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Cordoba Ukulele

We carry a few models from the 20 series all mahogany solid top series from Cordoba but mostly focus on their top tier uke line, the 30 series. This series was done with guidance from renown guitar and ukulele maker, Pepe Romero Jr. Their all solid wood instruments and while not “cheap”, are still quite a good bang for your buck. Here’s a video that introduces this new line.

The other series we carry from Cordoba is the Mini. First review here on them is HERE. These are baritone sized 6 strings and they are a phenomenal value, especially after our setup work! Check these few models out and see what’s available as well from our website at the Cordoba section HERE.


Acacia Cutaway Electric Tenor 35T-CE

These are “raw” sound samples with no compression of mastering. Use quality headphones or monitors for most accurate sound.

This is a lightweight tenor ukulele with a lively tone and beautiful construction. It features a Spanish heel neck joint, fan bracing, and a wider fingerboard for easy playability. It has that percussive attack (flamenco style) or sweet sustaining richness depending on your technique. In this demo we hear it first completely acoustic and dry and then we hear it plugged into an AER acoustic amp set with the EQ flat and a touch of reverb. (Should have turned the bass a tiny bit down). The pickup included on these cutaway models is the LR Baggs, our favorite uke pickup!



Spruce/ Acacia Tenor

The 35TS-CE tenor uke features all solid acacia for back and sides which give it a clear, bright tone, and distinctive figured appearance. The 35TS-CE also features a solid Sitka spruce top along with a beautiful rosewood bridge, binding, and fingerboard. The styling is refined and sleek, using abalone for the inlaid rosette and rosewood for the binding, capped off with Cordoba’s signature elevated headstock with a figured acacia overlay. It features a soft cutaway and the L.R. Baggs Five.O pickup, a small, lightweight pickup specifically engineered for the ukulele’s unique size and voice. Other features include a black TUSQ® nut and saddle, chrome Grover tuners, and a Cordoba polyfoam case.


Cordoba Mini O

This one of the a few new models from Cordoba and the best sounding affordable guilele we have seen and they call it the Mini. You can tune it any number of ways but from the factory it comes tuned ADGCEA. Like a guitar with a capo at the 5th fret. Or like an ukulele with two lower strings. So it’s basically a baritone sized guilele and it really sounds and feels great. With our final setup this is THE best value on a quality guilele.

In the video below Zach introduces this new line and shows us the three Mini models.

Comments 5

  1. Oh my gosh, what a fantastic new upgraded site and more importantly,
    what a tremendous awesome resource this is for our community! Thank you HMS, Ukulele Site folks, for this. We’ve been needing something like this for a long time and I can’t wait to spread the word and show my uke friends how immensely helpful all this is. At first glance it’s almost information overload in a good way…hey we can never get too much UKE! But we’re going to have to spend a A LOT OF time browsing through the site carefully. Like…a few weeks worth of browsing. I’m checking out the Cordoba review page first since the 1st uke I bought from you guys is a Cordoba 32t-ce, one of the nicer high end ones.

    I’m still trying to wrap my head around what i’ve just seen. It’s looks like a ton of work.
    Maybe I haven’t seen it yet, but as I was browsing, I was wondering if there’s a dedicated STRINGS section?
    So string review, comparisons, notes….a whole section for just strings, and not a small box link from the main reviews page.

    that way when we arrive here to look for answers and knowledge, we go STRAIGHT to the top navigation menu and click on STRINGS only without digging in another page. Just a thought.

    thank you again!!

    1. Post
      Author

      Thanks Jeremy and excellent suggestion. I have a number of resources comparing and talking about strings. I’ll work on making that section soon. The best string set for each uke is an ongoing quest for many players. So I appreciate you pointing that out.

  2. Oh I got so caught up with how amazing the whole new site was that I forgot to actually make an appropriate comment about Cordoba Ukuleles on this page and my specific 32t-ce Spruce / Rosewood tenor. So here it is. Hope this is helpful to everyone.

    I have 3 Cordobas in my collection. A GK Studio flamenco guitar, a Cordoba Mini-M, and a tenor 32T-CE uke from the same line as the ones shown above.

