#16 - Cordoba C5-CE guitar with B-Band T35 preamp repair

I got a good deal on a great guitar Cordoba C5-CE, which is a classical guitar with a cutaway and electronics. I have seen several versions of this guitar made in different years and different places, and equipped with different preamps. This one has B-Band T35 preamp. The good deal was possible because the preamp didn't work. It turned out that someone messed up the electronics quite a bit. I was lucky that all essential parts still worked fine, so I managed to restore the guitar at no additional cost.
B-Band page about pickups and preamps: www.b-band.com/...
Cordoba C5-CE page: cordobaguitars....

[@SzymekCRX]

Love Your videos! So much joy seeing these items brought back to life. Lots of things to learn from You - heart born teacher :) Greetings from Poland

[@ColettaHughes]

Great work... I just bought a Luna Henna Oasis with the same bband t35 and also not working. I got a great deal on the Luna because the pre amp isn't working. Hope I get mine working as quickly as you did yours.

[@AngeloLuis22]

Hello host hmm hope you notice me, the one black on the case of the pre amp? It on sale? Because mine because my case is crack on the screw hole.

[@dardelay77]

Dear, great video, catched up when I was looking how to repair my b-band u 1.3t for ukulele pre-amp. Since One month it doesn't work anymore, nothing has been touched inside. No power it seems, but the I checked out and the power it arrives from jack and battery box to the pre-amp. board. My question is, following your experience, do you guess it could be some condenser inside of the board that has to be replaced? I saw are tantalio condensers inside... thank you very much for help..

[@RicGama]

Hi, have you ever had problems with the Yamaha APX6 preamp?

[@fazeeztaj1618]

I also have an issue with my b-band pickup its earthing issue how can I repair it??? Kindly need help

[@donaldklemen7532]

Thanks, Great job. My pickup is an A3T. One of the pot dials broke off. It's always acted funny so I think this may have been like this for a long time. Anyway, I would like to solder a new pot in the treble position. Any Idea where I can get one to fit the circuit board. Can't find a schematic. Thanks! Don Indiana!

[@DAVEBLISS2007]

A very good fix by you congratulations.

[@gavirialive]

Your video is great. I was wondering if you can help me figure out something. I have a problem with both of my guitars. One seems to not catch the bass. I always have to crank up the bass on the preamp eq to get some of it in the amp. On The other one , which happens to have a B Band preamp, when I play the first string is too loud and the middle range is louder than the bass. Both of the preamps seem to bee unbalanced. Do you happen to have information about that? I will appreciate any comment. Thanks!

[@feedback-loop]

Daniel Felipe Gaviria Arcila If I understand you correctly, you are unhappy about your string-to-string balance. I guess there might be many reasons. What comes to mind first is that the bottom side of the saddle might be uneven and doesn't apply even pressure on the pickup. Or maybe the saddle is fine, but the bottom of the slot is uneven. www.taylorguitars.com/blog/taylor-support/pickups-uneven-string-balance

[@HazimKamarulZaman]

Hello there, I have a similar guitar and it has developed a problem that only steady noise is produced when plugged to an amp. I have not took out the preamp and all yet to look at what's going with it. I have played guitar for quite some time but only now venturing into fixing my own guitars, so I am very new with all the wiring systems and all. Do you have any suggestions of what I should look at when I take out the preamp?

[@feedback-loop]

Oh, I don't think it is possible to diagnose things with so little data. If you are handy, take it apart carefully and have a look. Check connections first. It could be as simple as, for example, a wire broken off from the output connector.

[@toherful]

use this preamp T35,, the power on if jact conector plug in?

[@TheCastilloortiz2555]

My preamp turns on and my tuner works but the tuner itself isn’t picking up any sound. Is it bc the pickup might not be in the right spot

[@ortodonti]

I have the same problem. Does anyone knows how can I fix that?

[@Goodoi_Godoi]

The button that activates the tuner of my t35 will be spoiled I can just swap that button?

