Tacoma EK36C

Limited edition, mine is nr 89 of 150. Perfectly flamed koa back and sides, dense cedar top. One-piece mahogany neck. Tortoise binding. No piezo on this one, but some of them have the "E2" system. Gloss finish on the body, satinized on the back of the neck. The finish is flawless. Abalone inlays, nice and discrete. Case included.

Rich, full, lots of mids and highs. Very good sounding guitar, especially if you play it loud - and it is clearly capable of this... Long sustain on high and mid-range notes, slightly shorter in the lower register.

The truss rod was not adjusted. Otherwise the set-up was good. Action is average. Finish is perfect. And the wood is absolutely adorable.

The guitar seems very reliable but, clearly, this is not the guitar for mindless gigging. Personally, I guess will have to find a way to keep it safe from the kids...

Lifetime warranty. Never had anything to do with Tacoma. Robbs Music were excellent to deal with, prompt delivery (to Sweden), no hassle.

I have been playing for 12 years, mostly rock and jazz. I own several electrics, all handbuilt by myself. Since I definitely value nice tonewoods they are all made of premium woods. Consequenyly, I fell in love with the wood on this guitar, I have to admit that this is one of the major reasons I chose it. As a musical instrument it is wonderful and (since the introduction of the Tacoma "Amazon" model) it is actually affordable.

Year 2000 limited edition Tacoma Little Jumbo. Design was achieved with input from fingerstyle wizard, Lawrence Juber, and it is an extremely light guitar. All solid wood construction. The woods used, ancient cedar and koa, have been noted by other reviewers. They are spectacular. Tacoma is in the lumber business and their guitars are consistently made from the highest grade woods. When they make a limited edition guitar they find wood that would look at home on a $4000-$6000 guitar. The cedar used for the sound board is unlike any other cedar I've ever seen or played. It is like stitka spruce in its tightness and uniformity of grain. The koa is superb, bookmatched, flamed and glowing. High gloss finish. The mohongany neck is sweet and smooth. It has some heft but very comfortable to play. Ebony on the fingerboard with beautiful abalone inlays on it. Matching ebony headstock. Venetian cutaway. One endpin on the tail block. Ebony bridge pins with abalone dots. no pickguard. The purfling is a mixture of cherry wood, maple, ebony and walnut. Very neat and unique. Really a stunning guitar. I've had numerous comments on its appearance when I've played out or taken it to the shop my guitar setup guy works out of. Some measurements not noted by other reviewers are: Lower bout - 15.25 inches, Lower bout - 11 inches and waist 9 inches. A very comfortable size and shape to play. No electronics on mine. I rate it highly for the visuals and choice of woods. Otherwise, an accoustic guitar doesn't really have a lot of features.

Wow. Someone commented on the tone of the cedar/koa combination and I agree that it's really beautiful. I'm not a big fan of cedar tops outside of classic guitars, but this cedar has some very unique characteristics that give it more of the sound you'd get from a spruce top that's opened up a lot. Cedar sounds usually has a broken in right away, but it can get a little muddy. This top seems to keep opening up. The koa back and sides make the tone mix work. It ephasizes the mid-range with the cedar gives it some low end. You end up with a really sweet tone. I use very light gauge strings on mine (10s and 11s) and the response on fingerpicked tunes and medium force strumming is amazing. The sound is righ and full. It's a sound I can't get from my spruce/rosewood axes.

As with all Tacomas I've played and bought, the setup, fret work, construction and feel were perfect. Everything perfect.

Subject to the neck issue noted above, everything is very solid. It's an expensive guitar, well constructed but light and responsive so you can't throw it around. It will last forever with good treatment. The finish is tough and will protect it well. No pickguard, so any picking is at your own risk but less likely to do damage than on a satin finish. I can't see doing a gig without a backup, but for casual jamming situations there's no reason to pack a backup.

I had a very good experience with Tacoma's customer support. I had one guitar bought used that ended up needing a neck reset. It took 7 weeks, but that was what they told me it would take. When it came back, it was perfectly done. I can't say they were "incredibly kind and helpful," which is Harmony Central's standard for a 10, but they handled things very well for me.

This is a really unique and special guitar. I know Tacoma has built its reputation on more entry level instruments, but even those are an incredible value with all solid wood construction and a quality control that is legendary (see most of the professional reviews of their products). The only other manufacturer that comes close is Carvin with its electric guitars. In both cases you have American made instruments of the highest caliber yet very affordable. The fact that Tacoma has access to the best wood available for guitar construction, and some very good bench/production people to build these guitars, means that when Tacoma turns its attention to making a really high end guitar like this, with its pedigree woods, style details and quality of construction, the result is a special instrument. I own a Santa Cruz, a Goodall and a Larrivee, which I mention only to say that this guitar measures up to those very excellent guitars in ways that put it in a special class of its own. I suspect there are 149 other folks out there who feel the same way.

I have serial #102 of 150. It was made in 2000 and I was very surprised that a few models are still out there to purchase new.
The EK36C has an ancient cedar top, dating back about 2600 years. The back and sides are solid premium grade Koa. The neck is Mahogany with an Ebony fingerboard. It comes with a deluxe hard shell case. The one problem with the case is that it has a cheap useless lock. But of course if someone were going to steal the guitar, I imagine they would take the case and all. But I wouldn't lower my rating because of the case.

The guitar responds to the lightest touch. It sounds great strumming with a pick also.

The EK36C was set up perfectly. The only thing I had to do was tune it. Visually, the guitar is awesome. The combination of cedar, mahogany and koa are stunning. It is by far the nicest looking acoustic guitar I have ever seen. I wouldn't trade it for a Martin, Taylor or any other guitar. I was pleased beyond my expectations when I received it from First Quality Musical Supplies, in Louisville, Ky.
Their customer service was outstanding.

