Takamine's $200 guitars: Skip these and save up for a Martin, Taylor, Larrivee, or Seagull
Written: Jul 01 '02 (Updated Sep 17 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: inexpensive; not bad looking; construction appears to be fairly solid
Cons: tinny sound; difficult to tune; better guitars out there for not that much more
The Bottom Line: The Takamine G230 and G240 are OK, but I'd recommend saving $200 extra and buying something substantially better from Martin, Taylor, Larrivee, or Seagull.
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| Horswispr's Full Review: Takamine G-240 Acoustic Guitar |
Takamine's G230 and G240 are inexpensive laminated guitars which can be found at large retail chains like Guitar Center for about $200. At that price, you can't expect sound that rivals what you get from Martin, Taylor or Larrivee, but can you expect a decent guitar, suitable for a beginner, or perhaps for use as a road/beach guitar?
A couple of decades ago, Takamine imitated the look of Martin's guitars, right down to the square headstock and gold script decal, and their guitars were quite good at that time. I still see early '80s Takamines at some bluegrass jam sessions, and they don't sound bad at all. But do contemporary Takamines compare?
The Takamine G230 is a relatively small guitar in the "OOO" style, with square shoulders and a deep waist. The G240 (the guitar listed here) is a more typical dreadnought style guitar. I was recently able to play several samples of the G230, and a single sample of the G240, and to compare both with the Taylor Big Baby, Martin DX-1, and Martin OOOX-1, three guitars which sell for $100 to $250 more that the Takamines.
First of all, both the G230 and G240 are relatively nice looking guitars. No, they don't have the faux-Martin look of the early '80s Takamines, but they're not ugly either. They are finished gloss, and the color is suggestive of mahogany laminate, though I don't know what they're really made of. The tops of these guitars are light in color, and could be spruce laminate. I am not partial to Takamine's current headstock, but that's not a big deal.
My first inkling that I wasn't going to give these guitars a rave review was when I tried to tune them up. They simply didn't want to go in tune. Several minutes of tweaking yielded fairly decent sounding chords, but I never felt the guitars were completely in tune.
My second inkling came when I banged out a few chords. The sound of both was tinny and unnatural. The G240 had more bass than the G230, probably because of its larger size, but the sound wasn't particularly pleasing.
Sustain of the G230 and G240 was not that impressive either. Notes died out pretty quickly. And there was none of the liquidity I have come to associate with even the least expensive offerings from Taylor, Larrivee, Seagull, and (in some cases) Martin.
One good thing about both the G230 and the D240 was that they were fairly loud guitars. A normal strum produced chords that could be heard across the room.
Another good thing was that playability was quite acceptable. The fingerboards appeared to be rosewood, and the neck was neither too thin or too thick for comfortable playing. No, it wasn't like playing a well-set-up Taylor, but it was OK.
The action on all samples I played was set quite low, and there was some string buzz. Intonation up the neck was pretty good, though as I mentioned, I never felt the guitars were perfectly in tune.
So, overall, would I recommend these guitars to a beginner or a parent wanting to buy a guitar for their teen?
Not really.
For $300 to $350, you could have a Taylor Big Baby, which plays like a dream, has excellent sustain, and better tone than the G320 or G420. And for about $450, you could have a Martin DX-1 or OOO-X1, both of which are surprisingly good for the price.
Oh, and don't forget Seagull's excellent inexpensive guitars, IF you can find them.
If you HAVE to have a $200 laminated guitar, I recommend you play several 230s and 240s, and pick out the one that sounds and plays best to you. Also play some Yamaha 335s, which are of comparably quality (or lack thereof) and price.
But to restate: I'd recommend saving up an extra couple hundred dollars and going with a low-end Martin, Taylor, Larrivee, or Seagull.
Recommended:
No
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