Kremona Fiesta CW-7 Cutaway Electric Guitar

I bought my Kremona 7 string through Amazon almost two years ago. I remain delighted with the guitar. It is absolutely my go-to, all-day, every-day axe. I know almost nothing about “Russian Gypsy guitar” but I bought this for Brazilian music and jazz and it does those beautifully.
Before I tell you the millions of good things about it I will say that the acoustic tone it produces, while very balanced and consistent, is remarkably dry. Dig in as I will, it simply will not “bark” under any circumstances. It has no overdrive, no snap, no chuck whatsoever. It is the mellowest-voiced guitar I have ever owned by far. Two years of play have opened it up slightly, but it remains really dry voiced. Imagine the voice of a flamenco guitar. Now imagine its exact opposite: there you have the Kremona.
But is this a bad thing? I would consider this first and foremost an electric, stage performing guitar. So let’s plug it in here… ah! Plugged in through my Fishman Loudbox amp, this axe sounds lovely, angelic, perfect. Amazing. Loud too! It has absolutely NO dead spots, zero. That dry balance must make it perfect for plugging in! The delivery of each note is spot-on perfectly consistent. Strangely, the only “live spot” I can find is the second string, 19th fret F#. For some reason this one note rings about 30 percent louder than the rest of the guitar’s range. The rest is as consistent as a Stratocaster. Which is perfect for plugged in play. I will say this is the ideal nylon string guitar for stage use. In fact I have not yet had to drag out the soundhole cover, even when playing with a drummer.
The Fishman Prefix ProBlend onboard electronics are delightful, easy to use, and offer three very effective ways to quickly dial out feedback. For all the guitar’s lack of acoustic “bark” it is possible to dial in plenty of growl plugged in. All you want.
In short, the plugged in tone is so good that I give the guitar five stars, considering it was meant to be first and foremost an electric guitar. If it were strictly acoustic I would have to take off a full star. Again, that’s not to say the acoustic tone is in any way objectionable, just somewhat uninspiring.
On the negative side still, I’ll also point out that there is some unfinished sanding inside the string routs on the head, and some of the interior fittings are, shall we say, rough and ready. Competent and effective and clean, but hardly great joinery.
On to the good stuff: The neck is perfectly balanced. I use a strap, with a pin on the underside of the heel, bluegrass style, and there is no “dive” at all, despite the extra mass of the head. The ebony fingerboard is flawless and the fretwork is nearly perfect – I did have to dress a couple of fret ends on the thumb side, near the heel, but otherwise they were – and are – perfect. The classy black tuning machines appear cheap but perform to perfection. Tuning is easy and predictable, with no catches, grabs or even a hint of lash. The guitar stays in tune for weeks at a time through several hours a day of playing. Flawless!
The rather plain bridge is well-made and includes plenty of saddle height for lowering the action if – like me – you are a non classical player and enjoy not beating yourself to death, In other words, plenty of room for you to get your ideal set up.
The rosette is absolutely lovely. I was not sure about it, looking at the pics online, but trust me, it is gorgeous, It appears to be a true wood mosaic, the multi-colored pieces that make up the herringbone give it a look unlike any other guitar without being silly. Bulgaria is a hell of along way from New Mexico, but the rosette always make me think of Southwest colors and flavors.
The unique head shape, elegant, unpretentious, functional and distinctive, works well with the rosette and black hardware, announcing its unique and modern features without seeming pretentious, gaudy or silly. This is a very classy instrument that looks good on stage. It makes a statement. Nothing about this guitar looks cheap or flimsy. The binding and trim strips are of wood and are flawless. The finish is excellent and I can find no orange peel or cloudiness other than the afore-mentioned rough spot in the string routs.
The rosewood back and sides are particularly lovely. The western red cedar top is rather plain but entirely flawless and tight grained. Personally, I think I’d like the tone better if it were spruce, but cedar is what you usually get with rosewood, right?
This was my first 7 string – I wanted one after hours of watching Yamandu Costa videos online. It takes some getting used to but it sure does open up the neck for the solo player who likes to keep plenty of bass going. I play in standard tuning with a low B. If you wanted, as many jazz players do, to grop the 7th string to A you would definitely need a heavier string. This guitar also really benefits from the new composite 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings. The plain nylon strings supplied only add to the dryness I mentioned, but it handles the hard tension composite strings well.
The guitar developed a slight belly (I mean VERY slight, almost unnoticed) soon after I got it. That belly has remained completely stable for two years, so I don’t worry about it. As I say, it stays in tune remarkably well, so it must be pretty dang stable, right?
This guitar has a very traditional build in every respect. Seven fan braces, wide flat fingerboard, there’s nothing here a classical player would object to, other than the big flat heel, which is a concession to the cutaway. The neck joint appears to be classical, with a Spanish foot, but I don’t know. It could be a heel disguised as a foot. Hard to say.
Sadly the guitar only carries a three year warranty. However, when you stop to consider that very few manufacturers honor their warranty anyway, it scarcely matters. It’s a good guitar.
Hard to learn anything about Kremona. The tag says “since 1924.” Wikipedia has virtually no information, A visit to the Kremona website indicates a business mainly in violins and viol instruments. Perhaps this company has pounded out billions of student instruments for Soviet-block musicians and is a household name east of Berlin. But clearly the guitar was built by experienced professionals using good materials and excellent electronics. I am very glad I bought it and will probably keep it and play it daily for the rest of my life.
The rugged arch-topped case is exceptionally well made and the fit for this 7-string neck is absolutely perfect. The handle is very comfortable and it is easy to carry.
I don’t know if Cordoba has a competitive 7-string. As of two years ago they definitely did not. There are other 7string classicals out there, but unless you live in a big city and want to shop in the $3000 to $4000 range, the Kremona is it.
This is not my first mail-order guitar but it is the best experience I have ever had. Amazon offers very considerate 30 days to approve the instrument. A minor concern I had was quickly and courteously addressed, entirely to my satisfaction. You cannot go wrong buying from Amazon. They will take care of you.
Given the above mentioned dryness of unplugged tone, and given the unfinished sanding in the string routs, I might have given the guitar 4 ½ stars if Amazon allowed that, but I cannot give it 4 stars. That woul be an 80 and this axe deserved far, far, far better grade. On a scale of 100, and considering its price, I’d give it about a 94. What more can I say? If you have 7-string fantasies or wanna take your bossanova and samba playing to the next level, if you think Doug deVries is the best player on You Tube, you’ll love this guitar and you’ll always be glad you bought it. Good luck!

