Takamine EF350MC Acoustic
I originally bought this guitar as a knock-around beach guitar, but ended up getting much more use out of it than I ever expected. I really wanted a Guild acoustic. I had an old mahogany bodied student sized Guild that I loved, that got completely ruined in a drive out west. Shortly later I fell in love with a Guild that a friend from Denver had – a wonderful big bodied guitar with an arched maple back…that guitar projected, but had a great balance and was beautiful too. Anyway…
I went to 48th Street in New York City to check out guitars, and while there I found two Guilds that I loved. Again, one was an arched maple-back guitar with a cutaway and electronics, and the other was almost identical, but was an all mahogany body. I liked the classy look of the maple guitar, but I liked the mellowed sound of the mahogany. Unfortuntely, they were both way more than I wanted to spend (story of my life), and neither was a “knock-around” guitar. They commanded respect and needed to be treated well, not dragged around on the beach. Soooo…hello Takamine!
While on 48th Steet I took the opportunity to try out lots of guitars (including a few wonderful Les Pauls). In the end the Takamine I picked out spoke to me the best of the acoustics that I could afford. As usual, I knew very little other than what I’d read about acoustic guitars. I went by my hands and by my ears. It turned out what I liked was a laminated top guitar with a maple sides and back and maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. I still love playing that guitar. I’m not afraid to hurt it, but it still looks great. It’s held up very well considering the abuse it has taken.
The great thing is that I had expected to use it around the house mostly, but after not playing in a band for a while I hooked up with a co-worker who also sang and played guitar. After a short while of doing Jimmy Buffet and Eagles tunes we decided to give the Coffee House circuit a go, and ended up playing twice or three times weekly for nearly three years! Just by dumb luck my guitar ended up being the perfect compliment to my partner’s guitar. He had a Solid top Takamine with solid rosewood back and sides. Really a much smoother and better balanced guitar. His primarily rythm sound filled in perfectly against the fills that I did on this guitar. The maple provided a brighter sound with more cut and the two guitars worked very well together.
The Tak is still the only real flat top acoustic I own, and I use it often.