CORDOBA GK PRO MAPLE
Recently upgraded to this top of the range model, after Iberian Airlines crushed my last Cordoba. The new model is lovely and has wonderful flamed maple back & sides and the excellent Fishman Pro Blend pickup.
As a good gigging, playing & recording guitar, this is a perfectly good guitar for me. I am I admit not the best classical guitarist in the world (I teach & play beyond grade 8 but not to pro level) but I play a number of styles and hybrid techniques, crossing between Flamenco, Blues, Classical, Popular, World, Folk & Jazz. This hybrid playing approach has developed largely of its’ own momentum and over nearly 50 years of playing so far.
A beautifully lightly built classical guitar would just give me feedback problems live, although I admit it may sound a little better in the studio on occasions and for some things. I need a good and solid guitar, where the back doesn’t resonate too much, which helps prevent some feedback issues and a which has a good pickup. The solid top on this guitar interacting with a stiffer back & sides that are laminated, works best for my playing.
Fishmans’ Presys Blend Pickup is perfectly good for this and into an AER Compact 60 v3 it works a treat. D’Addario Lightly Polished strings in Hard Tension suit my playing style, that wanders precariously between klutzy & careful. A Kling On guitar stabiliser on the back helps an immense amount and in addition I sometimes use a strap and sometimes a Neck Up Guitar Support.
Cordoba seem to have a handle on this period on music where a lot players like myself, are looking to get a beautiful nylon string guitar sound but not necessarily for classical guitar playing. Their guitars reflect an understanding of these new and often hybrid styles and they actively associate with some excellent exponents of these new approaches. An excellent player and example of this is Ben Woods ~ https://www.youtube.com/user/flametal666 ~ whose style is referred to as Flametal, a mixture of Flamenco and Metal guitar styles. He and others like Rodrigo & Gabriela ~ https://www.youtube.com/user/rodgabvideo ~ who mostly play Yamaha hybrid nylon string guitars, are really pushing hard at the boundaries of acoustic guitar playing and I love it. Would that I was their age again or younger.
This era where 2 hand tapping, progressive acoustic and crossover styles really are gaining some traction, along with the great advances in pickups, microphones and amplification, is such a wonderful time for young players to be being influenced by. And it has inspired an old dog like me to some new tricks and a renewed feeling of an identifiable “movement” in guitar playing that also appeals to me personally.
BLACKBIRD RIDER NYLON
This has to be one of the cutest and most unique guitars I ever owned. The company who make them were really helpful in the process of choosing the spec, allowing me some modifications like no side dot at fret 5. Also the RMC Pickup is a treat as always. I’ve had their pickups before on Godin Guitars but much prefer this guitar and the pickup is very loud without any internal preamp. However I chose to smooth out the signal by getting a Fishman Platinum Pro EQ, which has the useful tools of a compressor and boost foot switch, with adjustable level. The Gig Bag that comes with the guitar is good enough but to add protection I bought a Hiscox solid case. This works great as the internal design of Hiscox cases is the same shape as this guitar.