NGD! AND Way too much relief!

TBman · #1 12-26-2019, 11:41 AM

Here's my first real classical!

So I unpacked my Cordoba C5 that I received for Christmas yesterday. The finish is flawless, there are no apparent defects. It sounds nice and mellow. However, you could do bow and arrow target shooting with the setup!

I've done about a 3/4 - full turn with the truss rod and it is now pretty decent. Not perfect, but very playable. It was $299 so it didn't qualify for Sweetwater's 55 point inspection obviously,

Here's two pictures of the guitar face on and one of the "pre-adjusted" string height:

jaymarsch · #2 12-26-2019, 12:01 PM

Nice guitar and great that you could get the action closer to where you want it. Congrats on now having that nylon tone at your fingertips. I look forward to hearing some of your tasteful playing on it.

Best,
Jayne

ljguitar · #3 12-26-2019, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBman

Here's my first real classical!

So I unpacked my Cordoba C5 that I received for Christmas yesterday. The finish is flawless, there are no apparent defects. It sounds nice and mellow. However, you could do bow and arrow target shooting with the setup!

I've done about a 3/4 - full turn with the truss rod and it is now pretty decent. Not perfect, but very playable. It was $299 so it didn't qualify for Sweetwater's 55 point inspection obviously,

Here's two pictures of the guitar face on and one of the "pre-adjusted" string height:

Hi Barry

Action should be adjusted in this order.

- Nut slot depth
- Neck camber/relief
- Saddle height adjustment

Many classical guitars (nylon string) don't even have truss rods, so better players have multiple saddles of different heights.

I doubt the 55 point inspection would have raised any alarms. Action adjustment is a matter up for debate as to where it should be finalized.

TBman · #4 12-26-2019, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Barry

Action should be adjusted in this order.

- Nut slot depth
- Neck camber/relief
- Saddle height adjustment

Many classical guitars (nylon string) don't even have truss rods, so better players have multiple saddles of different heights.

I doubt the 55 point inspection would have raised any alarms. Action adjustment is a matter up for debate as to where it should be finalized.

Thanks Larry. I always do relief adjustment first though.

zmf · #5 12-26-2019, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBman

So I unpacked my Cordoba C5 .....

Congrats on the classical.

If you don't mind me asking, IIRC the C5 has a 2 inch nut, and I was wondering why you didn't get a crossover model with the narrower nut and some neck radius.

I'm kind of thinking of getting a nylon string and haven't settled on what to get.

Thanks.

MC5C · #6 12-26-2019, 02:28 PM

It's been said many times, many ways... Merry Christmas, and truss rod is to make the neck straight - relief - not adjust action. You no doubt know that full well. Classical guitar action is adjusted with the saddle, and ranges from oh-my-god high for really experienced players to man-that's-nice for guys like me...

TBman · #7 12-26-2019, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MC5C

It's been said many times, many ways... Merry Christmas, and truss rod is to make the neck straight - relief - not adjust action. You no doubt know that full well. Classical guitar action is adjusted with the saddle, and ranges from oh-my-god high for really experienced players to man-that's-nice for guys like me...

Thanks, and a Merry Christmas to you.

Yes, I want a flat neck, no bow at all, or as close as I can get it to it. Then from there I adjust nut and then saddle as needed.

Brucebubs · #8 12-26-2019, 03:04 PM

I saw your comment regarding those Thomastik-Infeld 'John Pearse' folk strings and I'm looking forward to hearing the results.
I have a feeling your playing style will bring out the best from this new guitar.

TBman · #9 12-26-2019, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

I saw your comment regarding those Thomastik-Infeld 'John Pearse' folk strings and I'm looking forward to hearing the results.
I have a feeling your playing style will bring out the best from this new guitar.

Thanks Bruce! I'm curious to see (hear) how those wound trebles sound.
Here's a link to a demo I just uploaded to Show and Tell:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=567544

Brucebubs · #10 12-26-2019, 03:55 PM

Wow, already sounds beautiful!
That was excellent.

Jim Owen · #11 12-26-2019, 06:41 PM

Merry Christmas, Barry.

A new pup and a new guitar. Life must be good.

TBman · #12 12-26-2019, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmf

Congrats on the classical.

If you don't mind me asking, IIRC the C5 has a 2 inch nut, and I was wondering why you didn't get a crossover model with the narrower nut and some neck radius.

I'm kind of thinking of getting a nylon string and haven't settled on what to get.

Thanks.

I don't think the 2 inch nut will be too much of a problem for me. Whatever I have trouble with will probably be related to poor technique.

dosland · #13 12-26-2019, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmf

Congrats on the classical.

If you don't mind me asking, IIRC the C5 has a 2 inch nut, and I was wondering why you didn't get a crossover model with the narrower nut and some neck radius.

I'm kind of thinking of getting a nylon string and haven't settled on what to get.

Thanks.

I'm not trying to speak for the OP on this, but for a lot of players moving to nylon from steel, the instinct is to get the narrower nut and radiused fretboard. After some settling in a lot of people realize that the wider nut and flat fretboard actually makes life a lot easier for certain kinds of playing. I used to go back and forth between classical, steel, and electric and it wasn't until I was about 25 that I even realized they are all so different in terms of nut/saddle and fretboard - all I ever noticed was the action and intonation issues. I've never gotten to be very good on any of the different guitar types, but I've also never really gotten as much enjoyment out of a crossover as out of a traditional classical (I'm not really much of a plugged-in bossanova player). So in conclusion it's usually just down to individual preference.

Paraclete · #14 12-27-2019, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MC5C

It's been said many times, many ways... Merry Christmas, and truss rod is to make the neck straight - relief - not adjust action. You no doubt know that full well. Classical guitar action is adjusted with the saddle, and ranges from oh-my-god high for really experienced players to man-that's-nice for guys like me...

Agree with this. Hard to tell from a photo, but the action doesn’t actually look ridiculous. Classical guitars are generally higher, though it takes some experience to learn how to play it well.

DownUpDave · #15 12-27-2019, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmf

Congrats on the classical.

If you don't mind me asking, IIRC the C5 has a 2 inch nut, and I was wondering why you didn't get a crossover model with the narrower nut and some neck radius.

I'm kind of thinking of getting a nylon string and haven't settled on what to get.

Thanks.

As another poster said the instinct for steel string players is to go narrow and radiused. That is what I did when I bought my first nylon string, the Cordoba C10 crossover, 48 mm nut width. I then bought the Cordoba Cadet, flat fret board with 50 mm nut. I can play this cleaner, no string muting with the wider spacing. I eventually took the C10 crossover to a luthier to have a new nut made with wider string spacing. It helped some but is still more of a challenge to play cleanly compared to the 50mm Cadet.

Congratulations Barry on the new Córdoba C5, it sounds really good on your recording, enjoy.