Cordoba Mini O-CE vs Guilele: Full Review 

What did you decide to get instead? Any recommendations?

Thanks, hope you enjoy it.

Arnold Jason Mercado thanks. I’d like to have all those to compare!

Thanks for the comment

You should get it, your muscles adapt quickly to the size!

Glad it was helpful.

Thanks for the info

If it's new new EB CE model I have one of those too. It's a slightly longer scale I think, than the one I had in this video.

thanks

123 Andrés 🍻

Well, a couple things. First, ukes are tuned totally different with an octave displaced on the closest string to the player's face, so producing an instrument that is tuned exactly like a guitar, albeit a fourth up, doesn't allow for uke technique to transfer and get the same sounds with the same technique and voicing. Because of the tuning, and because of the appointments, even on the guilele, I believe Cordoba has produced these for the guitarist rather than the uke player. After all, uke players have plenty of quality instruments in this size and price range. Also, the guilele players I've seen on RU-vid are basically playing a guitar style, and the really expensive guileles I've played are still marketed as hybrid instruments. Do you have a favorite player I should check out?

Alex Hand yes Zanuck Lindsey, look him up here, he is Kimo Hussey's playing partner

I finally checked out Zanuck. He is using guitar voicings, technique, etc. Basically playing guitar on a guilele like I expected.

You are right,and mr.Christian is right too. I played guitalele three years,but beacouse I am working on job,night security.I played on the job,and it is ideal to come on the job with instrument.Beacuse it is small,and nobody can not see you how you come on the yob with something big what produced the sound. From the time you start to love this sound,and you become to play it at home too.I think that guitalele have future from this reasons.It is little bit hard on begigining to play it,small freets,but from the time,you pass by this problem.I ordrer one cordoba gilele but I never played on it. Is it worth the money?Is it much better from yamaha GL1? In Zagreb where I live,shops has got only gretch,and yamaha. Thanks a lot.

I ordered the Mini SM-CE, I'm excited. I'm a Uke player looking a second instrument to play. Guitarale too fiddly, 3/4s wrong tuning this looks perfect for me.

I hope you enjoy it Jon I love mine.

Thanks, I can't wait, you got any videos up of your playing. Some of the gitair chords i just can't play like F so i can just play the uke version instead and a lot of chords are uke +1 extra string and a lot of the fingerpicking I know on uke will work too! I could even take the low A string off to simplify things a good bit. Well that's the plan, no one close to me had one to actually try in e tuning. This vid here helped.

hey Jon I have some videos but nothing specifically to help you, I could post something if ya want to check my channel and comment there. I'm not very profesional by any means but I would be glad to try to help where I can

Thanks Shane, I think that one's called Danno's Reel, and it's one that's in the middle ground between Celtic and old time American. I learned all these by ear but thesession.org is a good one.

How many inches is the Requintos?

Reverend Brother Christopher Lawson that’s interesting-where did you read that? I’m not sure my experience supports it though. At least on electric guitars I routinely take off the string trees or don’t use them. They add pressure on the nut with the sharper angle but to me it doesn’t sound better, it just makes tuning less stable because the ridges on round wound strings hang up on the edge of the nut.

@@AlexHand I learned it from watching a luthier's video and the luthier made this observation while doing a repair on an old Martin guitar with a slotted head (Martins were his specialty). I concurred from an engineering perspective (I once taught 1st year university physics) and I took a specialty course in wave mechanics at McMaster University.

It applies to acoustic guitars (which all depend on resonance for sound amplification). Too much resonance is counterproductive in electrically amplified guitars because of electrical amplification feedback issues.

