Product: Terada 1268
Price Paid: $300 (Australian) used
Submitted
10/05/2003
at
09:19am
by
Mark
Email: mmclean<at>med dot usyd dot edu dot au
Features
:
7
Japanese made, probably 1970s. This is a drednought in the style of a Martin D-41, with the same shape headstock, Terada name inlaid in the same way as Martin does in the D-40 series. Terada made a lot of Martin and Gibson copies and some were very faithful replicas with expensive tonewoods, but this one is made with laminated timbers. 3 piece back. Neck looks like mahogany and the fingerboard probably rosewood. All timber is gloss and stained in a dark rosewood colour. It has very nice green abalone inlays around the binding, soundhole, and block inlay fret markers. I bought it used, but in surprisingly good condition for its age. It came with a good hardshell and an old across-the-soundhole pickup, but I doubt either of them were original. I score it as 7 because it obviously wasn't built as a fancy model. But for a lower-to-mid price model it is a very nice guitar
Sound
:
7
I play blues & fingerstyle and wanted a decent second guitar for alternate tunings and for my kids to play on. This guitar is great for my needs. It has a good balanced tone with particularly sweet mids and highs, but also good bass response - even down to dropped D and C notes.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
Although it wasn't a high-end model this is a really well built and finished guitar. It has obviously been played a lot in its lifetime (moderate fret wear) but the neck is perfectly straight, in tune all over the fingerboard, good tuners, and the top and bridge have no warping/bulging. It feels indestructable, but not heavy as a tank. The action is fantastic, it is very easy to play. A previous owner had filed the nut down and caused some bad buzzing on the 4th string (at the 1st fret) but I patched it up with some epoxy resin and now it is fine. The finish has stood up well. Someone has done some DIY work with the home drill to install the pickup and some strap buttons. I have replaced these with new ones that hide the scars well!
Reliability/Durability
:
10
It is 25, maybe 30 years old and solid as a rock. Most other cheap-medium price guitars start to fall apart at half that age. My kids give it a bit of a hard time but it doesn't seem to suffer.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Terada have been out of business for a couple of decades. If you want to find a bit of information about Terada guitars have a look at this site: www.xs4all.nl/~rosevdh/t/terada.htm
Thanks to Rose for creating it!
Overall Rating
:
8
I have been playing for 28 years and have owned or played lots of acoustic instruments. My other current guitar is a Taylor so I know what a good acoustic feels and sounds like. Most cheap instruments drive me crazy within 5 minutes of picking them up but this Terada is a delight to play. I like looking around second-hand shops for good old instruments that have fallen on hard times. Mostly you see rubbish but I could tell this one was a gem, and cheap. I had never heard of Terada before but if I come across another one I will grab it
