Suzuki WK-65 Takeharu

I have a Takeharu WK-65 BK made by Kiso Suzuki Violin Co.,LTD.
I have a model# 10620, don't know what year or anything else about it. Bought it for $ 100 bucks from a friend. Laminated top, dreadnought body, has a bubbled out pickguard with a picture of a bird on it and some roses.

I has no pickup, I have only been playing a few years so don't really prefer a style to another, will play anything. The guitar has a really loud sound, clean, action is very easy, perfect for finger picking, goes out of tune after a few hours playing

Tuning peg is broken, but the guitar was drug around like a piece of junk until I got my hands on it.

I don't play any gigs, just for myself, but this guitar is truly a beauty

I would like to find some info about the guitar, I don't know what year was made, If anybody knows anything contact me

Great

OK even after 31 years

Good

Even afer 34 years wow its great

I am just another guitar fan. Not too much interested but plays blues and old classics by fingers.

I had checked this guitar at a Junk shop in Sharjah UAE. I presume it had come from a Japanese container. At first I liked the look and sounded fairly good. Purchased it for a mere 10 pounds.

At the time of the purchase(2003) it didnt know it was made in 1973!!

On noticing manufactuing date some time later i thought it will play for a few months ... but till now 2007 its going strong. No wonder Japanese products are prized.

I bought this guitar in the early 70's. I saw it in a pawn shop in
Birmingham (UK) and tried it briefly. Sounded prety good, so I offered the guy a trade of a useless 12 string guitar I had, plus #10. He accepted. In retrospect, I got a really good deal! This is a
6 string acoustic dreadnought with a black finish ( Model number is actually WK-65BK , I assume the BK is for BlacK finish ). MADE IN JAPAN. It has the brand name Takeharu Guitar on the headstock but the green label inside says TAKEHARU GUITAR made by Kiso Suzuki Voilin Co Ltd. Because of the Black finish, it is difficult to be sure of the woods but Takeharu did not make many acoustics and I think the woods were the same on most of their models. Spruce top and mahogany sides & back. Rosewood fretboard with nice twin angled blocks of MOP inlaid as markers. Chromed enclosed tuners. Unusual adjustable saddle - the saddle is held within a chrome U section channel with adjustment screws each end . Although adjustment of the action is very easy, I would have thought that the lack of direct contact between the saddle and the bridge/soundboard was detrimental to the acoustic tone & projection. But it sounds good anyway !

I really only bought it because it sounded much better than I expected when I first picked it. 99% of cheap guitars in pawn shops sound really terrible! I am a finger picking player - play ragtime, blues and folk. When I played this one in the pawn shop it was loud and had a good ringing tone and sustain. It seemed to have potential.
There was also plenty of low end. Typical dreadnought. The strings were no good but a new set of lite phosphor bronze strings really made a big difference. It sounds lovely now - very full, excellent on the mids and lows, but still a little too tinny on the highs when you pick hard. I probably need to find some top strings that have a slightly warmer/softer sound. The mids and lows are amazingly good for such a cheap guitar.

The adjustable saddle and the nut width of 1 11/16 inches mean that the action / playability are excellent. This is a guitar that you can play for hours. Very very comfortable action. I've had it
now for over 30 years and its still so easy to play compared to
most other guitars I've owned or played . You tend to pick it up to
play even when you're tired. Its actually very relaxing to play it!

Its lasted well over the last 30 years. The main fault in recent years is that it has a tendancy to go out of tune after a few days.

Never had to contact the company. I believe Kiso Suzuki stopped making
guitars in the late 70's. I think they underpriced and underpromoted
their instruments - in my opinion their Takeharu guitars were considerably better than many of the cheap Korean made dreadnoughts.
Takeharu's are almost as good as Takamines.

I have been playing for 35 years. I have six guitars including this one. I probably play this one more than any of the others mainly because it is so comfortable to play and sounds nice even though it was by far the cheapest ! My most expensive guitar is a Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass signature model which is also very nice to play
but the Epiphone is generally a much more classy and solid instrument.