Guitar compare: Ramirez CUT 1/4, Cordoba mini II EB-CE, Gretsch G9126-ACE
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- Welcome to the Fret frontier. In this episode, we explore the wild and wooly frontier of guitar size. How small can you go and still be happy? Well, pretty small as it turns out! This episode Provides some sound samples on a Ramirez CUT 1/4, Cordoba mini II EB-CE, and Gretsch G9126-ACE. Wally, Fret frontier’s resident sound expert, will select his favorite. See if you agree.
Link to followup demo of cordoba mini II MH: • Cordoba Mini II MH Demo
For those that have been interested, The jazz standard used for the sound sample is: ‘I cover the waterfront.’ The arrangement is from jazz chord melody playbook course, Frank Vignola, on true fire. Here is a link to that course.
truefire.com/j...
Comments quirk: I appreciate the comments on this video, please note that some of my reply’s did not line up with the original comment. Don’t know why, but I’ve tried to fix that by manually adding a notation to try and match it with the original comment. I hope everyone is able to find their answers. Thanks again for watching!
Welcome! I hope you enjoy this video. Each of these guitars has: a solid top, laminated back and sides, cut away for maximum comfort on the higher frets, and can be used with an amp! Which of these is YOUR favorite? Thanks for stopping by!
What is the name of that jazz lick piece you were playing? Also, do you have the sheet music or tabs for it?
@@bigo7713 The jazz standard used for the sound sample is: I cover the waterfront. The arrangement is from jazz chord melody playbook course, Frank Vignola, on true fire. Here is a link to that course. Hope it helps!
Jazz Chord Melody Playbook - Frank Vignola - Guitar Lessons - TrueFire
The link doesn’t seem to be working I will put it in the description
Best review ever. We bought the Cordoba Mini II because of this. Thank you !
@Sean Finkel - congratulations on your cordoba mini II! I hope it brings you much playing enjoyment. The EB was my first mini and it’s been my gig/travel guitar since I got it. It is so easy to transport and handles mini amp usage really well. Thank you for your kind comment, and thank you for watching! 🎶🎶
I know this good video is from 2 years ago but I love you!!..... Great guide for people like me who have no idea about it or dont have any option to make a proper technical comparison!!. ...
Thanks & God Bless U!!!!
@nicedoppy2077 - that is great to hear! I’m so glad you found it helpful. 🎶🎶
The way you make the Cordoba sound is better than any video I have heard yet. I’m sure this is due to your ability and the way you set up your audio. Great work!
Thank you! I appreciate it. And I know what you mean about the cordoba. I was surprised in the out of the box tone. I had gotten the lower end mahogany mini II without electronics as a gift for a friend and loved it. so I got this one thinking it would be a step up. I was surprised at the initial lack of warmth and it didn’t seem to have any depth. However it has a solid spruce top, and overtime it improved. Also the strings that came with it were high tension and the wound one’s squeaked no matter how carefully I played. So I switched them to my favorite nylon string which is the Augustine classic black low tension. Now it’s one of my favorite all around guitars to play.
@@fretfrontier oh no! I have the EB-CE coming tomorrow and I purchased the D’Addario Pro Arte High Tension based on the fact that it comes stock with high tension. I currently use Pro Arte Normal Tension on my Yamaha GL-1 and I love the tone. On the bright side, I can always try the high tension and it I want more warmth and depth I think the normal tension will help add that. Again, thank you for your information on this.
@@fretfrontier What strings are you use on Cordoba ? I have the same guitar, thinking to change default Savarez nylon to Savarez carbon strings (probably Cantiga series)
@@fretfrontier First of all, thank you for the great review. This is the content I'm looking for over the internet during the pandemic period. I'm gonna buy a Cordoba mini II but curious about the differences in sounds (not the specs) between the MH and EB-CE models because the price difference is 2x at my local shop. Could you please emphasize this more? I've tried the EB-CE for a few minutes months ago, my first impression was not that good; I felt like what you mentioned above that the sound lacks warmth and depts. Btw, I have no idea if it goona improve overtime or not. However. I never tried the MH and FMH. Actually, I love the size of Gretsch G9126-ACE. I think the mini II size is quite similar to my standard classical guitar, however, G9126-ACE isn't designed for the standard E tuning.