I have no doubt that this guitar will last as long as it is properly taken care of. A guitar of this quality would make me carefully consider where I would take it. Because I do want to preserve it in it's original condition. But I can't take away anything just because it looks so nice, that I wouldn't want to risk damaging it.

I have only tried to contact Tacoma once through e-mail. I didn't get a response back. Through research I have come to the opinion that Tacoma builds them and once they're out the door, any other inquiries have to be through the dealers.

Made in 2000. I have #13 of 150. 21 Frets. The tops in the EK36C average over 35 rings per inch, have an indescribably clear tap tone, and required no cutting of old growth timber. The tops are paired with premium grade Koa responsibly harvested from trees growing above 5,000 feet. These trees show the best color and most dramatic figure. The purfling is a combination of Ebony, Walnut, Cherry and Maple. The top is bound with Tortoise celluloid. This is a straight acoustic no pickup inside it at all. I would give it a 10 if it had a pickup but that might take away from some of the other ratings

On this guitar I mostly play fingerstyle, but I can grab a pick and rock with it as well. The coolest effect for this guitar is the dead room. It has so much resonance that you miss the overtones in a room with acoutically reflective surfaces. This guitar sounds great at low intimate levels and huge strumming passages. I particularly like it for soft fingerstyle like on Pink Floyd's "Is there anybody out there". When I bought this guitar in November of 2000 I was blown away by the touch and its ability to express what my hands were producing. This has forced me to be a better player.

The shop where I bought the guitar did an excellent job on the setup. After a couple of months of break-in. I took it back for an adjustment which they did at no charge. This guitar was immculate

I would not take this to a live gig. I recently purchased an EM9 for taking it to church. This is too special of an instrument to subject to live playing in my opinion. I imagine it would hold up but I am not going to take that chance

No problems yet

I have been playing for 20 years. I own one other Tacoma EM9, a LArrivee DV04E, Hamer Special, Hamer Artist, Two Peavey Tube amps and a Boogie Rocket 44. I played this guitar several times in the store before buying and the guy at Willcutt's was very helpful. I buy all my gear there when possible unless there is some incredible deal I can't pass up elsewhere. I love how this guitar inspires me. I play acoustic every day now. That was not always the case. If this were stolen I would buy another ("If I could find one") In fact I would like another one anyway.

2000 USA made Cedar top, Koa back and sides, all solid woods. Go see it at http://www.tacomaguitars.com/detailEK36C.asp?mode=model&ModelNumber=EK36C. Mine is #31 of 150. You can call it a collectors item. I collected it because it SOUNDS GREAT. They picked great wood and honored it with very tasteful million piece purfles and tortoise binding- understated with ebony fretboard, black Gotoh tuners. A fine fingerpickers neck- a little fat, 1-3/4 nut feels wider. The guitar is nigh on perfect, can't say the same for the case. The guitar doesn't sit square in the case and the headstock is almost touching one side so if it is dropped it could be damaged- weird. Oh well- i'm not playing the case. Jumbo frets, satin finish on mahogany neck- very slick, I love Tacoma necks. Came with 12-53 elixirs on it like everything does it seems. Fabulous guitar- case brings it down to a 9

I finger pick it, folk, blues, gospel. Great string balance, amazing sustain, tight bass. Koa and Cedar give a great sound- I wish I had the adjectives to describe it- uh, cross between rosewood and mahogany, not maple sounding. Lots of power for a little jumbo size. I an used to dreadnoughts and a J200 Gibson - this guitar will hold its own with them and it's real comfortable to play all night. I had it 3 days and discovered a battery inside, also endpin jack- can't say how it sounds as I don't amplify.

Factory set up was excellent. I am tempted to file the nut slots about .010 more but that's me. The bridge is the right height, the truss rod was loose and the action was medium low. I bet if I made guitars and shipped them all over the country I'd do the same- leave the truss rod loose, count on the shop to make a final adjustment. Great intonation- and I am picky. Slight sharp ends on the frets- ebony always shrinks a little and I am not surprised. The guitar is not dried out, all the ebony fretboards I ever played have fret ends sticking out. Give it 6 months more and I'll have them filed. Taylors do it, Martins do it, I take nothing away from this guitar for it.
A great, tight grained cedar top- Tacoma says it's 2000 years old or something- fabulous Koa figure in the sides and back- a pleasure to gaze at it. I will call it flawless build quality with the exception of a little piece of wood sticking off the end of a brace. Bookmatching, fretwork, binding, etc. all great.

Very well built- will take any kind of playing except in a tornado. It has a gloss UV cured polysomething finish about a foot deep to look at it. I have put some wear on some of my other Tacomas and they have a great finish. 1 strap button/endpin jack, I'm a sitter downer and don't care. I think it's a play all day every day instrument and it won't let you down. Maybe Rainsongs are tougher, I don't think any wood guitars are.

I had a bad piezo pickup on my DR20 Tacoma 3-4 years ago. They took care of it through my local store no problems. The store called them and did the job in a day. Thanks Music Mall and Tacoma. Lifetime, transferrable($50)warranty. It's a bolt on neck. How wrong can things go?

I have been playing since 1964, with a layoff of about 15 years when the kids kept trying to smear peanut butter on everything. I have a Gibson J200, Alvarez Yairi DY100, Schecter PT, and a Reverend Slingshot, have owned Martins, Taylors, several other Tacomas. This is exactly what I wanted- a great smaller guitar. It is so beautiful I will have to worry about it getting stolen. I would buy another if I could get one. Favorite feature is the combination of woods- Koa and Cedar- gives a remarkably nice tone. They only made 150 so get one now...