Terada TW-10

Terada made a lot of factory-built copies of Martin and Gibson acoustic guitars, which were good quality mass-produced instruments from Japan. They also made a limited range of hand-built replicas of high-end instruments using solid tone-woods and very high build quality. This is one of those instruments; a copy of a Martin D-18, probably built in the 1970s. Solid mahogany back and sides, solid sitka spruce top, 14 fret dreadnought. It has a rosewood bridge with compensated drop-in saddle, rosewood fretboard, mahogany neck and closed chrome Schaller-style tuners with Terada logo. The neck width (1 11/16" at the nut), scale length (25.4") and neck profile are the same as a D-18. The decoration is Martin 18-style, i.e. very plain, and the finish is natural and gloss. However, it has nice tortoise shell bindings and pickguard like pre-60's Martins, not the cheaper-looking black plastic of the more recent Martin models. The Terada logo is inlaid on the headstock in MOP and position markers are simple MOP dots (2 dots at the 7th fret as in many D-18s). So, it has all of the features that you need in a good dreadnought (hand-made, solid wood, good construction) and none of the fancy trimmings that are immaterial to the sound (like fancy inlays). I score it an 8 for its spartan design, but that is how I like it.

This is the great feature of this guitar. I like mahogany dreadnoughts. Sure, rosewood looks prettier but I think mahogany gets the sound balance right most of the time while rosewood can make the booming bass of a dreadnought a problem. This guitar has a bright sound with great balance and presence, impressive sustain and perfect intonation. I found it in a pawnshop and even with old strings it sounded good. Cleaned up at home with new strings it was great. A few weeks after getting it I compared it with a new Martin D-18 (costing 8-times as much). It is probably unfair to compare a new solid timber guitar with another whose woods have had 30 years to mature, but I can say on sound criteria alone I would not swap the Terada for the "real thing".

I bought it well and truly used, in a broken case, from a pawnshop. There is evidence of a previous neck reset (looks like touched-up finish around the neck joint), and the frets have such little wear for its age that I suspect they have been replaced at some time. But any work that has been done is really good quality and the set-up now is excellent. The neck is straight and the neck angle is perfect. The action is very low, even with plenty of saddle left (it might be a replacement too). The top is very straight and there is no problem with bellying or detachment of the bridge. The tuners have a bit of corrosion but work perfectly. The finish is extremely good with few dings for its age and no finish checking. My other Terada is like this too. They seem to have come up with a gloss varnish for these things that has all the qualities of cast iron and teflon, and looks great. Overall, the construction seems brilliant.

This is my second Terada. The other is a laminated dreadnought model 1268. Both are of a similar age, came cheap from pawnshops, and seem to have survived a long and probably hard life remarkably well. Both will keep going for many years. This solid wood model probably sounds better than ever.

Terada have not been in business since the late 70s or early 80s. Find a good repair guy if you need work done.

You can't buy a new Terada anymore. There are quite a few second-hand ones going around and being sold cheaply. It may be hard to know what you are getting because mostly the model numbers don't give any clue as to the features. However, it seem that the models starting with TW are the premium solid tone-wood ones, with the highest numbers being the fanciest designs. The FW (folk) models have solid tops and were very well made. If you see these models for sale you could be getting a bargain. I am very pleased with this TW-10. I have a handmade solid wood guitar which has matured for 30 years and now sounds and feels great. When I bought it, it was in great playable condition and I got it for a few hundred bucks! I've got to give that a score of 10 for great value. I'm not too worried that it doesn't have CF Martin's name written on the headstock. This one will definitely be a keeper. If you are looking for more information on Terada guitars go to Rose's Terada site at http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosevdh/t/terada.htm.