Tacoma DR8C

The best features about this guitar are the 1.75" fast slim neck that is perfect for fingerstyle playing. It's a plain looking guitar with a huge expanse of spruce and the offset paisley soundhole. The frets are easily reached with the single cutaway. I bought mine secondhand on eBay and it's just terrific.

So it doesn't have a lot of features but the ones that it has are superb and extremely useful to a more advanced player.

Ah, that sound. This Tacoma has a HUGE dynamic range, I think because there is just a football field-sized unbroken area of spruce at the top and the big timbre of rosewood from the back and sides. That offset soundhole lets this Tacoma really get loud without breaking up a complex, rich tone. Maybe there's a teeny bit of sacrifice in the highest "shimmer" overtones, but if you want an Ani-DiFranco style alternate tuning monster, this guitar will definitely do it (especially with medium gauge Exp's or Elixers).

Even second hand, it's perfect. No flaws. I like the action a little higher than Tacoma sets it up but that's me. If you want to pick micro-nits, the clear pickguard picks up a little dirt around its edge that you can barely see. Does it matter? Not a bit.

It's reliable, tuners are solid, I would and do depend on it.

I haven't tried to see if Tacoma is still answering questions, since they were purchased (by Fender, I believe), but when they were their own company they were very responsive.

I've been playing for 35 years. . .I own three other Tacoma's: a baritone, the Papoose and a PKK 40. Some other guitars as well, but the Tacoma's are my favorites. Tacoma was an innovative and under-appreciated guitar company in its day. It's bad for guitarists that they got folded under a mega-company, but it's good for anyone who has gotten over "Martin-itis" and is looking for 'that sound." Thank you, Tacoma.

-1999 handmade in Tacoma, WA
-22 frets
-solid sitka spuce top, solid rosewood neck, back, and sides
-fishman prefix plus pickup
-bare satin finish
-gotoh tuners

execellent features, tuners, etc...pickup has 3band eq, phaze switch for a hollow or bassier rythem tone, and brilliance contour for extra "shimmer"

-play alt, emo, classic rock, hard strumming stuff...excellent projection, loud as hell! midrange is a little less but big full bottom end and glassy highs, great for recording and live.
-with the guitar amped, you can make it sound country, jazzy, bluesy, rough and harsh, punk, or almost exactly like its not plugged in at all
-if you put d'adarrio strings on it, it will sound lively and bright like a engergetic live club sound...with elixers it mellows out the peaks and is just beautiful for recording.

-action is the closest to a good electric gibson iv'e ever seen, period. VERY easy to play.
can be a little buzzy with heavy strumming, but its worth it for the action. Makes a beginner play like a pro.

-its been with me for 2 years of being dropped off stage, using beer caps for pics, 100 degree weather in cars for uncounted hours, frisbees, no sign of cracking, warping, glue seperation, just a few scratches and battle scars. Most reliable acoustic i've ever owned.

never had to deal with tacoma, never had a problem

The BEST guitar under $2500 i've ever used.

American made cutaway dreadnought with paisley offset soundhole and Tacoma E4 (Fishman) electronics. Equiped with Elixer strings .012's. I believe Tacoma has begun to use D'Addarios. Sitka spruce top and mahogany back (solid) and sides (laminated). Bolt-on neck. Pinless bridge, 22-fret neck with 15th fret neck-body joint, 1-3/4" nut width, 25.5" scale. No bindings. Clear pickguard. Very distinct appearance.

Very beautiful tone. I play mostly fingerstyle but also play most other styles. I have been impressed with this guitar since I first yanked it off the wall at my local music store. I recently purchased a Zoom 504II acoustic effects pedal and I run that to a Fender Acoustisonic 30 for home practice and this does wonders with the tone, all ranges of sounds can easily be achieved. Very nice. I highly recommend the Zoom, for a cheap price ($60) you can't beat it.

The guitar was setup well already. Have not done any adjustments. Action was fairly low just about where I like it. Very comfortable to play. No noticeable exterior flaws or defects.

I have not gigged with this instrument yet but I would not hesitate. It wouldn't be too smart not to have a backup at a gig. I have only had this guitar for 3 months and I take great care of all my equipment so I think it will stay in one piece for many years to come. Seems pretty solid to me.

Limited Lifetime Plus Warranty. Have not had to use it. Thats a good thing.

I have tried out Martins, Taylors, Takamines, and many other brands and for the price I am sold on the Tacoma Roadking. Being the 3rd leading US guitar maker it holds it's own against the more popular brands. I have been playing for about 19 years and finally found a gem.

I wanna know how these other people get their brand new guitars for so cheap! I shop all around and can't find those kind of deals. I must suck as a negotiator. Anyway...

USA 2001 with E7 active electronics package (B-Band transducer, Core 99 preamp)
Cutaway dreadnought body. Solid Sitka Spruce top, Solid Rosewood back and sides, assymetrical paisly soundhole mounted opposite cutaway, mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard. Satin finish all around. Rosewood peghead with inlaid ivoroid logo. Plastic tortoiseshell binding around top edge.
Assymetrical bridge plate.
22 frets
Nice super fast thin neck and medium frets. 25.5" scale
Gotoh tuners.

