go to see and try .
If I like it and price will be ok , maybe I’ll buy it even I should like more GK studio NEGRA for its specs a its more warm sound
I have never try this and where I live it’s impossible found both gk studio and NEGRA in the same shop for head to head comparison ( actually it’s impossible to found one of two alone),
It’s not a common guitar here and the distributor it’s not in Italy now but it is in Spain , so Italian shop dealers don’t work with it at now.

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by Guido_59

I have found a second hand Gk studio and I’ll go to see and try .
If I like it and price will be ok , maybe I’ll buy it even I should like more GK studio NEGRA for its specs a its more warm sound

Remember that you'll not be hearing exactly the same thing as in recordings!

Very good idea to go and try a used guitar. Cordoba know how to make guitars and the Fusion series was designed by or in collaboration with Kenny Hill, but from what I understand their quality control has been lacking the past few years. A used guitar may have been sorted out by its current owner.

That was definitely the case with my Fusion 14 Maple which I bought new a bit more than a year ago. It has desastrous intonation and only a few frets that were seated correctly (read: all the way down to the fretboard). The bridge was also glued at an angle other than a perfect 90° with the centre line. As a result I couldn't avoid severe buzzing and I got tooth aches from listening to myself.
The worst part is that Cordoba refused to take the instrument back or correct it, so I had to sell it at my loss.

So, not to repeat myself: try it, and check the frets as well as the intonation. If you buy in a shop they will probably have verified the rest; I know that the shop where I bought mine sent the 1st one back because it didn't have a proper neck angle.

A final note: the Fusion range are really classical guitars with traditional bracing and thin tops. They sound like that too, and may not react as well to heavy strumming with a pick as some other crossover instruments.

[Guido_59]

@Thank RJVB for your advice and for sharing your experience
I’m not an expert and it’s hard for me make a deep and accurate check of classica or acoustic guitar cause I don’t play one for may years
Regards a second hand buying in a shop I’m quite relaxed because I know reputation of shops that I have called
Next days I’ll go to see and try a Cordoba GK STUDIO (spruce solid top; back and side laminated cypress ) .
It’s owned by a friend of my dear friend, so I can sure guitar is ok without problem.
If I like it for sound and playability I’ll buy it
Stay tuned
Thanks for suggests

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by Guido_59

I’m not an expert and it’s hard for me make a deep and accurate check of classica or acoustic guitar cause I don’t play one for may years

In that case it would be an even better idea to ask someone to come along (that's always a good idea, so you can hear the instrument from a different position too).
But your inexperience and/or lack of practise actually make it easier to check for fretbuzz because you have less practise to avoid it.
Checking for intonation requires a good tuner anyway: check if the harmonic at the 12th fret is close enough to the fretted note at the 12th fret, and check the intonation at the 2nd and 5th frets when the open string is in tune. "Close enough" means the difference should be 5 cents or smaller, or maybe 7 if you are not very demanding about intonation.
Use a tuner that you can plug in to the guitar's preamp if the shop is noisy!

[Guido_59]

This is a great idea! I don’t think to take with me a tuner , but I’ll do it
I have one of TC with a clip for headstock, but consider that all guitar I have mentioned have a preamp ( piezo + condenser mic blended) with a built-in tuner

[RJVB]

I forgot they indeed have built-in tuners. There is a good chance your clip-on tuner has a more accurate display so it can't hurt to have both!

[Guido_59]

👍 You’re right!👍