@@PotPoet I do see your point, but having a closet full of acoustic guitars with both slotted and non slotted headstocks I'm not sure I hear the difference that much. The bridge/tailpiece system makes a huge difference since it's contacting the top directly, as does whether the top and back are arched, but the tone of the nut only comes into play with open strings anyway. Being further away from the body than every fret, the little bit of extra resonance from the sharper angle of a slotted or angled headstock seems more negligible than a lot of other adjustable variables. It wouldn't be as big an issue if there were more effective options for locking tuners that worked with slotted headstocks and nylon strings. Winding strings several times around a post allows a lot of areas where buzzes and slippage can occur, leading to tuning instability and annoying ambient sounds, which is part of what locking tuners were invented to eliminate. It's even harder to eliminate this with slots than vertical posts and the there is an increased likelihood of the string grinding against the wood between the nut and post, unless a real expert puts them on, which damages the headstock and adds another point of contact for buzzing. So my feeling is that slotted headstocks could be less outdated if technology caught them up with modern tuning keys, and I don't see that on practically any guitars right now.

@@AlexHand To hear the difference, EVERY other feature (wood type, shape, bracing, age, strings, wood thicknesses, detailing such as purling and binding, even the glues used, etc.) would have to be identical between the test guitars. This isolates the difference to just the headstock design. THEN you would hear it as is demonstrated on some luthier videos that I have seen. Plus, the logic of the physics involved (that the greater angle delivers a better transfer of vibrating motion) is convincing without demonstration.

Thanks for the comment. It's a lot of improv. 2:47 is a gypsy jazz tune called Swing Gitane. 5:30 is an Irish tune called Danno's Reel. 11:50 is a baroque piece by Couperin called Les Barricades Mysterieuses. I just uploaded another folk tune on electric guitar a couple weeks ago if you want to check it out on my channel.

Is it loud enough to play in a crowd of people?

I didn't but I sold it to my 8 yr old guitar student. He (we) keeps it in standard tuning and it's easy for him because of the low string tension and soft strings. I have a Baby Taylor now that has replaced both of the Cordobas. I'm going to try nylon strings on it soon and make a video.

That's actually a Greek Laouto. It's my housemate's. Really weird tuning in 5ths with some octave doubles, and movable frets. I doubt I will get a handle on that thing before I move out of here :)

A custom acoustic guitar, regardless of size, usually runs $3-4k in America because of the hours it takes to do it from scratch. Asking for brand new size specs will also add time they'll want to be paid for as they draft the architecture for how it will work. If you have the cash, go for it and send me one, too!

On another note Ernie Ball makes many different kinds of ball end nylon strings. The mini 2 Santa Fe does not have a pin Bridge like the mini M does. I always wondered why they chose a pin Bridge as well. Anyways great playing great video. Oh and another thing I've learned about these cordobas all kinds of nylon strings I've tried but nothing feels as good as the Cordoba strings I have to order them straight from the website because Guitar Center doesn't carry them in their stores but I'm telling you to feel of the strings it's a playabilities so much better if you stick to the Cordoba strings I know I sound like I'm sponsored or something but I'm not I don't play good enough to be sponsored by nobody LOL

Also .... my mini 2 santa fe has two strap buttons

Yes, they come tuned like you mentioned. I haven't tried tuning them E to E like a full size guitar because I have only been playing them solo. The mini guitar market is blowing up and Ibanez has a steel string piccolo now. If you are a singer accompanying yourself on guitar, it may be worth getting one a little bigger you can easily tune E to E unless you're comfortable transposing the songs you sing up a fourth. It's easy on guitar to play the same shapes, but singing everything two and a half steps up sounds challenging to me.

Thanks for your feedback. I actually already own a Breedlove passport travel size guitar that I use for performing, I'm looking for an even smaller guitar I could use for daily music lessons with students. The idea of having a guitar almost as small as a ukulele would make my commutes significantly easier as I'm a petite person and already get tired carrying my current guitar around everywhere on my back. But if these can only be tuned a fourth up I still wouldn't be able to use them during lessons with students in standard E tuning... Anyways thanks so much for your help! Would appreciate if you knew of any other guitars that might fit what i'm looking for :)

Have you tried the Baby Taylor?

Thanks!

