Cordoba C7 Review - Mid-Range Classical Guitar Review

As an Intermediate Player, Which Classical Guitar Gives You the Clarity, Projection, Resonance & Power You Need (with a $1000 - $2000 budget)

The Cordoba C7 is a good option for an upper level beginner or intermediate player to consider - with a warm mellow tone, laminated rosewood back and sides to reduce costs, and Indian rosewood binding, inlaid rosette, and gold tuners to give it a high-end look.

In this Cordoba C7 article, we will look at and review the Cordoba C7 classical guitar and the GuitarsOnline range of mid-range classical guitars, discuss and compare them, to see which is the better option for the intermediate player looking to maximise the clarity, projection, resonance & power from their playing.

Quick Overview - Cordoba C7 Intermediate Guitar
Quick Overview - GuitarsOnline Range of Mid-Range/Intermediate Guitars
Guitar Construction - Comparing Classical Guitar Finishing/Lacquering - Spanish System vs Spanish Copies/Volume Production
How Do Cordoba Make Their Cordoba C7 Guitars?
Our Recommended GuitarsOnline Alternative
Luthiers for GuitarsOnline Mid-Level Guitar Range
The GuitarsOnline “Best of Breed” Strategy for Selecting Our Mid-Range of Classical Guitars

Quick Overview

Cordoba C7 - Classical Guitar for Beginners

Price: $1249 (RRP) - on sale $1049
Resale/Second-hand Price: approx range $550 - $700
Country of Manufacture: China
Tonewoods: Solid Cedar top, Laminated Rosewood back and sides

Summary - What do GuitarsOnline Say:

The Cordoba C7 is a well made, solid Cedar top, spanish-heel guitar that delivers a nice performance with a warm mellow tone.

With a laminated rosewood back and sides to reduce the costs, the Indian rosewood binding, inlaid rosette, and gold tuners all give the guitar a high-end look.

The challenge with the Cordoba C7, is the same limitation faced by any of the “outsourcing factory” produced, volume-made “Spanish-copy” guitars, when compared with the traditional “Spanish System” made guitars.

The inherent problem with high-volume “Spanish guitar copy factory” produced guitars, is that the focus of the outsourcing factory, is on building guitars for the lowest price for a specific market (or brand) - not on producing guitars of the highest quality.

During the “Spanish guitar copy factory” process, costs are reduced in areas that can significantly impact the harmonic response of the guitar - with the biggest reduction and impact being the guitar finishing/lacquering stage.

You see, the typical time taken by luthiers to build a classical guitar using the traditional “Spanish System” is approx 3 months.

Of these 3 months, a full 50% of the total time - 6 weeks - is take up by the final stage of finishing/lacquering the guitar.

In contrast, the finishing/lacquering stage time in the outsourced high-volume “Spanish guitar copy factory” is only 1-2 weeks.

This means these outsourced guitars, including the Cordoba C7, are finished with a single coat of heavily applied lacquer, rather than 3 - 8 coats of quality lacquer, applied over 6 weeks, through a process of sanding/polishing, sanding/polishing.

The other risk that is common with accelerated volume guitar production, is the application of the final lacquer to tonewoods that have not been allowed to completely dry, or when the lacquer is applied under conditions that are too humid.

The end result, is that the high-volume “Spanish-copy” guitars struggle with a lack of resonance and harmonic response.

