Tosin Abasi built the nylon-string guitar he couldn't find anywhere else
The Abasi Stage 7, made with Cordoba, is a seven-string, fanned-fret electric nylon guitar designed to survive a stage next to a loud drummer.
Aug 3, 2026 · 1 min read
Guitar Radar Editorial · Reviewed by Peter Luha · Published Aug 27, 2026
Credit: Rachel Billings / Guitar.com
Tosin Abasi spent years fighting feedback and playability problems whenever he tried to bring an acoustic-electric nylon-string guitar into an Animals as Leaders set, sharing a stage with a loud drummer and a second electric guitarist. The Cordoba Abasi Stage 7, built with Cordoba, is his answer: a seven-string nylon electric with 24 fanned frets across a multi-scale fingerboard, a chambered mahogany body based on Abasi Concepts' Larada shape, and a lower-bout cutaway for a seated classical playing position. It's tuned B to E, and its Cordoba/Fishman Stage Pickup System is built to skip the usual piezo "quack" and work as a genuinely stage-ready instrument rather than a mic'd-up classical guitar with a pickup bolted on.
"If there's a gap in the guitar space, this is a strong reason to create something there," Abasi said of the project, describing it as built for "the electric player who wants to get into nylon-string" rather than for classical purists. It's priced at $1,499 and available for pre-order in Ziricote, Acacia, and Whiteburst finishes.
Why it matters
Nylon-string guitars mostly stay in their own lane — classical repertoire, bossa nova, unplugged sets. Abasi building one specifically to survive a progressive-metal stage is a genuine attempt to drag the instrument somewhere it doesn't usually go.
Sources
From Guitar News to Guitar Progress
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