@tim Johnson lol, I do the same thing I always like to buy the extra strings right up front. I got some high tension specialty string once that were supposed to be good for playing thru an amp for my nylon godine jazz guitar, I was so excited to get them but in the end they squeaked worse than crazy! you never know. let me know how you think the Yamaha G-1 compares to the cordoba when you get it! I don’t have one of those yet.
Just love watching you play. I rarely watch video reviews but I realized that was a mistake when I saw you on the mini and the rest. Decided on the mini.
And my cat digs your cat..❤❤
@g-willieb3100 - thank you, I appreciate your kind comment. Good choice, the mini is very cool. I’ll tell Wally he has a fan. 😺
Thanks for this. I’m sold on the Cordoba.
@kardoentertainment - I’m glad it was helpful, thanks for letting me letting me know, and for watching!
@@fretfrontier I want to learn bossa nova and I think the cordoba will take me there. Thanks again.
I loved Wally’s visit
He will be happy to hear! Wally really does like that guitar best. As soon as he hears it he drops what he is doing and comes to listen. 😻 🎶
What a great video! Clearly explained, good audio, and a musician from my time. Great performer! Clear sounding notes. Would love to connect with you. I just ordered the Cordoba mini 2 days ago.
@Lucia Baez Luzondo - thank you for your kind comment, and congratulations on your mini II, I hope it brings you much playing enjoyment! Contact info is available on the channel about page.
Hi. I just purchased the mini II. Haven’t received it yet and looking forward to it. Loved the review. Great playing. I read some of the comments and will look into the neck up strap. Thanks!
@joshuaking5947 - I hope your mini II brings you much playing enjoyment. Let me know how you like it when it arrives. I hope you also enjoy the neck up. They are cool. Thank you for watching!
Great playing and demo!
@Douglas Thompson - thank you so much! And thank you for watching! 🎶🎶
Thanks for your quality content. I'm looking for a small sized classical for travel and im but hesitating 1/4 or 1/8 I don't need electronics. Could you advise ? Cordoba looks à bit cheap ?
@user-lcRry8ju60 - thank you for your kind comment. for a high end mini guitar, you might consider romero creations. they make minis in the standard guitar shape and the single bout ‘tiny tenor’ style and though in limited supply can be found with spruce or cedar tops. Watch the review I did on the baritone Uke body sized DH-6 with nylon strings and spruce top. they are all solid wood. comes without electronics (but if you change your mind they can be added). hope that helps. thank you for watching. 🎶🎶
Delightful video! In more ways than one! I'm approaching 70 and sometimes the reduced reach and arthritis needs a smaller guitar. I own the Cordoba Mini II MH - it just doesn't get much play because of the small sound - my ears love the deep resonance of full size and the minis just don't compare. But! I was really shocked by the plugged in sound of the Gretsch! I'll have to give serious thought to flogging my Cordoba and Kahala uke for a Gretsch. Not that I ever actually sell a guitar - I just get another and the guitar it replaces moves to the back of the gear locker. I usually do bluesy numbers in A so it's an easy switch to E on the Gretsch. I really enjoyed watching you play, the blues lines especially!
