I’m 54, and been playing since I was 11/12. Up till now, I’ve never written a guitar review, having never felt the need. Guitars are like women. Some are great, others not so great and just plain bad. It depends on you, and the chemistry that exists in the middle somewhere. Guitar chemistry exists between the player’s psychology, his hands, the strings, how the guitar is set up, amplification and effects etc. Sometimes it’s difficult to define precisely what makes a guitar work for you. It approximates in some ways to what the Japanese term ‘kansei.’

I picked up this Takamine EAN15C a couple of nights ago from kijij. The guy was asking $450 Canadian for it and I bargained him down to $400. It had lain in the hard shell case pretty much unused, for the major part of it’s ten years. Strings were dead and I was thinking that maybe the seller had never changed them. The fretboard was as dry as any I’d seen in quite a while, and he didn’t have an amp so I couldn’t check out the electronics. The guitar had no major dings, or breaks, the neck was straight, and the intonation was almost perfect. Minor mother of pearl inlay missing from the saddle. The action was pretty good and worked fine for my big thick fingers J

First thing I did was get the strings off. I wish I’d taken pictures at the start. Fretboard was cleaned with a damp cloth and warm water. I’m never too liberal with fretboard cleaner/oils but this one looked as if it would benefit from it. I gave it one coat which soaked right in at the and the following morning gave it another dose. This really brought the thing back to life. I polished the frets which had become very dull. They had virtually no wear to speak of and came up really well. The whole body of the guitar was cleaned off and polished up with some lemon oil and then I restrung it with Elixir Lights (12s).  First strum of this Takamine with new strings just blew me away. It sounded great. Not too much top. Warm and clear tones which just ring out. I put a new battery in the box and plugged it into my Ibanez Troubador TA35, acoustic amp. This thing was singing like a bird. The best word to describe this guitar is simply “expressive.” It just provides so much expression and the pick up seems to capture the most subtle nuances of hammer ons/offs and slides to great effect.

My other acoustic 6 strings guitars are Tacomas (DR14C & DR20) , both of which cost me at least twice as much as this Tak. Nothing I’ve come across previously has compared favorably (for my playing and style), with the Tacomas. Build quality, tone, (acoustic and amped), weight and balance and overall feels are very similar to my Tacoma DR14.. I’ve owned Taylors and Martins which are inferior to this Takamine. Recently traded a Faith Venus electric-acoustic which sounded incredible amplified. This EAN15C sounds even better amplified than the Faith with it’s Shadow system. I’m delighted with it, and think that I got a great deal at $400 CAD. It’s not very often that I feel like I should go back and give the guy some more money. This is obviously the older model, as the TAN15C has the tube pick up installed. I can’t compare this guitar with that model as I’ve never played one, but this Takamine stands up proud with every acoustic guitar that I’ve ever played or owned. It’s an outstanding guitar either for use with a pick, or for finger picking. It’s solid, durable and the quality of the workmanship is evident in the detail.