A few weeks ago, the night before we left on a two and a half week cross country motorcycle ride, my riding buddy and I were talking about my guitar learning so far; he said he used to play. He then pulled a Yamaha acoustic out of his closet, that he said he hadn’t touched in five years, and made my jaw hit the floor…he was an awesome player (and singer)! We both noodled around with it for a bit, but it got the gears turning in my head; the GAS pressure started to slowly build. When we returned from our trip, more and more acoustic videos started showing up in my YouTube feed…
Today marks my one year anniversary with learning guitar and, on a lark, I drove down to one of my local guitar stores to see what they had. I had an eye out for an Alvarez, but was open to seeing and hearing what felt good to me. The guys at the local shop are great; always friendly and extra helpful with pretty much anything. I walked in and told them that I really had no idea what type of acoustic I wanted, but wanted to explore the options. The owner then sat me down and brought me guitars he thought I may like…a Takamine, a used Guild, a couple Tetons, a few Alvarez models, a Breedlove, and some others. I tried out various sizes, from parlor to dreadnought, going back and forth. What surprised me most was that I was comfortable enough to just play and not worry about a thing…new for me, lol. There was a bass player trying out an Ibanez at the back of the store; some of the guitars resonated with the dude’s playing…nice.
After about an hour or so of playing these various guitars, there was one that I kept coming back to. It sounded warm and responsive, it made me want to play on it more - the Takamine GD30CE. It followed me home today, after they put on a new set of 12-54 Martin strings…
I can’t say much about the electronics yet as I’ve not even done that satisfying protective sheet pull-off yet, but I have tested out the tuner and it works fine. I got a nice hard case for it as well. I just love the way this instrument sounds! I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time with this girl; hopefully, she’ll get along fine with the electric family members.
Happy NGD and congrats on your new Tak. I hope you made a good choice, well I know you did as I have the same model in gloss black. And as Stitch says the on board pre-amp is a nice piece of kit. Certainly better than my Fender T-Bucket Fishman ! Not change the OE strings yet but this model has a lovely tone.
Yea, I’ll be playing around with the electronics tonight to see what they sound like. I guess the string changing is just something the store does for guitars that were out on display; no complaints here. It did give me a chance to see how string changes are done when pegs are involved…something new for me.
Just spent about an hour jamming with the Tak, without electronics, and I gotta say, I was getting a bit verklempt, as Mike Myers would say on SNL; it sounds absolutely amazing. I just played along with a number of my favorites in the app and I suspect my neighbors were enjoying a concert because the Tak is really loud on its own, lol. I need to work on pick-less strumming now.
Looks very cool Scott and hey, even has a gain knob on it wow. Mine has a volume only so that’s a first I see gain on electroacoustic one. Happy NGD!
So far, I’m loving it; my PRS is getting jealous. I’ve settled in on using the side of my thumb for quiet strumming, later in the evening, and it still sounds quite good. The real fun is taking a pick and letting loose, it just sounds so good to my ears.
The electronics sound really nice, but I’ve mostly been playing unplugged.
I like Takamine’s as well. I still play the black cutaway model I bought back in the late 1990s. Mine has elctronics in the same location, and it looks like its the same size as yours. I wonder if I can get mine updated to have the newer electronics you have
I cant speak to the electronics, but I know Takamine was a major inovator in that area. Taks have a beautiful sound and carry the notes. I own two. A 78 F400s twelve
string and a 78 F360s six. I love both. Takamine is a great axe. Enjoy. You’ll never be sorry you bought it.
This guitar has been serving me well and shares the acoustic stable with a PRS Tonare T40ETS that I picked up last December (didn’t post an NGD on that, I think). Both the acoustics have been getting far more daily playtime than my Custom 24. While the Tak sounds awesome, I will say that this Tak’s tuners are complete crap and will get changed out at some point; they’re notchy and imprecise. I guess my sense for these types of things is growing with my guitar knowledge, lol. Anyway, the Tak has, in the past week, developed a noise that I’ve yet to track down, a metallic sound that seems to parallel the 3 high strings (G,B,E). I’ve looked closely at the guitar, trying to figure out where it’s coming from, but that’s been fruitless so far (frets all seems fine). It’s due for a string change, so maybe that has something to do with it?
Beautiful new Takamine you have! I find they have wonderfully warm tone & playability is pretty good too! I play mine through a Fender Acoustic 100 amp and they seem to like each other a lot! Enjoy your new baby!
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