takamine ean10c: anyone got one or any opinions?

Jetfire · May 2018

My friend is selling on and hes offering it up for 500 with a hardcase. Any they good considering they were a £1000 new?

ICBM · May 2018

A workhorse semi-pro/pro guitar in its day - very common from the late 80s until the early 2000s, the niche that lower-end Taylors fill now. Quite dated-sounding now, even if you liked them at the time - that definitive 80s-90s piezo electro-acoustic sound...

They're also prone to damage and wear because of the thin-finished cedar top and lack of pickguard. But unlike many other electro-acoustics, the electrics are reliable and if they do fail and aren't repairable, Takamine have made a point of not changing the size of the mountings, so they're replaceable with a newer version.

£500 is probably about right for one in excellent condition with case, although the original cases are junk and fall apart.

Jetfire · May 2018

Ill be honest, I never though of an acoustic sounding dated....

So the electrics make it sound dated if thats youre saying?

ICBM · May 2018

Jetfire said:

Ill be honest, I never though of an acoustic sounding dated....

So the electrics make it sound dated if thats youre saying?

Yes, the guitar itself is a perfectly standard cedar-topped, ply back & sides dreadnought. They do have through-the-bridge stringing rather than a pin bridge, which gives a slightly different sound, but some people prefer that.

Funkfingers · May 2018

ICBM said:

Quite dated ... 80s-90s piezo electro-acoustic sound.

Jetfire said:

I never though of an acoustic sounding dated.

Dated in the same sense that the sounds of the Yamaha DX-7 and KORG M-1 synthesizers were colossally overused then, suddenly, fell into disuse because they were no longer flavour of the month.

The slightly fake, over-bright guitar piezo sound sat nicely in a mix with slightly fake, over-bright keyboards and sampled percussion.

ICBM said:

the electrics are reliable and, if they do fail, aren't repairable, Takamine have made a point of not changing the size of the mountings, so they're replaceable with a newer version.

How difficult would it be to extract the Takamine electronics and under-saddle transducer with a view towards replacing them with something like a K&K Pure Mini or an L.R. Baggs Dual Source system? (Obviously, a new bridge saddle would also be required.)

ICBM · May 2018

Funkfingers said:

How difficult would it be to extract the Takamine electronics and under-saddle transducer with a view towards replacing them with something like a K&K Pure Mini or an L.R. Baggs Dual Source system? (Obviously, a new bridge saddle would also be required.)

Other than finding some way of using or covering the huge square hole in the upper bout, not that difficult - although from memory the Takamine bridge slot is much deeper than normal so you may need to fill the bottom of it first as well.

Personally, I wouldn't - a Takamine is what it is, a good (albeit 'of its time') electro-acoustic, not really that great an acoustic guitar. If you want to improve the amplified sound it's probably better to run it through something like a Fishman Aura.

TimmyO · May 2018

I nearly bought one locally a bit back and missed out - kicked myself.

I really like Cedar acoustics - just a lovely eveness that makes them lovely controlled strummers imho

If you wanted to add a K&K Mini you could leave the saddle well alone and just disconnect the piezo and use the jack for the K&K

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takamine ean10c: anyone got one or any opinions?

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