Product: Takamine AN-46
Price Paid: Euros 450 USED
Submitted
03/11/2009
at
11:54am
by
JohnM
Features
:
9
This is an all solid spruce/rosewood NEX non-cutaway guitar with pinless bridge and what looks like bone saddle & nut. Very nice gold with amber pearl tuners and abalone rosette. This is an acoustic only, no electronics. It features scalloped bracing and it has a very nice light gloss finish. It has a mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard.
Sound
:
9
This is the tricky bit. It's a bit quiet, certainly not a good candidate for strumming but for fingerstyle it is sublime. So if you're on the lookout for a loud strumming guitar, stay away from this baby. I must admit in the beginning I thought it a disappointment but it gradually won me over as I explored it fully. The individual notes ring out superbly and the NEX design (which is a kind of mini-jumbo) gives perfect string-to-string balance with no evident boominess. It pitches a bit on the dark side but I like that.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Takamine neck designs are without peer. I've always favored them over other guitars I've played, the C modified neck they use fits me like a glove. A pleasure to play.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
Strong and solid as only a quality instrument can be. Takamine need no lessons from anyone on guitar building. It is slightly on the heavy side compared to my Epiphone Masterbilt DR500R but not excessively so.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never called them.
Overall Rating
:
10
This is the best finger-style guitar I've played, though admittedly I've only played a few. I've only been playing slightly less than 2 years but I have to say that I am not on the lookout for an improvement on this guitar. I'm perfectly happy with it. I only play fingerstyle so all my needs are fulfilled but as I said before if you're looking for a strummer, look elsewhere. I'd love to get the Takamine AN10 cedar/mahogany guitar as a contrast to this one for a brighter sound.
Product: Takamine AN-46
Price Paid: 440 USED
Submitted
02/19/2009
at
12:23pm
by
John
Features
:
9
Features
* Body Shape: NEX non-cutaway.
* Rosette: Trad Concentric Circle Design & Abalone Inlay.
* Top: Solid Spruce.
* Back: Solid Rosewood.
* Sides: Solid Rosewood.
* Fingerboard: Rosewood.
* Binding: Wood.
* Pickguard: Tortoise Shell.
* Tuners: Gold with Amber Pearl.
* Features: Scalloped bracing.
* Finish: Natural Gloss.
Sound
:
9
The NEX non-cutaway which is a kind of a mini jumbo design unique to Takamine gives this guitar a beautiful balanced and surprisingly mellow and rounded tone for a spruce/rosewood combination. The sound is warm and the string balance is superb. Not a loud guitar, or particularly bright, you're not going to cut through any banjos with this guitar. But that's not what it's for, it's real purpose is as a fingerstyle guitar that would be a perfect companion for a singer. Strumming is not it's strong suit, it certainly can't match my Epiphone DR500R for sheer volume and brightness. But as I emphasize again, for fingerstyle it is sublime, like dark luxurious chocolate, it just oozes character and complexity. I love it for that and that's all I use it for. I only really play fingerstyle anyway so for me it's perfect but you'd do a lot better looking elsewhere for a strummer, the Epiphone DR500R would be a great choice.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Takamine necks have cornered the market in playability for my money. This is my second tak and like the last one, it feels like the neck has been tailored to my exact specifications. I don't know how they do that but it's why I keep coming back to them. The action is low all along the fretboard without any buzzing I can detect.
Fit and finish are flawless even though I got mine second-hand on ebay.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
Seems solid to me, I only play at home as I'm only in my second year playing so it doesn't get taken out any where. Finish is light gloss which suits the spruce top, I like it. I have it only for 6 months now.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with them.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've only been playing a little over a year so I really can't compare this guitar to top end Martins or Gibsons because I've never played them. But it compares favourably to my Epiphone Masterbilt DR500R which is also a fine instrument but I prefer the Tak, it plays better and I like the sound more even though it can't match the volume of the Epiphone. The Epiphone would be great in a band but the tak is much nicer as a fingerstyle guitar, which is what it's purpose is really. It may be the NEX design but it has a completely different sound to the dreadnought Epiphone.
Interesting footnote, No mention of this make/model on Takamine official website and hard to come by these days.
Pity, it's a fine instrument.
