Cordoba mini - can I use any classical guitar strings?

mimmo said:

thanks guys
please feel you free to use what you prefere. I am not worry if you prefere different brands.
again about the E tuning: the basses are very good because they are different than tose for guitar. In short, there is more metal on
ciao

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Thank you.Mimmo, Your input is very valuable to us!
Wish there is 'red ' those are my favourite !

Hi everyone,

SoloRule, yes there's a reason why I kept the original top 3 Bass strings from the E-E Aquila set. As Mimmo said, those are very good for the Mini. They sound good and feel fine and are designed well for the instrument bracing and length, so I didn't have any problem with those. It was the white super nylgut trebles that were weird for me, so I only wanted to switch those 3 trebles.
So update, after 4 days of the GPX trebles on the Mini, so far it has held up very well.

I have not noticed any bulging or warping and the strings are settling in nicely and the sound is getting better. I am enjoying the feel and tone so far. Will continue to monitor for a couple of weeks.

For those who bought Requinto strings for the Mini...any results?

FuzzeeSock said:

Hi everyone,

SoloRule, yes there's a reason why I kept the original top 3 Bass strings from the E-E Aquila set. As Mimmo said, those are very good for the Mini. They sound good and feel fine and are designed well for the instrument bracing and length, so I didn't have any problem with those. It was the white super nylgut trebles that were weird for me, so I only wanted to switch those 3 trebles.
So update, after 4 days of the GPX trebles on the Mini, so far it has held up very well.

I have not noticed any bulging or warping and the strings are settling in nicely and the sound is getting better. I am enjoying the feel and tone so far. Will continue to monitor for a couple of weeks.

For those who bought Requinto strings for the Mini...any results?

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Thank you for your reply.
I too ordered the Aquila E tuning set plus the Oasis GPX for the trebles.
I must correct myself when I mentioned Aquila is pricey. It was actually our Canadian amazon that is pricey selling at $21 Cdn. I ordered from US strings by mail @ $9 . My apology to Aquila .
I read somewhere that people say the trebles are flappy in the E tuning. Looks like you have found the solution. I will get mine in two weeks. We can compare notes. Thank you again.

Hi SoloRule, did you mean someone said the GPX trebles are flappy in the E tuning or the Aquilas? In my experience so far, neither are floppy. In fact one of my original comments about the Aquila E-E set was that I found the trebles feeling rather stiff.
To be fair, I left them on after switching out the A-A set for about 3 weeks+ and played them quite a bit hoping they would feel softer over time. But they still felt stiff though they held their tuning well and resonance too.

The GPS trebles are not floppy. They have a nice ring to them for tone and a nice vibration speed / wave length.
but yeah let's hear from others as well their experiments with GPX, Requinto, Savarez, etc.

I read somewhere in a guitar forum that people are saying - Aquila E tuning - the bass are excellent but the trebles are not as sharp in comparison to the A trebles.
Guitar strings are flappy but they may not have used the same guitar strings as you.

Just like you, my fingers can't get used to the feel of the Aquila trebles . It's just a personal preference. Glad you like it and thank you for sharing your experiment too.
I will have a complete set of Aquila E tuning and the Oasis GPX trebles . Looking forward to giving them a try.

Cordoba now lists the gauges

Jon Moody said:

That said, since the Cordoba mini is recommended for A tuning, is a short scale and uses ball end strings, it may be a bit trickier to get you the exact set (especially since the Aquila sets don't list the gauges used). If you have access to a micrometer, you can easily find out the string diameters and then make a set.

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The Cordoba web site now lists the string gauges:


Note that the three treble strings are nylon and do not come with ball ends attached; you just tie them on. The three bass strings are metal-wound nylon and come with attached ball ends.

I am going to try to get my D'Addario Requinto strings on today, if life will quit getting in the way! Top 3 strings are clear nylon, bottom 3 are wound.
Gauges are:
A .022" 0.56mm
E .028" 0.71mm
C .033 0.84mm
G .025 0.64mm
D .030 0l76mm
A .036 0.91mm

Teek said:

I am going to try to get my D'Addario Requinto strings on today, if life will quit getting in the way! Top 3 strings are clear nylon, bottom 3 are wound.
Gauges are:
A .022" 0.56mm
E .028" 0.71mm
C .033 0.84mm
G .025 0.64mm
D .030 0l76mm
A .036 0.91mm

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I'd love to hear your assessment of these strings, please give some feedback if you get a chance.

Weellllll.

Once I got the Aquilas off, after examining the action on this guitarlele, I am holding back the Requinto strings for my Mele. It has had heat damage (I got it that way, undisclosed from the seller, major no no) and the action is high from the sinking of the sound hole and bridge dipping forward. I got it cheaply enough I'm just living with it for now. It needs new strings too so I am thinking the nylon might go better there.

