Takamine
uch of Takamine’s focus this year
has centred on the company’s
budget models, many of which
are now being sourced from China
rather than Korea. However, the
brand’s core business – in prestige
terms if not quantity – continues to be
its Japanese-made instruments, now
being produced in a recently opened
state-of-the-art factory (see p121). All
three of our review electros are not
only examples of this new facility’s
workmanship but are debuts to boot.
EF340SCO
Strictly speaking it’s slightly inaccurate
to describe this cutaway dreadnought
as new, since the EF340SC has been
a popular model for some years.
However, this one is a limited-run
incarnation, the added ‘O’ suffi x
signifying ovangkol back and sides
instead of the regular version’s
mahogany. Just under 100 pieces are
scheduled for the UK.
Ovangkol, an African tonewood, is
a popular substitute for rosewood.
Though invariably stripier in its
graining, it can often resemble
rosewood in colour (as it does here),
and it attracts tonal comparison too,
although some luthiers consider it
contributes a more mahogany-like
sound. (That’s a movable feast in itself,
as mahogany backed acoustics can
sound vastly different from one
another.) The EF340SCO’s back and
sides are laminated, which in one sense
is a downgrade from the SC since that
features a solid back. Still, the timber is
visually well chosen, and the
laminations are genuine ovangkol,
rather than some anonymous wood
being used for the inner plies. The
guitar’s solid spruce top is a little ‘dirty’
in some of its complexion, but it’s close
grained with a reassuring smattering of
cross-silking.
Cosmetic shortcomings were rare
from Takamine’s old factory, and the
presentation here is nigh on faultless
M
114 DECEMBER 2006
Takamine EF340SCO,
EF444S-TBS & EF508KC
£749, £799 & £899
TAKAMINE EF340SCO, EF444S-TBS & EF508KC £749, £799 & £899
ELECTRO-ACOUSTICS
Break the catalogue codes and discover a
limited-edition dreadnought and two tasty
mini-jumbos from Japan’s electro-master
by Jim Chapman
PHOTOGRAPHY JESSE WILD
GIT284.rev_takamine 114 7/11/06 13:48:40