Review: Cordoba C12 Classical Guitar

Review: Cordoba C12 Classical Guitar
Cordoba ‘Luthier Series’ Line of Guitars
Solid Canadian Cedar Top
Solid Indian Rosewood back & sides
650mm scale length
Raised (Elevated) Fingerboard
Price range from $1650-$1850 USD

Buy from Amazon.com for the best price: Cordoba C12 Classical Guitar
Canadians go here.

Bradford’s Option at a Glance

  • Above average volume from what I expected, keeps up with my $7000 luthier made guitar
  • Better than average tone for a factory guitar.
  • The raised fingerboard could be more raised but I’m glad they made it
  • You can’t compare it to luthier made guitars in the +$7000 range but for the price it is amazing. I could easily perform on this…luthier made guitars such as mine are a bit more balanced and have a slightly more elegant tone. Not $4000 more of tone but professionals will want the little extra. However, the average player might not even notice unless you played it next to top end guitar back to back. For the money the C12 is very impressive.
  • A real blue-collar guitar: does the work as good as any but without the special touches of $4000 more.

Cordoba’s Promotional Blurb:

The handmade C12 features the vintage elegance of a hand-inlaid mother-of-pearl rosette inspired by a 1920s Domingo Esteso design and a beautiful flamed maple wedge on its solid Indian rosewood back. Modern design elements also include a lattice braced top and raised fingerboard for easy playability when accessing upper frets. Available with a solid European spruce or Canadian cedar top with solid Indian rosewood back and sides. Other notable features of the C12 include its black and gold tuning machines, ebony fingerboard and adjustable truss rod. Comes with a hardshell Cordoba humidified archtop case.

Specs via the Cordoba Website

  • Top Solid Canadian cedar or European spruce
  • Back & Sides Solid Indian rosewood
  • Binding/Bridge Maple binding / Rosewood bridge
  • Rosette Pearloid and ebony “Esteso” weave
  • Finish High Gloss PU
  • Neck/Fingerboard Mahogany neck/Ebony fingerboard/ Traditional (Classical) Style Neck
  • Truss Rod Two-way adjustable, 4mm
  • Scale Length 650mm
  • Nut Width 52mm
  • String Spacing at Saddle 59mm
  • Fret Marker Inlays Pearloid at 5, 7, 9
  • Nut/Saddle Bone
  • Number of Frets 12 to body, 19 total
  • Bracing/Build Lattice Bracing
  • Body Width & Length 290mm (11.4″) at upper bout, 370mm (14.6″) at lower bout
  • Overall Length 39″
  • Body Depth 95mm (3.7″) at upper bout, 97mm (3.8″) at lower bout
  • Tuning Machines Cordoba Premium Gold Tuning Machines
  • Case Hardshell Cordoba humidified archtop case

My Cordoba Guitar Reviews So Far:

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Bradford Werner
Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers and 14 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.

6 Comments

Ask a Question or Leave a Positive Comment

  1. Hi Bradford
    Thanks so much for your review of this instrument. I currently use a Yamaha GC12C and like it very much. I am 80 years old and have been studying with you since I was 76. Thanks for the 4 years of instruction. Now that I am somewhere between intermediate and late intermediate, I wanted to upgrade to a guitar that has a better-quality sound. I’ve looked at many reviews and think that the Cordoba C12 CD sounds like a good choice. The problem is that the reviews all say how loud the tone is, but not much about the quality of the tone. I don’t really care too much about volume because I don’t plan on playing any concerts. I play pretty much for my own enjoyment. I didn’t want to upgrade from my GC12C unless there’s a big enough difference in the tone between the Yamaha and the Cordoba. I was hoping to find something that gives more of a Spanish tone. Do you have any advice on anything out there that might be worth checking out?

    • One of the good things about having a guitar with good volume response is that for less effort you can make sound. So you can still benefit from that if even just playing at home. I like the tone and it has lots of sustain. Maybe the tone on the C10 is more traditional and sweet where the C12 is a bit more blue collar if that is a thing.

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