guitar opinion

[mjr]

I'm considering purchasing a Takamine GB-7.

Definitely not the most expensive on the market, but in my opinion one of the best looking.

Does anyone have this particular guitar? What do you think of it? How does it sound plugged in? How does it sound on recordings? How would you rate it's playability and action?

Musiciansfriend.com reviews have it at high 9's.

[Aaron Cheney]

I'm not familiar w/ the guitar, but I definitely wouldn't put one iota of trust in Musician's Friends "rating"...

A slightly better place to go for ratings is here.

A
www.aaroncheney.com

[DJL]

Originally posted by Aaron Cheney
I definitely wouldn't put one iota of trust in Musician's Friends "rating"...

AMEN!!!

[Adam P]

Takamines are the nicest feeling acoustics I've played, but I'm not much of a guitarist, so take that for what its worth. Something about their necks is really comfortable. I know that when my friend and I used to jam with his dad the Takamine was always the guitar I reached for.

[faderbug]

Bowie used a 12 string takamine extensively in the nineties.

[Buck62]

Originally posted by faderbug
Bowie used a 12 string takamine extensively in the nineties.

It surely wasn't a cheapo one.

I'll bet it was hand-made by Takamine's top luthier specifically for Mr Bowie.

If you believe that a Rock star who has a net worth of over $900 million dollars plays a guitar that costs less than 200 bucks.... I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

[faderbug]

i don't know this specific takamine model but only pointed out that bowie played a 12 string takamine!!! alright???

[onlyfingers]

I donno. If you're going to sign it with marker and use it for fundraising, you don't use your cheapest, but then, you don't have it custom made, either.

Type "Bowie" and "Takamine" into Google, and look what comes up...

http://www.guitarhangar.com/guitars/bowie_badd.htm

[gvarko]

Bowie looks like he was up shooting heroin all night in the last 2 pics...

I played all the low end acoustics at GC and the Yamaha played the best. I wouldn't get one with electronics because at that price they are bound to be junk. IMO - Find the best sounding cheap acoustic and mike it with an SM57.

[mjr]

We're a bit off topic. What does everyone think of that particular guitar?

I've also seen some nice Martin acoustics I've considered buying. They're comfortable, have good action, and have that nice Martin sound to them. My first question, though, is about the Takamine GB-7.

[faderbug]

go play one

[arover2]

This is a very late reply to your question about the Takamine GB 7, Garth Brooks model.
I play country, bluegrass and folk music, in local bands in my area. A friend in this group has a large recording studio he built in the finished basement of his large home. We do a lot of recording there.
One of the acoustic guitar players in my group, besides being a Martin and Taylor owner-player, recently bought a GB 7. He is a Garth fan to no end also.
We were suprised how good the GB 7 really is, playing unplugged acousticly and used through an acoustic amp, or PA system.
He uses mainly Martin "SP" Phosphor Bronze in light gauge for finger picking, then will switch to phosphor bronze medium gauge when needed, for heavy chording. He says the sixth string sounds better when using an .054" instead of an .056". To my ear the Martin "SP" light gauge P.B.'s sounds great on the GB 7 playing any way at all.
The only thing he has done with this GB 7, is having a luthier install a quality bone saddle set up, and a bone nut.
His GB 7 does not have the ring of a Martin HD-28 of course, but the pronounced solid cedar-rosewood tone of this dreadnought does very well.
His recording sessions where he plays straight chording, flat or finger picking, wether plugged or unplugged is just fine.
There is one other Takanine model that may have a slight edge over the GB 7, it is the EF-360SC. It's a bit more expensive, but might be worth the time to find and play one.