Looks Like Takamine Bounced Back from the Fender sale of Kaman Music Group.

Being a fan of 70's Takamine guitars and still owning a few I always check out what they have to offer. The big Fender Sell Off that included selling Guild to Cordoba also resulted in Fender selling off other "Divisions" as well. One of the companies that was part of this was the Liquidation of Takamine through the sale of Kaman Music Group. The best of the Takamine Guitars always were handcrafted in Japan and in the later years of Fender's ownership they had gone away from this concentrating on flooding the market with Lower model lines built in Indonesia and other facilities. It looks like whoever is calling the shots at Takamine now are calling them the right way. I just saw this Brand New 2016 model EF360TT model that is back to being made in Japan of all solid woods. Not only that but this model now has what Takamine is calling a "Thermal Spruce Top" which is basically their version of a torrefied top. So what would you figure an All solid wood made in Japan Torrefied spruce and Rosewood dread with a 1.77" nut, Ebony board and factory preamp equipped electronics run brand new? $1549.99 or best offer! Talk about bang for your buck! Looks like Takamine is going back to what made them so popular in the first place back in the 70's. Awesome built guitars with Fine Materials and Craftsmanship at half the cost of their American made counterparts. If I can find one of these to play I will definitely be checking them out. They also make a EF340TT which is the Mahogany version as well. Here is the Ebay link to the EF360TT. Check out the coloring and grain on that solid "Thermal Spruce" top!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Takamine-EF...636924?hash=item2a5f6d7b3c:g:LgUAAOSwa-dWlXlk

I've found the earlier Taks to be pretty nice, too. It's nice to know that for some companies there's life after Fender.

I was quite happy with my Tak GJ72CE - gorgeous 12-string, teardrop burst, abalone rosette - till I got my Guild, of course. The Tak's not as well balanced, weak on the low notes, still....

A pic of the Tak....

Go Tak!

I've got a friend who was at Taylor for a long time, now at Takamine in Burbank, and he keeps posting photos of some amazing guitars. There were some fine instruments on display in the NAMM booth, as well. Back when I was working the retail sales floors, many years ago, Takamine was definitely one of the better "bang for the buck" acoustic brands. It's good to see them bouncing back.

dapmdave said:

It's nice to know that for some companies there's life after Fender.

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Exactly, Dave! It does my heart good. Can't wait to see some of the new stuff somewhere that I can put my hands on it..... :encouragement:

I like the "lawsuit" series and had one as a kid, my first real acoustic. it was like a Guild G37. I believe these models started with F? like F330, F340, etc, but my memory is foggy. solid spruce tops on most of them, laminate b/s. i would love to snag another one sometime.

Looks nice TX, but I sure wish it din't have "Takamine" plastered all over the pickguard. I suppose a pickguard swap would be relatively easy to do on a new guitar, though.

I'm with you, Sandy. That's just kinda tacky. I don't like "Hank Williams" or "Takamine" or flowers or inlay or engraving or any such nonsense. Just a nice, plain pickguard. The End. They did eliminate the "Takamine" on the headstock but that's where the name needs to be. Not anywhere else other than inside.

davismanLV said:

I'm with you, Sandy. That's just kinda tacky. I don't like "Hank Williams" or "Takamine" or flowers or inlay or engraving or any such nonsense. Just a nice, plain pickguard. The End. They did eliminate the "Takamine" on the headstock but that's where the name needs to be. Not anywhere else other than inside.

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Tak-y?

davismanLV said:

I'm with you, Sandy. That's just kinda tacky. I don't like "Hank Williams" or "Takamine" or flowers or inlay or engraving or any such nonsense. Just a nice, plain pickguard. The End. They did eliminate the "Takamine" on the headstock but that's where the name needs to be. Not anywhere else other than inside.

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Agreed Tom. While it's not as ugly as a Gibson Hummingbird, Dove, or J200 (and they have those dreadful looking bridges as well), it just doesn't look right to me. And I agree about the Hank Williams Jr. thing too.

txbumper57 said:

So what would you figure an All solid wood made in Japan Torrefied spruce and Rosewood dread with a 1.77" nut, Ebony board and factory preamp equipped electronics run brand new?

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Poly finish or Nitro?

I would love to try one of these out. The prevous models in this series (SBG) had many favourable reviews a few years ago.

twocorgis said:

Looks nice TX, but I sure wish it din't have "Takamine" plastered all over the pickguard. I suppose a pickguard swap would be relatively easy to do on a new guitar, though.

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I hope it's not actually printed on the pickguard. I had assumed that the name was plastered all over the protective plastic sheet, to be removed by the owner.

Kaman bounced back as well...big booth at NAMM...added a bunch of new lines to their distributorship.

dapmdave said:

I hope it's not actually printed on the pickguard. I had assumed that the name was plastered all over the protective plastic sheet, to be removed by the owner.

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That sounds like what's really going on, like when Fender put US flags on their plastic covers.

twocorgis said:

Looks nice TX, but I sure wish it din't have "Takamine" plastered all over the pickguard. I suppose a pickguard swap would be relatively easy to do on a new guitar, though.

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Sometimes you guys just crack me up! LOL. If you will look at the Fourth photo in the ad the "Takamine" is not on the pickguard, That is just on the protective plastic the put over the pickguard! LOL. It peels right off. One other thing I really dig is the simple "T" headstock logo, looks better than the whole name down the front. Their website only states "Gloss Natural" for the finish so I guess you would have to contact a dealer to know for sure. They do have several other guitars both body shape and tone woods in the "TT" series listed on their site.

txbumper57 said:

Sometimes you guys just crack me up! LOL. If you will look at the Fourth photo in the ad the "Takamine" is not on the pickguard, That is just on the protective plastic the put over the pickguard! LOL. It peels right off. One other thing I really dig is the simple "T" headstock logo, looks better than the whole name down the front. Their website only states "Gloss Natural" for the finish so I guess you would have to contact a dealer to know for sure. They do have several other guitars both body shape and tone woods in the "TT" series listed on their site.

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Never occurred to me that it might be the plastic on the pickguard, TX. That's a lot easier than swapping it!

They really should have picked a better English name for the pickup.

"Takamine’s critically acclaimed ‘Palathetic Pickup’"

That is darned close to Pathetic.

Westerly Wood said:

I like the "lawsuit" series and had one as a kid, my first real acoustic. it was like a Guild G37. I believe these models started with F? like F330, F340, etc, but my memory is foggy. solid spruce tops on most of them, laminate b/s. i would love to snag another one sometime.

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Yup, The designation for them was F for the acoustics and EF for the Acoustic Electrics. Solid Spruce tops were designated with a "S" after the model number. Most of their wood was bought from Martin before Martin realized they were building basically copies of their guitars, right down to the style of Headstock label. LOL, Back and sides were laminated. If yours was Maple like a G37 it was a F350s. Solid spruce top and Laminated Maple back and sides. I still have 2 of the "Lawsuit" era guitars. One is a F375S which is a solid spruce top 3 piece Jacaranda back and sides copy of a Martin D35 and the other is a F362S which was a rosewood copy of Doc Watson's Gallagher. Both Great guitars an they still sound great. I think these new ones should be pretty nice. As soon as I find one locally I will definitely check it out.