An Honest to Goodness Review of the Cordoba C7-CE CD Guitar

I purchased the nylon/acoustic/electric guitar from Musician’s Friend back in 2014. Had I know that it was made in China, I would have never purchased it. From experience I know that most of the musical instruments made in China are cheap garbage and retailed at a much higher price than what they are actually worth. I don’t think that this guitar is worth what they’re asking for it. If you take it for what it is; an over priced but good looking and another made in China musical instrument, then you may like the Cordoba C7-CE CD Guitar.

When I received it, it was packaged very well and in one piece. I did have to adjust the neck as it was slightly warped probably due to the weather. I also needed to make some adjustments for easier fingering as the strings were way too high from the fret board. I’m not going to waste time and write out the specs on it as you can probably find them at musiciansfriend.com. I personally don’t like purchasing musical instruments through the internet because you never know what you’re going to get. Every instrument is different even if they look identical. Each instrument plays slightly differently with different nuances and one may not be suited to your playing. Even the tones can vary especially on an acoustic guitar. I prefer to play an instrument first before acquiring it to make sure that it’s going to work well with my style and expertise as a musician. There’s nothing like purchasing an instrument that’s just not going to work well for you. It’s just going to sit there after you spent some hard earned money.

The reason I purchased mine was because I needed to replace an old Yamaha G100A nylon string guitar that I had used for recording for many years. It would no longer stay in tune no matter what strings I put on. It would go out of tune while recording. There’s nothing worse than having to re-record parts because they are out of tune. When I saw a video of someone playing the Cordoba, which by the way sounds much better than the actual tone of the guitar I received, probably due to manipulation and expensive microphones, I figured that it would work for what I needed to record.

I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised after plugging it in to my custom made guitar amp. The tone on it was even better than I imagined after fiddling around with the controls mounted on the guitar. The pickups are extremely sensitive and pick up every little sound., even ones you don’t want. Playing it unplugged was okay but I wasn’t impressed by the tone quality that much. It’s as expected from a very thin guitar.

Just for kicks, shortly after it was in my hands, I tried recording a smooth jazz tune with it only to find out that the thing kept going out of tune. The tuners look impressive but still slip. I know that nylon strings have a tendency to go out of tune but this was ridiculous. It was no better than my old Yamaha. I replaced the strings with hard tension ones which not only did I get a better tone, they stayed in tune much longer.

I had recorded the instrument using its electronics and plugging it directly into my computer. It sounded like crap. I built my computer specifically for recording, mixing and mastering my music so I knew its capabilities. I’ve recorded my Goya semi acoustic/electric and other instruments for jazz and they came out great. It was not just one of those cheap PC’s purchased from Walmart.

I then tried recording the guitar using its acoustics only to end up with a lot of boom/low end. I used a cardioid directional mic, specifically for recording. I even tried using a direct line and a mic. with no luck. I tried recording it using an amplifier/mic and a direct feed from the amp with no luck. The sound I got from my amp was fairly decent but not what I was looking for in a recording for smooth jazz. I guess after being a musician for almost six decades, I’m a bit fussy regarding my sound.

It wasn’t until I decided to use an old trick I discovered years ago regarding cheap nylon acoustic guitars, that I finally found something close to what I was looking for in sound. I stuffed the hole with some old T shirts and then recorded it with a single cardioid mic about half way up the fingerboard.

Over all, I’d say, after a few years of playing on it, that it’s an okay guitar that can handle light playing. It’s great for beginners and intermediate players. For gigs, I’ll run It through my custom amp but only use it on six or seven tunes because it’s a pain in the ass having to retune it after every tune. I don’t have that problem with a better quality guitar in the same style. If you are a serious musician and need to do a lot of gigs or recordings with it, invest in your sound and get yourself a better one. Below you can find a few tunes I recorded using the Cordoba.