Quick Overview - GuitarsOnline Range of Entry-Mid Range Guitars

Alhambra 2C $1090
Great clarity and volume, larger range of tonal possibilities
Country of Manufacture: Spain
Neck/Body Construction Technique: Spanish heel
Tonewoods: Top - Solid Red Cedar | Back & Sides - Mahogany | Neck - Mahogany | Fingerboard - Indian Rosewood

Alhambra 3C $1199
Beautifully crafted, very loud and playable with wonderful tone
Country of Manufacture: Spain
Neck/Body Construction Technique: Spanish heel
Tonewoods: Top - Solid Red Cedar | Back & Sides - Mahogany | Neck - Mahogany | Fingerboard - Indian Rosewood

Alhambra Iberia $1499
High grade cedar top, with Ziricote back and sides giving it rich resonances and projection. Asymmetric neck makes it easy to play
Country of Manufacture: Spain
Neck/Body Construction Technique: Spanish heel
Tonewoods: Top - Solid high-grade Cedar | Back & Sides - Ziricote | Neck - Mahogany | Fingerboard - Indian Rosewood

Alhambra 4P $1549
Alhambra's biggest selling model at the mid-range, resonant and precise, with real presence
Country of Manufacture: Spain
Neck/Body Construction Technique: Spanish heel
Tonewoods: Top - Solid Red Cedar | Back & Sides - Indian Rosewood | Neck - Mahogany | Fingerboard - Ebony

Alhambra 5P $1960
Higher grade soundboard, 7 fan bracing and tone bars deliver musicality and a cascade of notes
Country of Manufacture: Spain
Neck/Body Construction Technique: Spanish heel
Tonewoods: Top - Solid Red Cedar | Back & Sides - Indian Rosewood | Neck - Mahogany Reinforced with Ebony | Fingerboard - Ebony

Prudencio Saez 2-M (Cedar top Solid Rosewood) $1890
All solid tone woods easy to play with rich and colourful sound
Country of Manufacture: Spain
Tonewoods: Top - Solid Cedar | Back & Sides - Indian Rosewood | Neck - Cedar

Guitar Construction - Mastering the Art of Lacquer Finishing in Hand-Built Classical Guitars

As a seasoned luthier, the process of finishing a hand-built classical guitar with lacquer is an art that requires precision, expertise, and a profound understanding of the delicate balance between protection, aesthetics, and tonal excellence.

Why Finish with Lacquer:

Finishing a hand-crafted classical guitar with lacquer serves a dual purpose—protection and enhancement.

Lacquer acts as a protective layer, shielding the guitar from environmental elements like humidity and temperature fluctuations that could impact the tonewood.

Simultaneously, it enhances the instrument's aesthetics, bringing out the natural beauty of the wood grain and contributing to its tonal qualities by allowing the wood to vibrate freely.

Lacquering Process Duration:

This meticulous process is not rushed; guitars crafted by Spanish luthiers allow 6 weeks for this final finishing/lacquering stage.

Depending on the guitar, between 3 - 8 coats are typically applied.

Each lacquer coat requires ample time for proper drying and curing, ensuring a resilient finish.

This patient approach is fundamental to achieving a durable and visually appealing result.

Steps Involved in Finishing:

Surface Preparation: Meticulous sanding and preparation create a smooth substrate for the lacquer, a critical foundation for the subsequent layers.
Sealing: Application of a sealer coat not only seals the wood but also provides a stable base for enhanced adhesion in the lacquer layers that follow.
Application of Lacquer Coats: Multiple thin coats of lacquer are skillfully applied, with each layer drying and curing before the next. Various techniques, such as spraying or brushing, ensure an even application.
Leveling and Sanding: Once the lacquer has cured, the guitar undergoes leveling and sanding to achieve a uniformly smooth surface, preparing it for additional lacquer coats.
Buffing and Polishing: The final steps involve buffing and polishing, enhancing the visual appeal with a high-gloss finish that showcases the instrument's craftsmanship.

Consequences of Incorrect Lacquer Application:

Insufficient Lacquer: Thin or incomplete lacquer layers may compromise the wood's protection, leaving the guitar vulnerable to environmental conditions and potential damage.
Excessive Lacquer: Over-application can result in issues such as uneven surfaces, loss of resonance, and a stifled tone. Cracking or peeling may also occur over time.