Brown tolex case with deep purple velour interior with a raised top to prevent the case from pressing on the guitar top.

Very spartan design. Clean lines and very little detail (rosette etc.) But I like it that way, focused on sound not extranneous looks. I prefer spartan design anyway. Might have been nice to have a little detail around the soundhole.

This guitar sounds way bigger than its price would suggest. While its not a Martin D-28, its not trying to be. More of a players guitar than a studio guitar. Great for small coffee shop settings. Bright with plenty of phat midrange. Hate those guitars that sound too bassy makes them sound like mud. Great sound projection. I wasn't sure how it would do with the strange soundhole configuration but it's actually a little louder than my old Washburn D12n which is a fairly loud (although inexpensive) guitar itself. I love the sustain on this thing!

Plugged in it has a nice attack and sustain and the B-band pickup sounds really balanced and true to the actual way the guitar sounds unplugged. I don't like to screw much with EQ. I want the guitar to sound the same plugged and unplugged. This seemed to do it well except for having more emphasis on the highs when plugged in.

I play mostly blues but a lot of acoustic alternative tunes as well. Only complaint is that you get fret buzz with moderate/hard attacks if you don't hit that fret right on. That's great for really down and dirty blues but may be annoying if you're trying to play clean but loud. I had the action brought down 2mm which may contribute to the problem though.

It does sound a little tight but it is solid wood not ply so it should open up in time. But based on how it sounds now I have to give it an 8. But I'm betting as it ages that sound may creep up to a 9 or 10 which is why I bought it.

The finish work looks great for the most part. There is a slight (1mm or so) notch where the neck meets the body along the cutout side that could have been sanded down a bit to be perfectly even. But the fit all around is tight. A few traces of glue residue here and there and a little tiny bit of sawdust got caught under the clear pickgaurd which is annoying but hardly noticable and easily fixed.

The wood selected for this particular guitar is simply beautiful. The rosewood has very defined, large grain and the mahogany neck matches the tone exactly as well as the rosewood fretboard. At first glance it looks like its all the same piece of wood. The satin finish perfect, accentuating the beauty of the wood. The spruce top has a nice tight, light colored uniform grain and the soundhole is smooth and burr free.

The action was a tad bit high for my liking but I was easily able to adjust down to my taste although it did bring out the aforementioned buzz more when you play really hard. I may mess with the truss rod adjustment and see if it fixes the problem.

This was the best looking guitar out of the entire Tacoma selection they had except for the koa wood one they had (I forget what model)

Guitar is well made all around. USA hand made craftsmanship! Whoohoo! It is a light guitar but I think fairly durable but not the hardiest. This could be because of how light it feels. The hardware is solid. I've already been playing it in live situations and its been fine. The satin finish is a little more susceptible to scratches since its not a hard laquer/varnish but so far I've been able to to keep it mint. After extended use from rubbing and wear I suspect I'll want to refinish it or touch up the finish at least.

This survey asks if I would use it on a gig without a backup. What idiot would EVER go to a gig without a backup?!! Murphey's law you know. That being said, its my favorite guitar to play and I haven't had to use any other since I got it.

NA

I've been playing since 1980 or so. I've played in college bands, Church bands, and just gigged with other musicians. I have a couple acoustics (Washburn d12n and an old Gretsch) and electric guitars (Washburn Steve Steven custom, Gibson Les Paul Classic, and a bashed up Fender Jag) and a huge drumset. Only have a Crate TD50C stereo amp right now while I look for a new acoustic amp. :)

I would definitely buy this guitar again. It's beautiful and the sound is just stellar. The only thing I would have liked to see is a little more detail work to give it that extra appeal. For the price (even mine) it is a fantastic sounding guitar. You would be hard pressed to find a similar quality of sound a craftsmanship for the same money.

This guitar is slickly made and well thought out. Has a SOLID Sitka Spruce top, with SOLID Rosewood back and sides. Has the Tacoma assymetrical soundhole, located in the non traditional, upper right side of the soundboard (opposite the cutaway). Fully bound body with three layer binding looks sharp.

The neck is one-piece mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard. The guitar has a bolt-on neck that utilizes a two allen bolt system after the neck slides into a groove. A very tight fitting and truss-rod adjustable system. Cut-away design, but better than most since the cut is flush with the side of the neck, allowing access to all the frets.

Has a rosewood bridge with slots for the string ends. Leaves those annoying end pins in the dust. Bravo! Bridge is assymetrical thin, (think pal muting supreme). Tuners are GOTOH's! really nice, Tacoma put their name on them as most guitar makers will do. (never understood this myself).