    The Cordoba 32t-ce all solid Spruce/Rosewood tenor was my 1st uke purchase from The Ukulele Site. It is truly a phenomenal value especially after the team’s fantastic setup. There’s nothing like a fretboard that plays smooth as butter with great intonation all the way up the neck.
    I had it strung with Fremont Blacks Low G flourocarbon strings and when it finally arrived, this uke is a beast. Amazing sustain and projection and tone.
    Lush, Clear and the word i used when i reviewed it was…exquisite. After many months of trying different strings on it, i only realized personally that the spruce top is still too bright with too forward an attack for my style of playing and music taste and that perhaps the Mahogany 30T-CE version would have been a better fit.

    However, that’s not to say this isn’t a good uke at all. In fact, i have only praises for this line of Cordobas and this uke, so i want to keep this a positive comment to help everyone. Cordoba hit a home run with this 30 series line with many high-end features in a great package. The craftmanship is superb, the wider neck is great for fingerstylists, the cutaway is just uber cool and functions well, and…the included L.R Baggs 5-0 pickup is one of the best I’ve heard. To me, I love the more natural sounding pickups compared to the ones that you can definitely tell has that “EQ” feel and sound where it picks up every hand movement sound and way too electric. The 5-0 pickup on this does not do that. Natural wonder. The included polyfoam case is strong and sturdy and really nice.

    As far as strings go with this Cordoba 32T-CE model, I’ve tried the following on it and I hope this is helpful to those who want to experiment if you have this particular model. Keep in mind, strings are SO subjective and personal, that this only represents my personal opinion. I tested these with the goal in mind of finding the the following sound: “LUSH, DEEP, RESONANT, FULL, WARM with cushy velvety lows and mids yet CLEAR”. I think this would have been better achieved with the Mahogany instead of Spruce. : )

    Strings I’ve tried on the Cordoba 32t-ce: (All strings tested with LOW G)

    D’addario Carbon – clear, loud, very bright

    GHS Sara Maisel – Rounder tone, Lush, clear, great, strings are fatter, shorter sustain

    Fremont Black – Smooth, lush BEST

    Fremont Bari-tenor trebles + Fremont Soloist – For Baritone tuning using the soloist as a Low D. It works! Very deep and low.

    Fremont Bari-tenor + Worth CH LGEX (extra fat 4th) – Works for Low E. Too floppy for Low D.

    PHD Low – Too bright and too forward projection

    Worth Brown BT – wow!!! Tension is high though and the A string is quite shrill.

    Worth Brown Fat – Mellow nice but lacks brilliance on this particular uke

    Worth clear LGHD – Great but tension is high

    Worth clear FAT LG – Beautiful tension is high

    LIVING Waters LG – Beautiful best tension

    Oasis GPX + worth clr fat LG – ok mellow

    D’addario Nyltech + worth clr LG – nice and clear, very punchy attack and very forward

    D’addario Custom Extruded nylon + worth LG – muddy and muffed

    Aquila Carbonblacks + Worth Clear Fat LG – clear + overly bright. The Aquila Carbonblacks feel like fence wire under my fingers

    Aquila BioNylon LG – sweet and mellow, No sustain

    Ko’Olau Mahana LG – Nice,fat and round sound, with a pronounced “poungggg” sound when finger plucked. Has the best feel due to the very smooth clear higher grade nylon. No finger noise at all compared to rectified nylons….you know…that “hiss” sound.

    Pepe Romero UT1 – too Bright and powerful for this canon of a uke.

    hope this helps!

  3. As an owner of a Cordoba concert ukulele, I can attest that Cordoba makes quality, beautifully sounding instruments. The Spruce /Acacia Tenor is an instrument that deserves a look at when I visit the shop next month.

    I visit the Ukulele Resource Center frequently; the information on the site and that provided by contributors is invaluable. (I live in a region that has few Ukulele resources). As a novice player I really appreciate the tutorials and of course just listening to the beautiful demonstrations on the various Ukuleles. (You should make a “Shop Album”). Thanks again for putting together this wonderful site and I look forward to visiting.

  4. I’ve got 35T-CE, and I am quite happy owner. Finish is great, the sound is even better than I have expected. I bought it to use with low G mainly, but after some time decided to switch to high-G. Not that I didn’t like low G setup for it – was truly great, just wanted to try how it sounds with different strings. Since that time, it’s still there – sound is bright and amazing. Pickup is very good, nice acoustic tones.. but if you use your metal combo, you can play some Paranoid or Crazy Train for friends just for fun, and it still sounds good!

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