Anyone tried a Tacoma brand guitar?

Allen Huang

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Hi, Guild fans. I'm asking a question remotely related to Guild.
I know Guild guitars in Tacoma period have good reputation here. And I just learned the back story involving Fender, Guild, and another guitar making brand, named Tacoma.
This made me curious: Has anyone tried a Tacoma? I read that they have gloss finish peeling issue. Bridge design is new for me. They got plenty of Koa custom guitars. Their mahogany dreads are really cheap as an American made all soild. I am sure there's none in Taiwan except cheaply made Chinese series, so I rely heavily on your opinion :)

Don't tell me Guild guitars are better! I know that already :)
 
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bobouz

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I tried a number of them back when they were being sold new in stores, and they seemed to consistently deliver a good tone.

I believe their finish issues are limited to gloss models, as opposed to those with a satin finish.

As for the bridge, it still uses pins - just a unique & rather unusual shape.
 

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According to guru.jr, the tops tend to collapse due to inadequate bracing. No personal experience with them. They just aren't that common around my area.
 

richardp69

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I've owned 7 or 8 different Tacoma branded models. All of them were exceptional tone wise and the build quality was really good. I did have two models with the finish delamination issue. (one Koa and one Maple, both with gloss finishes) It made the guitar ugly but had zero effect on sound quality.

I've completely gotten out of Tacoma now. I just sold my last one, a DF 21, that was one of the most beautiful Maple guitars I'd ever owned. It was in a cherry burst finsh and did not have the peeling issue.

I now concentrate on Guild and to a lesser degree, Gibson and Martin.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I also played a bunch of Tacomas when they were a new thing. I liked 'em, though I never came across one I had to get. (With my F-20 OTOH it was: "Dude, you're not leaving here without me!") The little Papoose with the offset soundhole appealed as a travel guitar.

-Dave-
 

idealassets

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I own just one right now, but owned perhaps 10 - 12 others including D30, D40, D50, F50, F50r, and F412 models. I bought these and sold or fixed then sold. That was a few years ago when it seems they were more easy to find than now.

I liked them all for quality and appearance, but played 2 that I just did not particularly like those models. I prefer rosewood and the models with all the bling, but that is was unfortunate for my pocket book.
 

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I think the op was talking about Tacoma brand guitars, not Guilds built in Tacoma...
 

chazmo

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The Tacoma-brand dreads were super nice. I would've bought one but couldn't get the price I wanted. Anyway, I tried a few of there other, more "interesting" models and didn't like 'em much.
 

Allen Huang

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Thank you all for your opinions. Too bad that they are out of business now. One more quality option for GAS is always good.
 

ML1B1D

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hey Allen, just thought i'd share my opinion about Tacs. First time i saw their photo adverts were not partcularly appealling. The offset duck bill soundhole, the unusual bridge shape and the headstock. However, reviews were very good. One review which made me very curious was the tone. It said something like "the tone is Martin like sounding" and another one stated "a Martin killer" "bang for the buck" etc...
So i bought myself a DR20-e2 (rosewood b/s gloss with the "flaking" but doesnt affect the tone as richardp69 has mentioned) and I was blown away. A year later, i acquired the JK28-Ce (all koa). Great tone this too! Theyre very hard to find nowadays from this side of the pond.
So if papoose popsup in eBay UK, i will go for the bidding.
Theres my 1p worth.
all that said, im still a Guild slut!
whey hey
 

jmascis

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According to guru.jr, the tops tend to collapse due to inadequate bracing. No personal experience with them. They just aren't that common around my area.

How would one diagnose this? Does the top actually collapse downward where you can see it?
 

tjmangum

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I owned a number of Tacoma guitars over the years and they were all nice guitars. I really enjoyed their deep body parlor style models. Yes, the finish peeling happened on many of a certain vintage, but mine had a minimal of that going on and did not affect the sound. Wish I had kept a few of them. There's a Koa jumbo on the local CL that is quite interesting for a very low price.
 

Allen Huang

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hey Allen, just thought i'd share my opinion about Tacs. First time i saw their photo adverts were not partcularly appealling. The offset duck bill soundhole, the unusual bridge shape and the headstock. However, reviews were very good. One review which made me very curious was the tone. It said something like "the tone is Martin like sounding" and another one stated "a Martin killer" "bang for the buck" etc...
So i bought myself a DR20-e2 (rosewood b/s gloss with the "flaking" but doesnt affect the tone as richardp69 has mentioned) and I was blown away. A year later, i acquired the JK28-Ce (all koa). Great tone this too! Theyre very hard to find nowadays from this side of the pond.
So if papoose popsup in eBay UK, i will go for the bidding.
Theres my 1p worth.
all that said, im still a Guild slut!
whey hey

Hi, Mr. ML1B1D. Thank you for your review
Although Guild is an American brand, I actually find it fits very well for many songs of my fav British bands such as Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd. Some songs are confirmed to be recorded with a Guild, some are confirmed not. But Guild really has that old vibe I love. Several Gibsons I played has that similar charm as well. Martin in the way, is typical American.
So please tell me, Mr. ML1B1D. Is Gibson and Guild more popular than Martin in UK during 70's? I don't have golden ears, but I seldom hear Martin-esque acoustic guitars in 70's British rock songs
 

adorshki

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So please tell me, Mr. ML1B1D. Is Gibson and Guild more popular than Martin in UK during 70's? I don't have golden ears, but I seldom hear Martin-esque acoustic guitars in 70's British rock songs
Apologies for the butt-in, and maybe not from the '70's specifically, but they did have at least one pretty well known endorser:
cb3293f23f76aa467bdcd4b2480f44cd.jpg

Now, for the '70's, this fellow also gets mentioned here occasionally:
77_rmstudio_guild12.jpg

He must really like it, he's kept it around:
06_guild12.jpg

Supertramp's Rodger Hodgson:
Roger+Hodgson+en+Lima.jpg

Oh, and how could I forget, when Jeff Beck joined the Yardbirds and they needed to replace the harpsichord in "For Your Love" on stage, they chose one of Guild's first 12-strings, and used it on "Heart Full of Soul" as well:

So although we hear they're actually pretty scarce in the UK, they must have had some brand recognition among musicians.
But their production levels were very small compared to Martin and Gibson so I have a suspicion those 2 still dominated the market, even among working musicians.
 
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fuman

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I own a Tacoma baritone. It's my second one, and I never should have sold the first one. They are terrific guitars. There are some Tacomas that are merely good relative to the competition and some that I found much better. The low-end "9" series mahogany baritones, Jumbos and small-jumbos were tremendous values. At the other end, their koa guitars were terrific. I never thought the maple guitars were the equivalent of a good Guild, though -- and I played a bunch of them. I'm not a rosewood guy, so no experience there. I did own a koa "Chief" and liked it a lot, but it was a little "different" to keep as my only guitar. Real pretty, all solid wood guitar, though, and it didn't cost me a lot of money. They are hard to find now. Wish I had bought a Papoose when I had the chance. Satin finishes are less prone to the dreaded "rash" and none of my Tacomas had/have any.
 
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