[@feedback-loop]

***** Are you saying that your tuner stopped working and you know somehow that the button is the reason? If so, of course you might try to replace the button if you find a replacement. You might even sacrifice the other button ("phase") in case you cannot find a replacement. How do you know that the button is at fault?

[@feedback-loop]

Oops, sorry, the buttons are not identical. The phase button stays down until next push, but the tuner, power button is momentary. So you cannot just swap them, you need a replacement button if it is indeed faulty.

[@Goodoi_Godoi]

FeedbackLoop Sorry my english I'm Brazilian. I know it's the button because he can not activate the tuner is already the second time this happens to me with different guitars. Thanks for the help brother.

[@robertugarte6207]

I just want to say this is a very nice and informative video. Though I have no problem with my Cordoba C5-CE now, thank you for your time.

[@alexz2643]

Спасибо! Познавательное видео. Только я сильно намучился с датчиком B-band, трудно настроить баланс струн. Хотелось бы поменять его на обычный пьезо, но как уменьшить чувствительность преампа? Извините, что пишу по-русски, но, мне кажется, Вы понимаете.

[@feedback-loop]

Требования к преампам совершенно разные. Не думаю, что очень просто можно переделать один в другой. Да и зачем? Может разобраться почему струны не звучат? Может порожек снизу не ровный (подточил кто-то неаккуратно опуская струны)? Может он в канавке застревает и не совсем равномерно давит на струны? Может наоборот канавка слишком широкая, и порожек перекашивается, что, опять же, приводит к неравномерному давлению. Попробуйте поправить порожек приспустив струны и придерживать его натягивая струны, чтобы он не перекашивался когда струны тянут его за собой. Можно при этом периодически слегка приподнимать струны по одной вблизи порожка. В общем, надо постараться, чтобы порожек стоял без перекосов и равномерно давил вниз.

[@alexz2643]

Спасибо за ответ! Дело в том, что я перепробовал не один десяток порожков, причём доводил их на притирочных плитах высокой точности, до 0,01, но результат всё равно не удовлетворял. Также поменял подставку (заказал новую с завода) и купил новый датчик, но, опять же, никакого удовлетворения. Я говорю о silent guitar Yamaha SLG110N. В конце концов, просто купил новую гитару, лак же Yamaha, но серии SLG200(уже с пьезо датчиком) и все про,лемы с балансом струн исчезли. Я думаю, Yamaha не зря отказалась от датчиков B-band. А на SLG 110N я просто куплю датчик (пьезо) Fishman и закрою вопрос. But anyway, thanx for your reply! All the best!

[@samscreativefarm]

how did they decide to do that to the electronics? crazy!!

[@cansound]

good job!

[@Arek_R.]

If all modules are working why somone ripped these wires?

[@feedback-loop]

I wonder. Most probably, someone didn't really know what he was doing.

[@Arek_R.]

Yep. Waiting for more repair vids. PS In last few days I grabbed 24' LCD monitor where backlight was dead after one second, all caps was ok, but there was burned wire on secondary on inverter transformer, I was able to fix it, but still 1s and no backlight. When I tried to measure voltage delivered to CCFLs backlight was just working, so I added 10pF/1kV capacitor on output of that CCFL and its just working well. It seems that inverter controller was shutting down because it detected that CCFL is damaged or something(but it wasnt).

[@andymouse]

Do you play ?

[@feedback-loop]

A little

[@fusoperso]

Sad to see the real material of what they call mahogany

[@feedback-loop]

What did you find wrong with the wood? At what time in the video?

[@fusoperso]

4:00 it is seen that the side of the guitar is made of poplar. Mahogany has just aesthetics

[@feedback-loop]

Really? How can you tell from seeing this thin edge?

[@fusoperso]

When you have removed the preamplifier, you can see the the wood section and white poplar. Red Mahogany is only a surface layer.

[@feedback-loop]

Oh really? Do you think that the side is composed of two layers?