is a Japanese

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

manufacturer based in

Nakatsugawa, Gifu Magome-juku on the Nakasendō is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 78,930, and a population density of 120 persons per km2 in 30,788 households The total area of the city was . Geography Nakatsugawa is in ...

, Japan. Takamine is known for its steel-string acoustic guitars. The company was founded in 1959, being renamed as "Takamine Gakki Ltd." in 1962. In 1978 they were one of the first companies to introduce

acoustic-electric A semi-acoustic guitar, hollow-body electric, or thinline is a type of electric guitar that was first created in the 1930s. It has a sound box and at least one electric pickup. The semi-acoustic guitar is different to an acoustic-electric guita ...

models, where they pioneered the design of the preamplifier-equalizer component. The name comes from Mount Takamine located in Nakatsugawa.

History

While primarily known for acoustic and

acoustic-electric guitar An acoustic-electric guitar is an acoustic guitar fitted with a microphone or a magnetic or piezoelectric pickup. They are used in a variety of music genres where the sound of an acoustic guitar is desired but more volume is required, especiall ...

s, Takamine produced a limited run of high quality

solid body thumb , Sound sample of solid-body electric guitar. A solid-body musical instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electromagnetic pickup system to directly detect th ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

s 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 C.F. Martin & Company (often referred to as Martin) is an American guitar manufacturer established in 1833, by Christian Frederick Martin. It is highly respected for its acoustic guitars and is a leading manufacturer of flat top guitars. The ...

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 produced a Limited Edition Guitar model, limited to a few hundred guitars for worldwide distribution. These guitars have come with the company's latest pickup-preamplifier combination and decorative inlays, often with motifs based on nature or astronomical phenomena. Takamine also manufactured flamenco guitar models in the 1980s and 1990s: FG-136S and FGD-136S. The latter had a built in pickup and EQ. The FGD-136S model was famous as it was used by the french

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa, and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in southern France, who perform mostly in Catalan but also mix in Spanish with southern French dialects. Although the group members were born in France, th ...

flamenco group. Both guitars are identical in construction featuring fine grained cedar top and cypress back and sides. Takamine manufactured its highest quality and most expensive guitars at its Sakashita factory in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Since March 2015, Takamine's US-American distributor has been

ESP Guitars is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments under severa ...

Series

* Classical & Hirade * G Series * Legacy Series * Bass * Thermal Top * Pro Series 17 * Signature Series * Limited Series * JJ Signature Series

References

External links

* {{authority control Companies based in Gifu Prefecture Manufacturing companies established in 1959 Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Japan Guitar manufacturing companies Japanese brands Japanese companies established in 1959‎

History

Series

References

Further reading

External links