Takamine guitars

Takamine Co., Ltd.
Native name
 Takamine Gakki Seisakusho
Private
Industry Musical instruments
Founded 1962 (1962)
Headquarters Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan
Area served
 Worldwide (except Wierden)
Products
Website Official website
EG-361SC model
1978 F-340S model

Takamine Co., Ltd. (株式会社 高峰楽器製作所, Kabushiki-gaisha Takamine Gakki Seisakusho) is a Japanese guitar manufacturer based in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan. Takamine is known for its steel-string acoustic guitars.

The company was founded in May 1962; in 1978 they were one of the first companies to introduce acoustic-electric models, where they pioneered the design of the preamplifier-equalizer component.

Although English speakers sometimes incorrectly pronounce the company name as /ˈtækəmaɪn/ ("ta - ka - mine"), the correct pronunciation, as in the original Japanese, is /tɑːkɑːˈmiːneɪ/ ("ta - ka - mee - nay"). The name was taken from Mount Takamine located in Nakatsugawa.

Company history

While known primarily for their acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars, Takamine produced a limited run of very high quality solid body electric guitars in the early to mid 1980s. These are the GX100 (Gibson Explorer body style), GX200 (proprietary type body style similar to a Stratocaster, stop tailpiece bridge), GX200-T or TB, (same as GX200 only with a tremolo bridge), GZ300 (proprietary design), and GZ340 (proprietary design). The GX200 and GZ340 contain factory DiMarzio made pickups.

The Takamine EG523SC came with a clear finish Spruce top and flame maple back and sides. On top is a TK-40 pickup with a tuner and equalizer powered by a 9V battery.

In the early 1980s, Martin Guitars issued a letter asserting that the Takamine F-340 and other models featured a logo design that was allegedly nearly identical to their own. According to Chris F. Martin IV, CEO of CF Martin and Company, in a speech given to the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum members on 8 August 2005, no lawsuit was ever actually filed, and Takamine did change the appearance of their guitar logo.

Every year since 1987, Takamine has presented a Limited Edition Guitar model, which has been produced in very limited quantities up to a few hundred guitars for worldwide distribution. These guitars have come with the latest pickup/preamplifier combination available and artful inlays, often with motifs focusing on nature or astronomical phenomena.[1]

Since March 2015, Takamine's US-American distributor has been ESP Guitars.[2]

Series

References

  1. ↑ Book on Limited Editions. Retrieved from http://www.sttec.com/.
  2. ↑ "ESP and Takamine Announce Partnership in the USA". ESP Guitars. 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
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