What do you think of Takamine guitars?

[Mr Peebuddy]

im sure gibson would give toby keith a free guitar to tour with, but he still chooses takamine probably because he feels its the best guitar for his purpose for it.

I don't want to get too political. i'm all for domestic made goods, but the way i see it, between normal goods( normal in this case being guitars made to the roughly the same quality standards in highly developed countries like US, Japan, UK, etc.) its all fair game in terms of a conscientious purchase.

In short, if there is no [significantly, developing country type of]low-wage worker advantage to a specific product, its all fair game; in this case, to buy something american just because its american would be UN-patriotic, as it stands against our economic mantra of a limited free market where the best "man" wins.

Remember the drop in quality of american cars back before they picked things up recently? thats partly the result[other parts would be inappropriate for this forum] a consumer base that relied on "patriotism," ultimately leading to, the death of the Firebird, GTO, and GM needing to be bailed out by the fed, ultimately creating more harm then good for american industry.

thats if you want to be nitpicky. imo, considering the emotional connection of the product, and a country of origin's effect on value, all guitars are in the fray for players to buy without guilt, even chinese ones. Buy american/japanese/irish if you can afford it, but if you can't, or if you just like blueridge, eastman, or etc more, feel no shame as a good guitar made with love is what it is.

[skipperzipper]

I have a Tak EF360S BG, and a TAN 16C plus about 4 or 5 other Taks and I would put my EF360S BG up against any Martin, Taylor or Gibson that I have, plugged or unplugged. Why are people shy about saying good things about Taks and anything negative about Martin, gibson, or taylor's which I feel have to much treble and very little bottom end. I realize Takamine's don't have the history that Martin and Gibson does but, they've been around alot longer. I think what some of the problem is, is that some people haven't played Taks or not the higher end Taks. I'm sorry if I offended anyone that was not my purpose. Thanks Ralph

[Brent Nelson]

I just let go of a Takamine EF340SBG ONLY because of the deep neck profile. But it was every bit as well built as any Taylor or Martin or Gibson or Guild I own or have owned (and I've owned mahogany dreads from all of these), and tonally I preferred it to any of them. GREAT guitars. Now...if only they could make this with a bit faster neck.

I often scratch my head when people pigeon-hole them as "great plug-in sound" guitars and dismiss acoustic value. I've owned both a TAN16COV and the aforementioned Tradesman series. They flat out stack up to any Martin or Taylor in my humble stable, and I prefer them.

Brent Nelson

[cotten]

Love these 5-yr. old threads - they're like old friends you haven't seen for a while!

Takamine makes a very wide spectrum of guitars, from very low to very high (for a factory guitar). Yamaha and some others do the same thing, including Martin and Taylor. Most of the Takamines I'm familiar with would be from the lower end of the spectrum. They're not junk, but not very representative of their higher end, either. The same would go for the lower end Martin/Taylor/etc. lines.

The good news is that we have lots of good options in every price range. Here on the AGF, we celebrate whenever somebody finds one they like, whether we would personally or not.

cotten

[Mr Peebuddy]

Cooltube= my favorite sounding onboard electronics

[bohemian]

basic guitar

[ABowman]

Originally Posted by cotten

Love these 5-yr. old threads - they're like old friends you haven't seen for a while!

cotten

Thanks, Cotten. I need to check the dates on these posts before responding.

[ddog]

I'm currently playing in a guitar duo with a flamenco/ classical guitarist. He's playing a (approx) 10yr old £1000+ Classical Tak and it's one of the most gorgeous sounds I ever heard. The notes...they just last for ever.

With that in mind, I went to buy a new steel string two months ago with a budget of £1000. I spent 3 days contiuous shopping, trying every guitar I could for that price. Must have tried about 15-20 Taks in that price range and all of them sounded kind of "boring" to me. No real depth and none of them had a sound that really leapt out at me. Just...not at all distinctive! Maybe some people want that though.

The general impression I had (I also tried older second-hand ones which were better) was that there had been some kind of quality- drop in recent years -at least at that price range. There were a couple of 'newer' models which really did not play very well at all.

Having said that, the guitar I went for was a 20 yr old Ovation Elite, so many of you will take my comments on tone with a heavy pinch of salt!
For what I play, though, the Ovation is perfectly suited; whereas a Tak at that price would have just been yet another "wait til I get something better" guitar.

That classical one though...phew! It's a beauty. Though it could just be the player

[wgnorman]

Have had a few Taks - currently have two (nylon) - Cool Tube II is really great electronics - always peaks my interest when I see one for sale...

[oddly_calm]

I recently played a Glen Fry signature Taka that was superb in feel / sound and built like a tank.

[GuitarPhan]

Hmmm... Found this old thread when I was looking for info here on the Takamine TF450. Cool tube preamp, solid wood, nice-looking guitar, but apparently not made for a few years now so I'm not finding a lot of other info on them. I've read so many great reviews on the Cooltube preamp, and I have a line on one of these TF450s for sale locally for what appears to be a pretty sweet price. These seem to be toward the upper end of the Takamine line, at least when they were made.... Any owners or players of these, or even thoughts on them?

[salmonella]

If it is a TF450SM my thoughts would go something like this although I have never played one.
Maple should give it some brighter treble while the NEX body style might tend toward the bass side of things. Could be a nice balance, could be unusual.
If you are plugging it in, it should be marvelous. The maple and cool tube should be a good combo for that.
1 11/16 nut width is a bit small for how I play but you may find you really like it. The Takamine necks are shaped a bit different than other necks this width.
Nice quality guitar so if you get a deal on it so much the better.

If you want additional info try takamineforum.com. lots of folks on there and someone may own one already.
Dave

[GuitarPhan]

Good points, Dave; thanks. I too prefer a wider neck but I do play this size as well. Anxious to hear what it sounds like amplified...

[funkmuncha]

I've never played one but I just watched a DVD of dennis locorrier playing one.

[grapenose]

I've had a Takamine for almost 40 years now, it was my first guitar. Still sounds great, durable etc.