Manuel Rodriguez - Superior Estadio ES-CC Highgloss

The Superior Estadio ES-CC Highgloss by Manuel Rodriguez belongs to the family of instruments with a dual identity - those that can be played just as well in the silence of a rehearsal room as under the spotlights of a big stage. The Highgloss varnish doesn't decorate the solid spruce top: it reveals it. Under direct light, every grain of the wood becomes legible on the surface, like a topographical map of the inner resonance. This finer finish than matt varnish transmits the micro-vibrations of the top with less surface inertia - a luthier's detail that can be felt in the more immediate, more defined attack of the high carbon strings. The 4/4 cutaway in full-size format preserves the full body volume on a 65 cm scale, without sacrificing acoustics for the benefit of high access.

The dappled eucalyptus on the sides and back creates an open, luminous projection - a species whose dappled shape, the result of alternating growth constraints, generates a transverse rigidity favourable to the response of attacking transients. The flat 7 cm body shortens the acoustic path between the top and the back, making the midrange more coherent and enriching the source signal from the bridge pickup. The Hannabach 815HTC Silver Special strings - strong draw, carbon trebles, made in Germany - push the spruce beyond its linear response threshold, developing a projection that the finer gloss varnish does not retain. The rosewood bridge with 12 drilled holes, the bone saddles and bridge, and the rosewood fingerboard on a mahogany neck form a transmission chain without colouring the partials. The double-action trussrod allows the relief to be adjusted in both directions - essential when faced with the humidity variations that affect mahogany differently depending on the season.

The authentic Spanish heel - shaped externally into a distinct ergonomic profile - dissolves the usual contradiction between the acoustic integrity of the neck-body junction and freedom of access to the treble positions: the right hand navigates unobstructed to the 24th fret, and the junction at the 14th fret pushes the transition zone two positions further than the classic standard. The extra-narrow 44mm neck reduces the amplitude of lateral extensions in the upper position, freeing the left wrist from any rotational compensation. The integrated ergonomic armrest modifies the point of contact between the right forearm and the soundboard - it eliminates the parasitic damping of body vibrations during extended playing, and keeps the natural acoustic projection of solid spruce intact, whether the instrument is played purely acoustically or via the ARTEC SQ-3 preamp at the console output.