I’m a classical guitarist and have been pining for a 7-string classical guitar for years. The problem is, short of ordering a custom luthier made instrument for the cost of a dental implant and nice car, 7-string classical guitars are a rarity in the United States. Thus, my mouth watered at the sight of the Kremona Fiesta CW-7 as it entered US waters.

The Fiesta CW-7 is billed as a Russian classical guitar modeled after Romany guitars. With that said, it’s basically a standard classical guitar with an extra string. And that’s a good thing for me!

CONSTRUCTION: Finish is smooth and glossy with no defects or polishing burns on binding. Interior bracing is sanded smooth and glue joints are clean. The book matched rosewood back and sides exhibit straight and consistent stripes of light and dark colors. My fingers were treated to a silky smooth ebony fingerboard. And the rosewood binding and heel cap are attractive and refreshing to behold since many guitars use plastic. The cedar soundboard is not the tightest grain I’ve seen but is excellent in terms of sound. Build grade: A

Kremona fretwork is excellent and puts to shame my more expensive Spanish guitars. Strings are set exactly 5/32 above the 12th fret on the 7th string and 3/32 for the 1st string. There’s slight neck relief at the 7th fret: I fretted the 1st and 14th frets and observed an almost invisible amount of relief at the 7th fret. So perfect “textbook” setup and exactly the way I like it. Setup: A

The 650 mm scale neck feels comfortable under the fingers of my left hand. Nut width is 55 mm, narrow for a 7-string neck. Most 7-string instruments are 60mm or more to match 6-string nut spacing. I wish it was wider but I adjusted to the spacing after a few weeks of practice. I also play ukulele, electric guitar and bass so I know differing fingerboard spacing ceases to be an issue once my brain rewires.

SOUND: The CW-7 has a round sweet tone as one would expect from a cedar and rosewood combo. Volume, dynamic response and clarity are very good. Vibrato response is excellent, as is the balance between bass and treble. I don’t have to struggle to bring out a salient voice or remember to hold back on a wolf tone. Timbre and volume are pleasingly even up and down the neck, but like most guitars, exhibits a little volume drop-off above the 14th fret. This even response makes it an excellent instrument for multi-track recording. I can track without compression and not worry about stray notes cutting out or popping out.

For my playing style, I found the 7th string sounds best with thumb flesh strokes rather than nail, i.e., emphasizes the fundamental tone. Thus, it renders a fat bass guitar like tone when tuned to low C or B. With that said, the 7th string blends well and sounds great within harmony. Sound quality earns an A.

PICKUP: The Fishman Prefix PRO Blend pickup system is a dual output design with under saddle piezo and internal mic. Either one of the two signals from the Prefix PRO Blend may be isolated or blended to taste. I play through Trace Acoustic Cube and Genz Benz Shenandoah amps and struggled to find a blend mix that didn’t result in feedback. The notch filter helped but ate the tone. I had to mainly stick to piezo mode. And, luckily, piezo mode sounds very good and can be cranked if needed. The Prefix pickup system earns a B.

CASE: The case is a snug fitting black hardshell case with vinyl alligator skin, ample interior padding and silky smooth latches. It’s great for laying around the house but too heavy to carry. Luckily, the CW-7 fits in a standard classical size gig bag. Nice case but impractical for transport: B.

All in all I’m happy with the CW-7: easy to play, beautiful tone, excellent fit and finish and good looking. And, yes, I love using the 7th string. Wish all my guitars had another string. I can finally play 19th century Russian and European 7-string classical music and, of course, my own transcriptions and stylings.

Finally, this is my second CW-7. Sadly, the first one was broken by UPS and Amazon overnighted a replacement pronto. So great SC!

Worth instrument, minor variation in terms of tuning between free strings and 12th house, very soft arm with the right thickness.
I would easily recommend it to a friend.