@ilblues - I’m glad you liked the Gretsch. I was surprised at how great it sounds through the pickup as well when I first got it. How can that little guy DO that? I have another video where I play the Gretsch to accompany the holiday sing-along to Silver bells cause sometimes it’s nice to just have a guitar tuned higher so I don’t have to use a capo when I’d otherwise be in a key that is out of range. The Gretsch, though, really struggles when it’s tuned down to E. The pitch goes off as you go up the neck so I mostly keep that one in A. Thanks for watching! 🎶🎶
@@fretfrontier Pitch going off was the frustration with a Washburn Joey F1S (K?) I had 20 years ago. It was better with reentrant tuning - a wound D for the low E, wound G for the A, plain B for the D and tuned them up an octave. Fingerstyle sounded a bit like a hammered dulcimer. Still had intonation issues beyond the 5th fret. The Joey worked as a nice fills guitar where the main track was a standard full size guitar. And thanks also for introducing me to Romero Creations - I'm wowed by the sound of that mini!
@ilblues - oh yeah, Romero Creations! Wish there were more of those models and that they’d make a cutaway style mini. The workmanship is wonderful. And somehow they nailed the intonation up the neck on that short scale. I’m hoping they issue the cedar top ones again so I can nab one. 🤤
I'll take the three of them thanks 😆 your playing is beautiful!
@pa_maj.martini-van-man you made me laugh, indeed we can never have too many guitars! 😂… thank you for your kind comment.
@@fretfrontier 🙂👍
Hi Mary, so cute to recognize that your face started to smile as soon as you started playing the Blues. As you know I don't know anything about music theory, so don't laugh about my question. Do you have to play the Gretsch different as it is not tuned to E?
Wally did a great job assisting you!
Greatings from your UH buddy…
@Teeum5 - I do indeed love me some accoustic blues, lol. On the Gretsch, in short yes, it plays like a regular guitar but the key is higher. You might actually find this interesting: you can think of the first 4 strings of Guitalele as tuned like a regular Uke with a low G. Pretty cool, eh? So you can play it exactly like a regular guitar only it sounds like it would with a capo on the 4th fret putting it in a higher key. Or you can think of it as a tenor Uke with a low G that has two additional bass strings, the 5th sting is low D and the 6th is low A. The body is the same size as a tenor Uke. So if you have a Uke with a low G, playing this would feel like a Uke with a low G, and two additional bass strings. Thanks for your question! And Wally says thank you for appreciating his contributions to the video success! 😸
great, highly informative videos! thanak you!
can you comment on a hard case that fits the cordoba mini II?
@jotomo1969 - thank you so much. I appreciate your kind comment. Ah a hardshell case… I am also on the lookout for one. I prefer those, even the semi hard poly foam would be nice, but I have not been able to find anything that works for it. their padded gig bag is OK, but have you noticed the price has really gone up? It’s now the price point of a hard shell basically but still just a gig bag so it’s kind of hard to make sense of it. 🙁 - I miss The old days when we had the option of just buying the appropriately fitted hardshell case with the guitar.
Hi, very good comparision. Can I ask you a question?
I self-"learned" to play the guitar 11 years ago (classic and then electric), but I never learned some techniques very well. Since then, I play a full size classic guitar (cheap), and now I want to buy a good new classic guitar to take guitar lessons and polish my technique. However, my country doesn't have a lot of variety to buy and I was thinking of buying the Cordoba one in your video, because I want a good quality electro-acoustic classic guitar and the rest of the good full size electro-acoustic classic guitars on offer here are too expensive. (twice the price of córdoba). My question is, if I have been learning a classical guitar until today, and now I want to polish my technique, is the cordoba a good option?
Thanks.
