My new guitar is a Cordoba C12!

Hi there fellow guitar slingers!

Last week I went live on the NBN guitar channel to showcase my new guitar - a Cordoba C12. I must say that I’m absolutely stoked with my new guitar’s sound & playability. I love the Spruce top too!

Here are some of the features:

• European Spruce top

• Indian rosewood back & sides

• Mahogany neck with an adjustable two-way truss rod

• Flamed Maple centre wedge (separates the two pieces that comprise the back of the guitar)

• Lattice bracing

• Elevated fretboard

• Cordoba Gold tuners with Ebony buttons

• Humidified Archtop hardshell case

Here are a few pics for you to enjoy!

Cordoba C12 classical guitar Spruce soundboard

Cordoba C12 classical guitar back

I purchased this guitar from my luthier friend Ramsay Phillips based in Auckland, New Zealand. He was selling it on behalf of his friend that works at the Rockshop - a well-known musical instrument chain here in Aotearoa. It was originally purchased for the store but for some reason it was put into storage and never offered for sale, which means I am the first official owner.

Cordoba C12 classical guitar tuners

In this video I played the C12 for about two hours whilst asking others which guitars they play. Amazingly, I discovered that so many of my subscribers play Cordobas!

Anyway, I’ve talked enough. Please check out the livestream and stay tuned!

Let your fingers fly!

Josh

My Classical Guitar Build Part 1: Choosing the wood for the back & sides

Classical Guitar Wood Selection

Hi there fellow guitarists! I thought I'd take the time out from making classical and acoustic guitar lessons, sheet music & tabs, video lessons and so on to let your have a sneak preview of the guitar that is being custom made for my by Kris Barnett. Kris and I have been planning this build for over 5 years and finally it's becoming a reality.

So, welcome to Part 1 of the build where I show you the 3 choices that Kris gave me for the back and sides of my new 640mm scale length classical guitar.

Below you can see the choices I was given. Eventually I settled on the 25L which was visually the most appealing to me and to several Instagram followers that offered their opinions.

The build is expected to be finished around the middle of October 2017. However it won't be complete until the set of custom Graf tuners from Jorg Graf is ready in January. I'll be posting every week with updates about this build. You can also follow on Instagram for tasty new pics!

If you are interested in a guitar from Kris or a set of tuners from Jorg here are their details:

Jorg Graf

Kris Barnett

Let your fingers fly!

Beautiful & Unusual Classical Guitars - Episode 4: 'Newark' Christian Koehn

A fabulous front view of the Newark 2016 model.

Introduction

Christian Koehn - a luthier from Germany has been making guitars professionally since he graduated at the top of the International Guitar Making School course in 2006 in Newark at the Newark College. Interestingly, the guitar featured in this article is named after the college and area that offers the guitar making course. Koehn was the recipient of the prestigious Ashley Mark Publishing Prize for being the best of the best in his graduation class.

Since that time Christian has gone on to setup his own workshop back in his birthplace - Berlin. 

The guitar featured in this article is a custom order. Not too much is revealed about the woods used in its construction but all I can say is that the result is breathtaking to say the least.

Striking Features:

• Stunning aged tonewoods
• Hand-carved rosettes and headstocks

Easy to see the headstock, soundport & beveled cutaway.

• Soundport

An awesome view of the huge soundport.

• Beveled cutaway

Superb look at the beveled cutaway allowing for easier playability past the 12th fret.

• French polish with shellac
• Traditional tooling used in construction
• Traditional Antonio Torres design

That aged look is amazing!

How to get one for yourself?!?!

Christian has a 12 to 18 month waiting time which isn't too bad considering some luthiers have waiting lists of almost a decade! I reckon get in quick before Christian's guitar list fills up! Here's how:

• Get on the waiting list now

Christian has easy payment terms of just 10% to secure a guitar with a further 10% payable when he starts the build (30% for custom builds).

Here's where Christian studied guitar-making if you're keen to have a go for yourself:

• Newark College (United Kingdom) Guitar Making Course

Check out my other articles of beautiful & unusual classical guitars here.

As always,

Let your fingers fly!