Takamine Guitars


Takamine Support
Wenge rosette on solid spruce top Left: carefull hand crafting of the top bracing.
Selecting the right materials

Takamine Craftsmanship:Selecting the right materials

 Many things are better wetter. Not guitar woods. Before the thin woods that make up your guitar are put together, they must be stable. And that means they must have the right moisture content.

When wood is first cut, most of its weight is water. To reach a level of stability - about 6% moisture - it has to lose most of that water gradually. Too fast and it will crack, split or warp.

We use a combination of kiln and air drying to bring the wood into the most stable state to build your guitar. We also let glued parts like necks and braced soundboards rest between operations to relieve internal stresses.

The soundboard:

It's a delicate balance. Build it too strong and it sounds dull. Build it too responsive and it flies apart on the first big E chord. A guitar soundboard has to unleash the energy of the vibrating string, but be stout enough to last for many years.

Guitar-like instruments have been around for over 3,000 years. Spruce and cedar soundboards have been used for a good portion of that time, and the modern bracing system has been around for at least 150 years. We use a traditional 'X' bracing pattern on our steel strings, differently voiced for each application. Rather than take a radical departure, we make many small changes that add up to a significant difference in volume, balance and richness. The biggest factor in sound quality is still the craftsmanship - taking the time to do every painstaking step correctly. We live to take pains.