Pickup system is a Fishman Prefix Plus. The strap button on the back doubles as the jack plug. On the top side panel is a control box. It has multiple controls for EQ< volume, and tone shaping. A really cool pre-amp with active 9 Volt battery on board. Really easy to use. Read more on the pickup below.

Came with a really solid hard case in brown tolex, and nice velour interior.

This thing works really well for any style of acoustic music, and even some electric jazz!! I use it for a funky jam band style of acoustic and some traditional sounding flat picking/bluegrassy stuff. I was a bit put back by the weird sound hole shape/location, but this guitar sound great, and projects well. It sounds better than my 71 Guild, my friends $2300 Taylor, and basically all my other friends' acoustics. In fact several are sold on Tacomas now.

The guitar has excellent dynamics as well, soft or loud it projects clear and rings richly. AWESOME!

Plugged in/pick up. The pickup is one of the best out there. A real good sounding system. My only complaint is the controls. They are not idiot proof, and are not logical. A normal EQ from low to high would of been better than controls labeled, bass, treble, notch, brilliance, contour, and etc. Took me a day of fooling to find several favorite sounds. But sounds awesome. Has a phase switch too for feedback elimination. Battery swapping is a breeze and takes like 10 seconds with no tools.

Great satin, thin finish. Looks like it will last relatively good. (Satin finishes are not that tough comparatively). Flawless finish. Had two blems. On either side of the neck, from the metal hooks at the pawn shop. When will people get a clue? But other than that this guitar was MINT!

Action a little high for my liking as bought, adjusted truss rod just a little, and now awesome. This does not mean action was bad. I just like a really low, (almost flamenco), action for lead lines on acoustics.

One Complaint... the clear lexan pickguard is a little cheesy, I would of like a tortoiseshell, black one, or none at all. But it doesn't look bad, just not great. I might try and have it removed, after asking Tacoma about this.

Quality construction, body is fully bound, toughens corners. Prevents dents in wood. Pickguard is large and will protect well.

I think this guitar will last. It is not called the ROADKING for nothing. tough thick solid wood construction. I think the neck will be really good too. Since the neck is bolt on this allows a full length truss rod, inlike most acoustic necks, (but not all).

I emailed them and got answers in 15 minutes!! That is awesome. I got a spec sheet emailed, the current MSRP, and info on the pickups. Sweet.. Has a transferable lifetime warranty, (for $49.99). But I don't plan to do this unless problems occur.

Played music for 19 years, guitar for 5. I own a rickenbacker electric, a guild acoustic (beat up and still rockin), a Fender Japanese Telecaster (better than american, no really!), a tech 21 amp (sweet), a peavey amp (crap), and a plethora of stomp boxes.

I would buy this again. Was kind of an impulse buy, but one I do not regret. It will be in my stable for a long time.

I purchased this guitar in July '99. All Tacoma guitars are hand made in Tacoma Washington USA. The guitar has a bolt-on satin finished mahogany neck with 22 fret rosewood fretboard. Because the neck bolts to the body, the truss rod can run the entire length of the neck which offers greater strength. This design allows the neck to be thinner than the typical acoustic neck. The bolt-on design also allows for greater accessiblity to the upper frets. The body is a single cutaway dreadnaught with solid sitka spruce top, solid rose back with laminated rosewood sides. The top features a simple tortise shell binding and offset paisley sound hole. The solid rosewood bridge is shaped to accentuate the tone of the guitar and features a pinless design which makes changing strings alot easier. I ordered mine with the Tacoma Tone Bar Active (Piezo) pickup. (The Tone Bar does have a tone control which can be changed if the unit is removed from the body of the guitar.) I believe the guitar is fitted with Gotoh tuners and has medium sized frets.

I really like the way this guitar sounds. It has a full rich tone (better sounding than the mahogany version of this guitar.) Because of the offset sound hole design the sound board requires less internal bracing, this creates a more dynamic sound board which is capable of greater volume than your average guitar. You can play it hard or soft and it will stay right with you. This guitar does not compress! In my opinion there isn't a guitar in it's price range that sounds or plays as well. The Tacoma Tone Bar sounds good through my amp or P.A. I changed the stock Elixir Strings to John Pearse 610 ML's which I think sound and feel much better.

The fit and finish of this guitar is quite good. The whole guitar has a satin finish. The neck is fantastic. Again, the rosewood version has a better finish on the neck than the mahogany DM8C.

The guitar appears to be very well built and seems like it should wear well.

I don't anticipate any problems. The guitar comes with a transferable lifetime warranty.

I've been playing guitar for over 10 years (but don't consider myself an expert or great player.) I also own a G&L ASAT Classic (another great guitar) and a Soldano Astroverb 16 2 x 12 amp (a great amp) and various effects pedals. The more I play this guitar the more I love it. I would replace it in a second if it were stolen. My only problem with this guitar is the hard case which has developed several bubbles in the top vinyl. Other than that I think this is the best guitar on the market for the money. I have played and continue to play numerous guitars of all types and price ranges. I am always pleased when I come home to my Tacoma DR8C.