Hi Fernando, the cordoba mini does not sound like a good fit for the scenario you described for these reasons… It is comfortable to play, BUT if your main goal is to focus on traditional technique the smaller body will fall short. It won’t be able to compete in tone. The EB is The high end of the cordoba mini line, but it is not a high-end guitar. If you are performing in classical recitals or playing with other classical guitarist, you will feel at a disadvantage, and your guitar will not be considered a true classical guitar. Also, if you want to sit in the traditional classical position you will feel the smaller body size in a negative way. I don’t sit in the standard classical position when I play a classical guitar. You’ll notice when I’m demonstrating the Ramirez I have the guitar in the right position but I’m using a product called ‘neck up’ which is a modified strap which allows you to sit with the guitar on your right leg but raises the neck of the guitar up into the classical position. I use the same product on the cordoba. But if you are learning true classical technique that might not be an option you want to leverage, and the smaller body of the cordoba will be harder to position well using a traditional classical foot stand for your left leg. I sympathize with the problem of finding a good high end classical guitar at a reasonable price. I have really liked the job Takamine does on their classicals and they generally come in at a reasonable price point. I looked them up just now and I noticed several have been discontinued in their line so I don’t know exactly how strong they are in the classicals currently. But if that brand is available for you to try out, you might want to see what you think of one of those. Good luck with whatever you decide. maybe some others will add what brands they play in the comments. Let me know what you end up getting. Thank you for watching!
Awesome. Thank you!
@JOKERB0I - thanks for watching!
Thank you🙏🌻
@Shambhu parashurama - thank you for watching!
Hello & thank you for sharing your comparison. I enjoyed the video! You play effortlessly. Can you tell me the name of the classical piece you covered?
@MH 88 - Thank you so much for your kind comment I appreciate it. The classical piece is called ‘Spanish ballad’. it can also be called ‘Romanza’. I think it’s one of those compositions written by the most prolific composer in the world: traditional, aka: Anonymous. it is one of my favorite all-time pieces for guitar. There’s two parts of it, the part that I am playing which is in a minor key and then it moves to a major key. it’s so delightfully charming to my ear. Anyway I will attempt to give you a free tab to the first part here: www.guitaretab.com/m/misc-traditional/12563.html
Hope it helps you out, and thanks for stopping by!
@@fretfrontier More than welcome. Thank you for taking the time to find a link to the tab for me! Greatly appreciate! Looking forward to hearing more from “ Anonymous” lol. I’ve been inspired now to learn that piece.
Keep sharing!
For the jazz lite you play for the standard song could you link a tab? It's really good and I'm not sure if I yoinked all the chords correctly ;) Also what tuning did you use for the cordoba? It sounded like the E standard but I could be wrong. If I am right, how good is the sound of the cordoba with the A standard tuning? Is it worth tuning up that high, or is there significant buzz or something on your instrument? Anyways excellent review, I love wally's appearance. You are an excellent guitarist!
Hi, Thanks for your comment! I appreciate it. The song snippet I played for lite jazz is from Frank Vignola’s arrangement of ‘I cover the waterfront’. I will look for a link to his arrangement and get back to you on that one. On the cordoba mini II, yes it’s tuned to E standard. I have never tuned it to A, as it would increase the string tension for me and I really like low action and low string tension. The Guitalele however, since it’s a smaller scale, does not result in increased tension when it’s tuned to A so it works out even though the neck is very short. I’m still getting used to feeling a little scrunched on it…but I love it. if you are interested in a cordoba that is tuned to standard A, the cordoba mini, just plan mini (without the II) is meant to be tuned at standard A. I played one once in a store and loved it, but I didn’t buy it at the time and now they are out of stock everywhere!
@@fretfrontier I think I vibe better with the bigger scale length and there's a cordoba for sale near me so I'm gonna try and snag it now lol. Looks like a great instrument to mimic baroque mandolin on too lol. Thanks again about the tab name, I'll do some snooping for the tab itself, your rendition was very slick, and I just need to learn how to play it.
I agree. I like being tuned to E. I’m getting really spoiled with the smaller body size though and I wish that they made higher end versions in this size but, this is still great. I just got another Cordoba, the MH II, so I’ll be putting out a compare between that and the EB soon. Now here’s the followup on the Frank V arrangement on that jazz tune…
truefire.com/jazz-guitar-lessons/chord-melody-playbook/c1478 - hopefully that worked as a link to take you to his chord melody playbook lesson on TrueFire it’s the first song he digs into in the course. he’ll take you from the lead sheet to working out the chord melody at two different levels. He’s amazing. if you try it, let me know how it goes for you!