Impact of Moisture on Tonewood:

Applying lacquer to inadequately dried tonewood, or in overly humid conditions can lead to severe consequences:

Moisture Trapping: Incomplete drying can trap residual moisture, causing warping, swelling, or cracking as the moisture tries to escape during the drying process.
Adhesion Problems: Wet or insufficiently dried wood may not provide a suitable surface for proper lacquer adhesion, leading to issues like peeling or flaking.
Finish Imperfections: The trapped moisture may cause irregularities like cloudiness, hazing, or a lack of clarity in the lacquer finish.
Tonal Impact: Moist wood can affect the guitar's resonant properties, resulting in undesirable changes in tone and sustain.

To mitigate these risks, luthiers diligently ensure tonewood is adequately dried through proper seasoning and storage in controlled environments.

Following best practices in wood preparation and adhering to recommended drying times are crucial to achieving a successful and durable lacquer finish on a hand-built guitar.

The mastery lies in the luthier's ability to harmonize craftsmanship, protection, and the soulful resonance of a well-crafted classical guitar.

How do Cordoba Manufacture Their Cordoba C7 Guitars?

Cordoba is a US company that named the company after a famous Spanish city “Cordoba” that was famous for concert guitar building, however their guitars are made in China to reduce manufacturing costs and are sold in the US and Australia under the Spanish name.

The goal of the lower priced guitar makers, is to have their guitars manufactured as inexpensively as possible.

Cordoba, like Katoh, achieve this by focusing on the branding and the marketing and outsourcing the manufacture of their guitars to an independent factory in China. The same independent factory that makes the Katoh guitars.

The advantage of outsourcing the manufacturing to a factory in China, is that you can have the guitars made very cheaply, but there is also a significant downside. With the variability of tonewoods and skill level, because building classical guitars is an artisan craft, when you adopt a high-volume production line approach to a craftsman built instrument , you can quickly have problems with product and musical quality.

Cordoba has recently been acquired by the Yamaha Guitar Group, so their outsourced/contract manufacturing strategy may change.

Our Recommended GuitarsOnline Alternative

At this intermediate level, players are spoiled for choice when looking for luthier crafted guitars made in Spain with quality solid tops, Spanish heel construction, not excessively lacquered.

Our recommendation is that you might want to compare the Alhambra 4P, Alhambra Iberia Ziricote and the Prudencio Saez 2M.

Luthiers for GuitarsOnline Range of Mid-Level Classical Guitars

The Luthier - Alhambra
Since 1965, Alhambra Guitars bring the everlasting allure of Spain's heritage to the fingertips of guitar players, unlocking an endless wellspring of inspiration. Over 55 years Alhambra Guitars has been dedicated to perfecting the art of guitar construction.

Our family of 110 skilled workers, each with a deep-rooted passion for crafting stringed instruments, forms the heart and soul of our company. With generations of expertise passed down through the tradition and knowledge of refined guitar building, we take immense pride in preserving our heritage while embracing innovation.

The foundation of our exceptional instruments lies in the selection of the finest raw materials. We meticulously source fine woods like cedar, spruce, rosewood, ebony, and cypress from their places of origin, ensuring the highest quality for our guitars. Once at our factory, the wood undergoes a natural drying process, expertly stabilized through cutting-edge technology, to guarantee optimal performance.

Our process involves the careful creation and assembly of each guitar piece, followed by precise varnishing and polishing. We believe that every instrument is unique, deserving individual attention, tuning, and sound control to achieve its full potential.

The quality and reliability of our musical instruments are paramount to us. Alhambra Guitars implements a comprehensive production process control system, starting with the selection of the best raw materials. This unwavering commitment to quality extends to our customers through a three-year guarantee and meticulous after-sales service.

Our guitars are widely recognized and celebrated for their exceptional quality, design, and sonority. The superb sound we achieve is a result of the professionalism of our artisans, their meticulous working methods, and the careful selection of woods, particularly the use of solid cedar and spruce tops.

