Rare Takamine Guitar and Bass combo from the 1980s

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Poor Takamine ( circa 1985 ).

After a long run of acoustic guitar success in the 1970s and early 1980s they found themselves losing a lot of ground once the mid 80s were in full bloom and hair bands ruled the land.

They had to do something.

I'm not defending Takamine for coming up with these Takamine Guitars and Basses , in fact there is a lot to like about them.
Even though it's not something that I'd usually appreciate, I find I'm a fan of the black with red combo ( See my most recent boot purchase ). I also do not totally hate the body shape on these. They're much more subtle than this Takamine, obviously from the same era.

The seller is looking for trades and I'm sure this would be a great addition to the right collection.

R.W. Haller


© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Takamine EA-360 electro-acoustic guitar, a.k.a. the Takamine Flying A

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I've written before on this blog about the curiosity that is the Takamine Flying A. It's basically an acoustic Flying V that looks af if it has been over-inflated with an air-pump. Of course you can get more V-like acoustic Flying Vs these days from Dean Guitars, but these Takamines remain rare and sought after in certain circles.

So, it's interesting to see one come up for sale on eBay this week with a Buy It Now price of US $2,350 (with a starting bid of US $1,799).

It's also interesting to note that the eBay listing uses the very same photo montage that I personally Photoshopped together from a previous eBay listing from four years ago and blogged about here when another of these guitars was offered for sale. I wonder if it is actually the very same guitar again, or just another very similar example? It's a shame I hadn't made a note of the asking price back then in 2011, just for sake of comparison for those of us who are interested in such things.

G L Wilson

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Takamine GB-7C Garth Brooks Signature Guitar.

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Here we have a signature Takamine for Garth Brooks. I'm not a Garth fan but there is no denying the stranglehold he had on the genre for a majority of the 90s. And, honestly with all the insipid "bro-country" dominating the charts lately something like Garth would be a breath of semi-fresh air.

I am, however, a fan of Takamine. This is a great example of one of their mid-high range acoustics of the 1990s. The pinless bridge is likely as good as that on any high quality guitar, the cedar top is a great choice for strumming and fingerpicking, and I believe these also had the Takamine Palathetic pickup. They are monster pickups and a big part of how Takamine survived as a company in the early years.

All that said, I hate this guitar.

Yes, I hate it. And for only one reason.

That sound hole.

That bloody goofy guitar shaped sound hole.

It looks like an idea that a child had in art class, or worse yet, it looks like a logo. I'm sure somebody thought it was clever.

They were wrong.

Am I alone in this hatred?

Currently listed at $1200 Canadian.

R.W. Haller








© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Takamine F365s Guild Jumbo Copy.

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I've long been a fan of the earlier Takamines and have played and done repair work on a few of them over the years. All of them have been Martin copies.

One of the great things about looking for guitars for this site is that I am already finding a lot of guitars that I never knew existed. Takamine copied Guild as well?  I swear i had no idea.

This well loved Takamine F365s is from 1976, sports a spruce top, rosewood back and sides, and may very well be calling my name. At $600 it's tempting.

I love Takamines, Guilds, and Jumbo guitars. It's a trifecta of guitar nirvana.

R.W. Haller




© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Takamine EA 360 Electro-Acoustic Flying A

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I mentioned this one in passing the other day here on Guitarz, so thought it was about time we had a blog post dedicated to it.

Takamine Co., Ltd., the Japanese guitar manufacturer based in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan, were forerunners circa 1978 in the introduction of electro acoustic guitars and were pioneers of the design of the preamp-equalizer in these guitars.

They were known for producing high quality copies of Martin guitars, but in the early 1980s they produced a far less conservative looking instrument, the above-pictured, Takamine EA 360, a.k.a. Flying A. Initially it was marketed as the "acoustic Flying V" but allegedly Gibson took exception to this description and so such references were dropped. Also, a V standing on its end - and with a soundhole - does resemble a big fat capital letter A, so the guitar intead became nicknamed the Flying A.

Construction is solid spruce top with rosewood back and sides. The scale length is 25 3/8" on a mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard with 14 frets clear of the body and 20 frets in total. The guitar is equipped with a pre-amp and a 4-band EQ.

There were 800 of these guitars built in the erly 1980s. The example pictured is from 1983. They were available in natural, metallic red and metallic blue finishes. Early examples had a Dean-like V-shaped headstock. My guess is that this was changed because of Gibson's objections to the V terminology.

Other makers have produced acoustic Flying Vs, most notably Germany's Dommenget guitars and more recently Dean; whilst their guitars are closer in shape to the Gibson Flying V template, it's my understanding that Takamine were the first to take this classic electric guitar design and apply it to an acoustic model.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

mid-1980s Takamine GE-400 KT

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They don't do guitars like this anymore...

There is very little information on the Interweb about Takamine (the renowned and pioneering acoustic guitars Japanese brand - and you have to pronounce this name Japanese style) solid body guitars built in the first half of the 1980s - and none about the hysterical version of the Explorer that you can see here, the Takamine GE-400 KT.

But its design is eloquent enough, words are superfluous there, aren't they?

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!