Thanks for the kind words

You mean between the wood and the plastic EQ/battery module? I think it may have been a loose connection in the wiring. I did the foam in another acoustic I have, though, and it helped.

Or in the v formed by the retaining tab--the thingy that holds the eq closed. Sometimes they don't expand as much as they should and can cause a rattle. You can try "stretching the v" but that runs the risk of snapping the tab off.

Ha, I'll definitely try stretching that V and try not to snap anything off.

I did switch to the Baby Taylor, which has steel strings.

Andy Chau I think mine did that too. I returned it. I have a Baby Taylor now.

Iiiiiinteresting. Sounds like I should hold off buying one until they sort that out and I can try it out in a store. Thanks for sharing.

They are both supposed to be tuned to the same intervals as a guitar from A to A, but can be tuned E to E. I haven't tuned it to E because the strings will be fairly loose at that point and it won't be as loud or clear. They do still sound good tuned G, or even F#, I think.

+Alex Hand. Thanks for clarifying.

I actually didn't buy the new one. I've now heard from more than one person that there are issues with the pickup, so I'm not sure what's going on with that but before I buy a new one I'm going to try it out at a Guitar Center or something. I'm re-designing my electric/pedal rig up right now so the videos I have on the way will probably be regarding that gear and clips of playing folk tunes, hopefully with other musicians, so please subscribe :)

Koos van rij I sold both so I didn’t have any strap locks installed. I’m playing a Baby Taylor now, which is about the same size as the Mini but better quality. Haven’t tried nylon strings on it yet.

That's a nameless tune from Cape Breton. There are probably flatpicking books/DVDs for Irish style tunes like that. Rock bands like Jethro Tull or early King Crimson, YES, ELP have stuff that sounds like that. John Doyle and Robin Bullock are my fav celtic guitarists.

I only found two. Which ones are you looking at?

Sorry I missed your comment. It was the only color available when I bought it. I think it was the Ovangkol wood.

Thanks! I play a lot of Celtic and Bulgarian/Romanian music. I grew up playing rock/metal, started playing Irish music and classical guitar when I was 15 and right now I'm working on my masters degree in jazz performance at North Texas. If you want to check out the albums I've made, they are here: alexhandband.bandcamp.com/

I suggest going to Guitar Center to try what they have. The Yamaha one is ok, but Cordoba is probably better. I've never heard of Kala. Gretsch actually makes a really good one that comes with a case for under $300, which was the first time I saw any of these guileles. They are all smaller than the Cordoba Mini, which is the most playable, and expensive.

Sounds great! Thanks buddy, you've been a great help! Subscribed!

+DaneDuncan I have owned the Yamaha guitalele, the gretsch one, and the Yamaha one. Out of the 3 I recommend the Córdoba guilele as far as tone and quality goes. But I just got the mini m and its way better in my opinion. Mainly because the string spacing is the same as on a regular nylon guitar, so no cramping, and a bigger sound board gives better tone in my opinion. Plus, if you want to tune it in enfor a travel guitar, you can do so because they have a set of strings you can use for that. It comes in a, so if you tune to e it will have less volume and the strings will be a bit loose. You will need the actual strings meant for e. Only thing I don't like is it does not have slotted head.

Why do you prefer the slotted headstock?

Good to hear! Yeah I'm curious why you prefer the slotted headstock too. Besides it looking bad ass.

Many. I tried to respond to the requests about specific ones but this was like 10 years ago! Some of these songs I still play and may have uploaded in more recent videos.

margita I can’t remember the last time I used or wrote tabs but if I do get around to them again I’ll come back here and let you know. Have you tried slowing down the video to hear it at half speed? That’s how I learn most stuff these days.

Eastern Cowboy I did put them on the guilele. It wasn’t as tight and resonant a sound as the original strings made for it but it did work.

Juliette Liddle I actually got rid of it years ago but I think it would be fine if it was done by a professional.

I'm not sure the title. It's a fiddle tune from Canada I think.

Les Barricades Mysterieuses