Taming Bass on Cordoba C10

[lar]

The C10 has as a rather prominent bass - to my ears anyway.

Does anyone else hear the same thing?

I'm wondering if anyone has experimented with lighter gauge (lower tension) bass string(s) to tame it a bit.

[Bax Burgess]

Could be that the trebles aren't stepping up to balance the overall sound. If you have a bone saddle, try tusq to fill out the trebles. Hopefully the saddle slot floor is even, because a poor contact in the area of the trebles will thin their sound. The only way to make sure is to use a file especially made for that - I use the Stewmac files. Check the saddle's base with a straight-edge to ensure that it's flat, and round those edges so that it isn't bridging, effectively spanning over the slot's floor.

[JonnyBGood]

Originally Posted by lar

The C10 has as a rather prominent bass - to my ears anyway.

Does anyone else hear the same thing?

I'm wondering if anyone has experimented with lighter gauge (lower tension) bass string(s) to tame it a bit.

That could actually makes things worse. If by prominent bass you mean its a little boomy then thinner, brighter bass strings can help, such as Savarez HT classics.

Carbon strings are brighter than nylons, and give a better defined more articulate sound on bassy guitars.

This is probably one of the brightest sets on the market (of course the trebles will be brighter too, but I'm sure you can buy the basses separately).
https://www.savarez.com/alliance-ht-...l-tension-540r

Its common amongst classical guitarists to mix and match strings from different sets to fine tune the balance they want for a given guitar, the third string is nearly always a problem...

[fitness1]

Is the top cedar or spruce?

When you say 'bass' is prominent, is it a certain frequency, or just out of balance - volume wise with the mids and trebles?

Your nails can have an effect on bass clarity as well - do you keep them up?

[lar]

Thanks for all your comments:

It's a spruce top, RW back & sides (all solid wood). From the Cordoba website, the saddle is made of bone. This is a guitar I 'test drove' recently, at Guitar Center. I was playing mainly with a pick, and that is when the 'prominent bass' is most noticable.

It really sounded great otherwise, lot's of nice rosewood overtones, resonant, and the notes were clear and powerful.

I wouldn't call it a boomy bass, but the bass volume seemed to drown out the trebles somewhat. Like what you said fitness1, out of balance volume-wise. I'm not even sure if it's just the bass E string or the E&A or the E&A&D - I'll have to experiment more if I can find another one.

If playing fingerstyle I could probably compensate, but strumming I don't think that's possible. I like the idea of brighter trebles as opposed to duller bass strings - seems logical. For the saddle, is Tusq generally brighter than bone?

[Bax Burgess]

Tusq is lusher in the trebles, bone more defined.

[sirwhale]

I agree that you should look at the trebles first. The quickest way to check this is buying some readily available carbon strings and put the trebles on to see what happens.

[DownUpDave]

Originally Posted by lar

Thanks for all your comments:

It's a spruce top, RW back & sides (all solid wood). From the Cordoba website, the saddle is made of bone. This is a guitar I 'test drove' recently, at Guitar Center. I was playing mainly with a pick, and that is when the 'prominent bass' is most noticable.

It really sounded great otherwise, lot's of nice rosewood overtones, resonant, and the notes were clear and powerful.

I wouldn't call it a boomy bass, but the bass volume seemed to drown out the trebles somewhat. Like what you said fitness1, out of balance volume-wise. I'm not even sure if it's just the bass E string or the E&A or the E&A&D - I'll have to experiment more if I can find another one.

If playing fingerstyle I could probably compensate, but strumming I don't think that's possible. I like the idea of brighter trebles as opposed to duller bass strings - seems logical. For the saddle, is Tusq generally brighter than bone?

I own a C10 spruce and RW and it sounds balanced to me. I have Savarez Alliance floro, high tension. Playing with a pick will always drive the wound strings harder, hence more bass volume. I do play with a pick sometimes with this guitar, steel string a lot. Don't know what pick you were using but if it was around .088mm and you drop down to .050mm it will be much brighter sounding.