beandip
Frito's Better Half
Everyone has a favorite guitar out of their arsenal. That one that you know you can always go to for comfort, for friendship, and for **** good fun. Maybe it has a good story behind it, maybe not. Perhaps a gift, or something from MF, or maybe you spent years searching. Who knows. Lets see and hear about it.
Mine is a 1976 Takamine F-360S. If you don't know your Takamine history, they started with 3 luthiers in Japan in 1963, building hand made nylon string guitars in the classical style (but not completely classical, little changes here and there). They were then contacted by Martin to produce the Sigma line, in which they were given all the tools, plans, and platforms necessary to do such. From there, the story splits. Either Martin had a falling out with the head of Takamine, or they found someone cheaper/better to produce the new import line. Takamine, while having all these plans, woods, and tools to produce Martin style guitars, produced headstock decals similar to Martin's, and put these guitars out. In the late 80's, Kaman purchased Takamine, in which they then pushed for them to become their own brand, and several innovations came of it.
I "purchased" this guitar a few months ago from the lead singer of my band. We went to a Houston area swap meet, where someone had this guitar for 45 bones. I didn't have any cash, so we struck a deal that I would trade a song I'd written for the guitar. Since then, it's replaced all my acoustics, including some that are much better, or more highly regarded. It was well played when I got it, and someone had dropped the guitar and caused a neck shift which split the top at the neck support block underneath. It was filled with a tinted silicone based glue (E-6000, Goop, something similar), all that got cleaned out, and I'm just waiting to get my hands on a smashed guitar from the same era to put a splint in. They put a huge bat wing pickguard on the guitar, in order to cover up the crack which was removed when I got the guitar.
The only modifications I've done have been vintage USA Grover tuners to replace the economy box tuners that resemble Grovers, bone nut and saddle, and a Martin/Fishman under saddle pickup that I run through a simple outboard preamp. When I play, I want my guitar to sound good, but most folks can't tell the difference between an SJ200 or a 314ce when plugged in...That, and I want them concentrating more on my voice, overall performance, and lyrics.
Anyway, on to the good stuff.
Oh yeah, I've also worn away a nice little patch of finish right underneath the strings, where a pickguard would be.
Mine is a 1976 Takamine F-360S. If you don't know your Takamine history, they started with 3 luthiers in Japan in 1963, building hand made nylon string guitars in the classical style (but not completely classical, little changes here and there). They were then contacted by Martin to produce the Sigma line, in which they were given all the tools, plans, and platforms necessary to do such. From there, the story splits. Either Martin had a falling out with the head of Takamine, or they found someone cheaper/better to produce the new import line. Takamine, while having all these plans, woods, and tools to produce Martin style guitars, produced headstock decals similar to Martin's, and put these guitars out. In the late 80's, Kaman purchased Takamine, in which they then pushed for them to become their own brand, and several innovations came of it.
I "purchased" this guitar a few months ago from the lead singer of my band. We went to a Houston area swap meet, where someone had this guitar for 45 bones. I didn't have any cash, so we struck a deal that I would trade a song I'd written for the guitar. Since then, it's replaced all my acoustics, including some that are much better, or more highly regarded. It was well played when I got it, and someone had dropped the guitar and caused a neck shift which split the top at the neck support block underneath. It was filled with a tinted silicone based glue (E-6000, Goop, something similar), all that got cleaned out, and I'm just waiting to get my hands on a smashed guitar from the same era to put a splint in. They put a huge bat wing pickguard on the guitar, in order to cover up the crack which was removed when I got the guitar.
The only modifications I've done have been vintage USA Grover tuners to replace the economy box tuners that resemble Grovers, bone nut and saddle, and a Martin/Fishman under saddle pickup that I run through a simple outboard preamp. When I play, I want my guitar to sound good, but most folks can't tell the difference between an SJ200 or a 314ce when plugged in...That, and I want them concentrating more on my voice, overall performance, and lyrics.
Anyway, on to the good stuff.
Oh yeah, I've also worn away a nice little patch of finish right underneath the strings, where a pickguard would be.