@@fretfrontier I think I'll give it a try, thanks again, can't wait to see you take out the MH!
You've made a couple of things unecessarily confusing here. I don't know how the Ramirez model numbers work but spelling it as 1/4 suggests its a 1/4 size guitar which would make sense to expect in your video comparing small guitars (and you do clarify that it is full size but it creates confusing expectations). Then you measure scale length from nut to top of fretboard which is not the standard way to measure scale length, it is measured to the saddle. Which again asks for confusing when you say the ramirez has a 17" scale.
this is such a great comparison. i prefer this travel size and not many good videos out there. mainly a uke guy so that guitalele size and fret spacing is familiar to me
@tomasharan2540 - I am glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for watching! 🎶🎶
Thank you for the video. I was wondering what the name of the classical song was.
Hi, It is referred to as either 'Romanza' or 'Spanish Ballad', either name. It is by 'anonymous' and tabs can be freely found online. Here is a link to a free online tab if it might be useful: www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/anonymous-romanza-spanish-ballad-tab-s25458
Thank you for watching!
@@fretfrontier Thank you for responding. You are very helpful and kind. Hope you have a good rest of your day.
You said the Ramirez was 17 and 1/2 in scale?
@Cory Williams - the Ramirez is full size classical guitar. the cordoba 1/4 size, and the Gretch is tenor Uke body size. Thank you for watching!
Que maravilha de vídeo!
Parabéns pelo excelente trabalho e talento. Amei o gatinho 🐈⬛
Me inscrevendo agora!
Saudações brasileiras 🇧🇷
@Violao Sincero - thank you for the kind comment, for watching the video and for subscribing. I appreciate it! Wally also thanks you… 😺🎶
MF has the Cordoba Mini II FMH on sale for $129 and I almost pulled the trigger on it. I have the MH already and in A/Bing the demos on the FMH and MH (on the Cordoba channel) I thought "man, those sound alike" ... turns out FMH means Flamed Mahogany - not Flamed Maple as I'd assumed ... so I'll wait for a sale on the Mini II EB-CE - that to my ears has better treble response than the MH. I really love the size - sound of the mini II line. Good for ez chair noodling and songwriting.
@ilblues - all good points! I hope you get much playing enjoyment out of the EB if you get it. 🎶🎶
I’ve been wanting to get back into guitar but I wanted a small one like that Cordoba Mini. It’s great to hear the same music across the different instruments. How do you like the Cordoba Mini overall?
Thanks for the great video.
@smartfool24 - I really enjoy the cordoba mini series. In fact I now have 2 of the model shown in this video, my ‘meet my luthier’ video will explain how that happened, so yes I like this one. 😄. but it isn’t high end so keep that in mind. I also like the laminated mahogany version without the electronics and you’ll see that one in many of my guitar teaching videos and in a separate video review as well. if you need to amplify the instrument, this one would be the better choice for that reason…. and it has that cut away, I always prefer a cut away. overall the minis are not going to give you the same sound a full size guitar will, but in my opinion, they have a delightful voice all their own, and are so comfortable to play and reasonably priced that they are addictive! I do wish they had a hard shell case option though. the sizing is frustrating, it is it’s own unique thing. 🎶🎶
Knowing the scale length from nut to bridge instead of fret board length would be more helpful.
Thanks in advance.
Here you go... Cordoba min scale length: 580mm (22 7/8"), Gretsch scale length: 17" (432 mm)
The Cordoba for me.......🐈
@tbeau6663 - Wally thanks you for being on his team, and he says you have good taste! Thank you for watching.
Hi, is there a way to contact you via message or email?
Hi, not at the moment, I don’t know how to add that to my channel yet. but till then, I will answer questions on video content put in comments.