Cordoba C9 CD/MH Acoustic Nylon String Classical Guitar

[BT55]

I’m looking to buy my first classical guitar. The Cordoba C9 CD/MH Acoustic Nylon String Classical Guitar gets great reviews. Can anyone provide personal advice on this Cordoba? Is there a better choice in the $850 range? What about the Yamaha GC12 Handcrafted Classical Guitar Cedar.

[fitness1]

Hard to beat the value of the 9 series - I would tell you to be patient and you'll find a used one for about 60% of the cost of new. Here's a spruce top on Reverb at 500.00...



https://reverb.com/item/32336080-cordoba-c9

They are lightweight and responsive for the price point. I personally preferred the spruce version. Had one for a couple of years (and that's a long time for me!) and it sent a lot of guitars packing that were 3-4 times the cost.

Here's one of the recordings I made with it while I had it here. I had installed dual ports in it, and it really smoothed out the response and made it very easy to mic, where many classicals are boomy and hard to handle.

[btbliatout]

I have the exact C9 you're interested in. It was also my first classical guitar.

The obvious can be picked up by an obscene number of reviews, which is that it's among the best in its price range. If you're making a living through recordings, there's probably better (and more expensive) options, but it's tone and projection competes with the best of the sub $1k guitars.

My two cents is to consider very very strongly the following two items:

1. Feel/playability
2. Cedar or Spruce

As for feel/playability, I chose Cordoba because of the feel of the neck. I took about 2 months of driving around the state to different shops to find the right feel. Cordoba felt the most comfortable, and that was the deciding factor for brand. I knew I wouldn't want to practice if I wasn't comfortable holding it.

And as for wood, I like the mellower and more self-enveloping sound of cedar, but if you want to project, spruce might be a better option. Very important choice here.

As for the specific model, of course you should get the highest end you're comfortable spending the money for. In my humble opinion, the C9 is as good as it gets until you start becoming a tone snob that wants $3k+ quality (ain't nothing wrong with being a tone snob, we all get there to be honest! *laugh*).

I'm a very low-level student, but PM me if you'd like and I can ATTEMPT to video conference call or make some recordings or whatever, of my C9 if you like. Just don't expect much from this humble student.

[Dino757]

I bought a new C9 in Cedar/Mahogany last year, and I think it's a great guitar. It's warm and rich, with deep bass response.

Couple of personal observations: it was a little throaty sounding when I first started playing it last year, and I was worried about a few "wolf" notes I identified, particularly on the C note on the 2nd string, first fret. That particular frequency in this guitar jumped out a bit, with a resonant bark that almost caused me to bring it back to the dealer. I found a spot on the soundboard that, when pressed on by my wife's finger when I was playing, would make that howl-like tone go away. For a while I mounted a small piece of modeling clay there on the sound board and it solved the problem, but it bugged me enough to take it to an expert.

So my local luthier basically told me just to play the crap out of the thing and it would go away soon, and although I didn't believe him, he was right - before long it was gone and I didn't have any issues. The C9 gives me a good tonal contrast with my C10 spruce/rosewood, and I rotate between these guitars to keep things interesting. Both guitars have a thinner neck than traditional classicals, but once I got used to it, I preferred the neck shape over my other nylon guitars.

Also, I like that these Cordobas have easily adjustable truss rods. I know there's some debate about truss rods in classical guitars, but I don't have the expertise or the experience to really hear the difference, and I like being able to tweak the truss rod a bit when I want to.

Finally, although I really shouldn't be looking at higher-end guitars, I've been curious about how the C9 compares against higher-end models, and so far I've compared it directly (in the same room at the same time) to the following:

• 1976 Pimental 001
• 1988 Takamine Hirade Model 5
• 1998 Jose Ramirez 4E
• 1990s Ignacio Rozas Model 8

The C9 had a better bass response (to me) than the Tak and the Rozas, and the Pimental and the Ramirez seemed slightly less lively than the C9. Of course, these were all used guitars at dealers that don't regularly change strings on their inventory, so these comparisons are a just a guessing game. I've always thought that string quality is easy to overlook when you are comparing guitars. Anyway, I'm sure if I stay on track with my classical studies, one day I'll be able to justify dropping 4 or 5K on the very best out there, but for now, these Cordobas seem to deliver everything I need, especially at their price points.

Last thing I can contribute: you probably already know this, but the C9 is available in a cross-over model with a 1 7/8" nut as well as a standard size. If you buy used on Reverb, make sure someone is not selling you the crossover model (unless that's what you're after).

Good luck, and let us know what you end up acquiring!

[BT55]

Alright I’m a madman! As usual with me I start out looking for a particular guitar and end up with a different model sometimes from another builder. After trying a C9 I played a Córdoba C10 which was out of my price range and was blown away. IMO it is a real improvement over the C9. I found an open box model online (no warranty) and was able to negotiate a $800 shipped price. It should be here in about a week.

[Dino757]

Excellent! Did you get the cedar or the spruce?

[BT55]

Originally Posted by Dino757

Excellent! Did you get the cedar or the spruce?

I ordered a Spruce model. I already have a Cedar/Maple Taylor 420 and wanted a different tone.

[lar]

I remember that guitar with fondness. I walked into a music store in Seattle and they had the cedar and spruce. Cedar sounded warm and 'classical'. Spruce had punch and volume and sounded more modern. And the rosewood added a lot of overtones and low end. I was amazed. That was 8 years ago, it's burned into my memory. You'll be sleeping with that guitar.

[BT55]

Originally Posted by lar

I remember that guitar with fondness. I walked into a music store in Seattle and they had the cedar and spruce. Cedar sounded warm and 'classical'. Spruce had punch and volume and sounded more modern. And the rosewood added a lot of overtones and low end. I was amazed. That was 8 years ago, it's burned into my memory. You'll be sleeping with that guitar.

That will make a threesome. I’m already sleeping with my 717e.