F-55(r) How does it play?

idealassets

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In the event that one comes available I am wondering if anyone has experience with these Cordoba made guitars. The reason I'm asking is that I have only heard one so far. It came new right out of the box at a nearby retail store. I was not going to buy one that day so I let a salesman show it and play it for me. He is a professional guitar player and part time salesman.

I'm not here bashing, but when he played it he kept tuning it and making strange faces because it would immediately go out of tune. Additionally he strummed it many different ways because he felt it sounded squelched or "tinney". "That's because of the new strings" I told him.

I have owned 2 Tacoma made F50r's, one was beautiful but the other was difficult to fret and play.

So, if I venture to buy a Cordoba made F55r does anyone have any experience with them?

Thank you, Craig
 
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idealassets

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That is a great sounding instrumental. I corrected my F55e to F55r in my post. Is your guitar rosewood or maple?
 
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Rayk

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That is a great sounding instrumental. I corrected my F55e to F55r (and maybe electric also) in my post. Is your guitar rosewood or maple?

Rosewood , I sent you a message . 😊
 

D30Man

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I too have have a rosewood F-55 2018 from Oxnard. I dig it. I got mine about 10 months ago. In the time I have had it I would say a few things about it..

Great dry woody tone.
Projects nicely as you might expect from a jumbo but not over powering or muddy.
Very focused actually. My low E is rich.
I have gigged with it a few times and I always get compliments on it. And it is really pretty. I believe mine has opening to do in the coming years. Like I said not as loud as you might expect from a jumbo. At least mine anyway.
 

Rayk

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I too have have a rosewood F-55 2018 from Oxnard. I dig it. I got mine about 10 months ago. In the time I have had it I would say a few things about it..

Great dry woody tone.
Projects nicely as you might expect from a jumbo but not over powering or muddy.
Very focused actually. My low E is rich.
I have gigged with it a few times and I always get compliments on it. And it is really pretty. I believe mine has opening to do in the coming years. Like I said not as loud as you might expect from a jumbo. At least mine anyway.

I agree on the loudness best I can lol . my first take when I got it I thought it was pretty good when you dug into it ..It doesn't compare to my F212 so I did really have anything base that on but over the months that I had every time I gave a passing strum it sounded soft but in a good way .
 

ClydeTower

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Had a F55e, sounded good. As D30Man says, dry woody tone, not super loud but loud enough. Deep low e but focused. Great for alt tunings. The only negative I found was it would easily go out of tune if you would really dig in. My NH D55 is always in tune no matter how hard I play it. I reluctantly sold it cause I had room for only one jumbo in my stable and the SJ200 won that spot in the end. But still, great instrument, I miss it for drop D tuning.
 

adorshki

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That is a great sounding instrumental. I corrected my F55e to F55r (and maybe electric also) in my post. Is your guitar rosewood or maple?

Hi Craig not be a nitpicker, but the F55 is now the rosewood model "by definition" and the maple body is the "F55 Maple"

As for volume vs. clarity, think those top-of-the liners have always been braced with an eye toward vocal accompaniment, to be heard very clearly without overwhelming the vocalist.
Have even seen it mentioned in magazine reviews.
Interesting article about bracing here, granted it's from late Westerly, but one suspects the philosophy at least has been consistent over the years.
I keep hearing about folks expecting F50(F55)/D55's from several eras to be louder than they perceive, now think we know "why".
Bracing, pg. 10 here:
https://www.gad.net/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Guild-1999-Winter-Gallery.pdf
 

idealassets

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Wow great comments. Apparently the one F55 I heard at sound demo falls in line with all the comments so far. It was not as loud as the last F50r I owned. Maybe it was a mistake that I sold that guitar, since my purchase seemed to all go wrong. I bought it as "New Old Stock", but the case had been switched out for an old worn case, and the guitar sounded bad. Rather than to spend more on it I sold it to break even.

I got an excited feedback from the new buyer who stated they didn't mind the wrong case. For the guitar he asked me if I had done the setup and adjusted the nut, to which I said "it was new old stock, and no, I didn't have anything done on it." Apparently the shop that sold it me had a bizarre setup and had messed with the nut where everything was cut wrong and botched. -I passed this guitar on because I had similar bad experience with local luthiers. More recently I drive 2 hours to get to known competent luthiers. Additionally the new shop rates are $95/hr., up from $84.

The entire time I thought the guitar was maybe a NOS lemon. But the new owner told me how sweet a guitar it was, once everything was corrected with a replacement nut and saddle/ neck corrections.

I have discovered that for stringed instruments it is often a matter of luck what you get. I don't know why but I always made out very lucratively when buying or trading drum gear. Often I could easily see how to improve on drums or parts that were botched. But I have seen some god awful things done to a lot of guitars.

So there is solace in knowing that if obtaining one or more good guitars we've done well.
 
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