However while not even settled in as they've only been on a few hours, the Oasis GPX Normal Tension classicals sound really nice so far on the Mini R in EADGBE. I saved the very nice beads off the Aquilas that were on there and reused them. Not sure if they were original to those strings...?

I am REALLY liking the Mini R! I also replaced the plastic bridge pins with a set of Tusq pins I have had sitting in my string drawer for a couple of years. They fit fine and look nice.

Edit: I am definitely another fan of the Oasis GPX carbon trebles in medium tension for this Mini R; after settling enough to hold tuning for a good 10 minutes before needing a tweak, the tension feels perfect, there is a very nice responsiveness with less pressure than the Aquilas, and they make the Mini ring really well for such a small body laminate. The sound is cleaner and has more volume and separation, something I find also on my 24" scale 1920s parlor guitars. I'm not getting any bothersome squeak from the wound strings. Aside from having some issues with my high E breaking before on several guitars, and I'd like to figure out why as there are no nut issues on any of them, these are currently my favorite acoustic guitar string.

Not to dis the Aquilas, the ones on my used instrument were very old and yet still playable enough to hear that this Mini has a great little voice, and would probably really shine with fluoros. Even though this is laminate EIR so doesn't make much difference, my two parlors that wear these are both Brazilian rosewood, and they sparkle.

Can you use the Cordoba Mini Strings in A on a Kanile’a GL6?

ancient said:

Can you use the Cordoba Mini Strings in A on a Kanile’a GL6?

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That should work. They're the same scale length.

Pepe Romero Guilele sets work great on the Mini.

1/4 size kids classical guitar strings work for E tuning

LaBella FG 114
Hannabach MT 890

Or requinto strings for higher tunings

Not a fan of the Aquila

Its an old thread but figure the mini series are gaining more popularity since the OP

On another forum, people experimented with other strings for the Mini and most agreed that the EJ44 29-45 Extra Hard sounds really good in E maybe a little better than the Cordoba strings. I tried it and agree that they are a good substitute for the Cordoba strings.

ah, sorry to answer you so late guys!
We are back form the NAMM show in Anheim CA.
As you knows, we made the Mini sets for Cordoba groups. We are just the manufacturers not not the proprietor so we cannot distribuite this set around.
Said that, during the meeting I have asked to the owner the permission to distribuite the MINI serts ourshelf by our distributors.
I told them that there are huge problems to find the Mini set in EU and also in other Countries and many and many complaints that.
---
These sets cannot be replaced by standard guitar sets, as the were designed for this kind of instrument. In other worlds: feet number 36 want shoes number 36, not 38.
With other strings the tension maybe is not the right one while the sound duller (if nylon)
Take care
Mimmo

I made a little test.

Cordoba E string set versus D'Addario EJ44 tuned in E

1. Cordoba E string set: a. finger only, b. with a little nail
2. EJ44 Extra Hard, tuned in E: a. finger only, b. with a little nail.

Cordoba strings are used, EJ44 almost new.

PS: I'm a great fan of Aquila, I use Ambra 800 on my romantic guitars and Aquila Lava on my ukuleles and Alchemia on one of my classical guitars.
I bought a 25 $ ukulele, that sounded like fishing line on a cigarbox but with Aquila Lava strings it became a musical instrument.

mini so cute

Poul Hansen said:

I made a little test.

Cordoba E string set versus D'Addario EJ44 tuned in E

1. Cordoba E string set: a. finger only, b. with a little nail
2. EJ44 Extra Hard, tuned in E: a. finger only, b. with a little nail.

Cordoba strings are used, EJ44 almost new.

PS: I'm a great fan of Aquila, I use Ambra 800 on my romantic guitars and Aquila Lava on my ukuleles and Alchemia on one of my classical guitars.
I bought a 25 $ ukulele, that sounded like fishing line on a cigarbox but with Aquila Lava strings it became a musical instrument.

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Both sound good to me, but the EJ44's trebles sound a little sharper, better. I'm a music noobie so I'm not sure what a guitar is supposed to sound like. Really cool that you have two Mini's for the comparison.

Do you recommend the EJ44's?

I will be picking up my Mini M this weekend and was planning on using D'Addario EJ27N 1/2 to tune it to E-E.

However, I could get a set of EJ44's to try. The D'Addario site also has four versions: EJ44, EJ44LP, EJ44C, EJ44TT. Any comments on which type of EJ44s will make a Mini M sound "correct" in E tuning?

Thanks in advance to you and anybody else that replies!

I think there is so little difference that either could be used, according price and availability and that was the idea to have this confirmed.


PS: I have 2 because one is my "practice before the computer guitar" and the other my "car guitar".