The Luthier - Prudencio Saez

Prudencio Saez has been making Spanish guitars in the purest artisan style since 1963.

Their 3rd generation family business has been moving forward, crafting guitars to suit the market – from entry level guitars, through to concert models – including mid-range and amplified cutaways.

In line with traditional fabrication methods, all our products are carefully handmade and crafted.

The perfect balance of quality and price. Their Prudencio Saez name is known internationally, as is their reputation for beautiful, artisan quality guitars.

Prudencio Saez Guitars at GuitarsOnline

At GuitarsOnline we have known Prudencio Saez for many years.

Prudencio Saez guitars are rich in tone and lively with a velvety tonal signature. As makers with their family name at stake they care about each guitar.

They are small enough to do everything in the old artisanal way but large enough to field strong contenders across both the classical and flamenco world.

After many years of watching and testing the evolution of this maker GuitarsOnline have decided to commit to the range and import both their fan braced flamenco and classical models as well as their new Lattice models.

They are simply irresistible value and deliver great tone and projection

Over the years I have sold many fine examples from most Australian Lattice makers including Smallman Lattices, John Price, Kim Lissarrague, Graham Caldersmith etc and I am still often asked for Lattice braced guitars since they are so popular here in Australia due to the power and projection they deliver in concert or exams.

However, good lattice guitars often start at $7,500 to $28,000. While cheaper lattice copies can be disappointing often lacking tone and colour and timbre.

The reality today is that players no longer want to trade off tone and colour for power and projection.

So I also have a whole new range of reasonably priced Prudencio Saez Spanish Lattice options delivering both the power of Australian lattice and the colour and tone of the Spanish tradition.

Only Prudencio Saez could have fused both so beautifully.

Come and play, and see for yourself!

The GuitarsOnline “Best of Breed” Strategy for Selecting Our Range of Entry-Mid Range Classical Guitars

I grew up in Spain around guitars and have been travelling and buying guitars and importing into Australia for over 20 years.

Finding good entry level, value for money mid-range guitars, with beautiful tone and great playability is the hardest thing to do.

The reasons for this are that the major costs in guitar building are the increasingly costs of quality tone woods, the time consuming process of guitar building and the cost of really good guitar makers as opposed to wood-workers.

Any shortcuts taken in material, hours and quality building can then be heard in every note for years to come and will make the guitar hard to play. And let’s face it as a beginner you need all the help you can get!

To overcome these barriers while implementing strict quality control is essential.

In my 20+ years of classical guitar evaluating, testing and buying experience, I’ve found the most successful strategy for selecting our guitar range, is what I call our “best-of-breed” strategy.

This strategy involves visiting every luthier in their workshop and evaluating and testing and then selecting the “best of breed” guitars for our range, that fit into the budget of the average student level guitarist.

How Our “Best-of-Breed” Range Selection Strategy Works

The biggest challenge with identifying and selecting guitars for our range, especially at the student/entry level, is that classical guitars are a “artisanal product”.

The variability of materials, tonewoods and manufacturing standards, means that you can’t approach guitar production with the same standardised product manufacturing process as you do with say electronics, technology or even furniture.

This creates a huge challenge for music stores, who purchase and import their guitars “unseen” and untested”

Given this variability it always struck me as odd that none of the other importers play classical or flamenco guitar, or travel and test their guitars before selling them here.

They just import ‘XYZ brand’ from a catalogue and treat it as a product like a paperclip!

Our “best of breed strategy” means more work for me, but it has been proven year-on-year, to be the most effective way to source high-quality, easy to play classical guitars at cost-effective prices.

By travelling to Spain to visit with the makers, inspect their guitars and then place orders. I’m able to identify the standout “best of breed” guitars at all different price points and construction methods - and then put them into player’s hands.

For more information or if you have any questions, or if you would like to arrange an appointment to test-drive our range of guitars, please contact:
Pierre Herrero
m: 0410 708 338
pierre@guitarsonline.com.au